


The Life of Beca Mitchell

by callmeRy



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: Drama, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Heavy Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-06
Updated: 2017-05-02
Packaged: 2018-09-15 07:51:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 35
Words: 421,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9225596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/callmeRy/pseuds/callmeRy
Summary: This is a story of Beca's life after Barden. The ups and downs, and everything in between. Ten years after Barden, Beca thought that she had had everything she needed in her life. Her perfect life. A dream job, a loving girlfriend, a lot of money, and a group of friends. But what if the past she left behind comes back to bite her in the ass? Yep. We'll roll with that what if.





	1. Introduction

**Author's Note:**

> This is the actual first fan fiction I've written in the last three months. It's multi-chapters, and I wanted to make sure to finish it all before I post it.  
> I'm sorry in advance for any misspelling or bad grammar. English is not my first language. But I'm opened for suggestions and critique.  
> I hope you all enjoy. And if you have any idea about how the story should progress, I would love to hear that. I mean, anything can happen. Right. Nothing is set on stone.  
> This is the introduction chapter. I'll just cross my finger.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter will show a little sneak peak of Beca's life ten years after Barden.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll just cross my finger.

 

At the age of 32, Beca has held the world in her hand. She has a dream job. Hold on a second. Scratch that, she _is_ the dream job. She has all of the money in the world to do everything she wants to, and then some.

But that's the most insignificant part of her life. Money. Pfftt... Everybody can make money. And Beca? She doesn't only have money. She also has people in her life that support, love, and care about her.

Yep. That's true. _The_ Beca Mitchell, the dark vibe alt tatted girl with disastrous ear monstrosities actually has best friends. _Friends_. Plural. Less than 10 are still plural, right? Right.

And her love life? Beca can't ask for a better love life. Or a better girlfriend. Her life is perfect. Do you want to know how she got here? Let's start from after Barden, from ten years ago. Because everything she has today happened after she graduated from Barden University.

Beca's life right after Barden wasn't all gold and sunshine. Definitely not. She'd left and lived in a very solitary life without so much of goodbyes to her best friend and The Bellas. When she moved to L.A., all she wanted to do was to live her life without any string attached with her past.

Thankfully, after seeing how talented she was, the label gave her everything she asked. Everything.

Confidentiality from whomever that work with or for her, _checked_. A very private penthouse, _checked_. Bodyguards/driver to make sure no one unless the necessary could approach her in tours and work, _checked_. A very multitasking personal assistant/manager named Donna, _checked_. Life expenses covered by the label, _checked_. You name it, I'll check it.

Yep. She was that kind of big a deal only by flaunting her ability to mix and produce music. Thanks to the recommendation from Residual Heat. And Flashlight obviously.

This Donna was excellent at her job. She made sure Beca got everything she asked, needed, and then some.

You can get your head out of the gutter. Because she's not that kind of _personal assistant_ personal assistant.

Donna's job description including arranging a car every day to take the brunette to the office, managing all kind of communications from and to Beca, going to her penthouse every other day to bring groceries and a maid to clean up, and more specifically, making sure that the tiny DJ stays alive.

Now... to achieve such private life meant Beca had to cut loose so many strings with the society. Closed booth when she is DJ-ing, no visitors backstage or at home, no fans meeting, no party or interview, no going to any award show even when she won. You know, Donna or the people from the label could always take care of it.

So basically, none of any human interaction unless the necessity. Her identity was being kept in secret for six years. Nobody knew that she was DJ M. No common people knew that fact at least.

You must be asking, why? Why she had to do everything just to make sure that she couldn't be found, especially by her past? And more importantly, why would she? We'll get there. Patient.

For the record, The Bellas sure had gone way out of their head to find their " _missing_ " former captain. But tried as hard as they might, they failed, miserably. Because Beca left no loophole for anybody, _anybody_ from her past to find her. Brilliant. Not Beca. But Donna. She was the one who did all the hard and dirty work.

The perks from having this kind of privacy was that Beca could walk around the city freely, or sat in her favorite cafe without distraction and more importantly, alone without being hassled by the paparazzi. Nobody knew who she really was, remember?

The solitary life clearly didn't alter her career and financial. Beca had gone out of her way to advance her musical career. Only a year after she started up, she had become one of the highest paid music producer.

Yep. No doubt. I know it. You know it. Everybody know it.

It wasn't a surprise at all that she became a very sensational mysterious DJ, and she played at the most exclusive clubs all over the world.

Great right? Awesome even.

Two years after Barden, she had too much money in her hand. And she wasn't great at spending it. When that became a problem, Donna came with the rescue named Harvey Specter. A corporate lawyer and business adviser, who was also Donna's boyfriend back then.

Harvey managed Beca's money into tons and tons of great investments and real estates that blew up her bank accounts in no time. Beca started to have her own clubs and karaoke bars all around America and Europe under her company, Lucifer Corps.

On 2018, Harvey advised her to start her own label. She complied. Of course. Who was she kidding anyway? Her own record label? She'd said yes in a heartbeat. So she started to have some record labels around the states under the name Lucifer Records.

Why Lucifer? Beca named her company and label after her mother's name, Lucy. Sentimental. Unlike her. At all. But true. And it also refers to the morning star. Because unknowingly, Beca is an astronomic freak. But uhm... let's keep it to ourselves folks. It's a secret.

Judging from all of the business and investments she had, it is so freaking safe to say that she had become one of the richest person alive with her multi-billions company.

But we know Beca. Let's just be real. There's no way she wants to be hassled with those kind of craps. It's Harvey and Donna who have the expertise of these uhm... business type of thing. Yep. That's how Beca called it. Business type of thing.

Back to the topic. Her company.

So she made Harvey a CEO. She wanted Harvey and Donna to manage it together, but her red headed personal assistant, - _yep, that's right. Donna is red headed_ , had insisted to remain as her personal assistant. Beca thought it was because she let Donna determined her own salary. The truth is, Donna just wanted to keep an eye on the reckless tiny brunette.

The couple was the closest thing Beca could refer as family after she left Barden. They loved and truly cared about the brunette, who as far as they concerned, had nobody in her life but them.

The two of them got married in 2019 and had a son the following year named Stephan Calisto Specter. They pointed Beca as the godmother, and named the boy after Beca's middle name.

It isn't by choice, - _in Beca's insisted defense,_ to be a godmother. But the truth is, Beca loves that five year old boy very much. She has been the cool godmother, and Stephan adores her as if she hangs the stars in the sky.

Beca was more than grateful for having them, - _not that she ever admitted it anyway_. Still do. So, she has given them everything they need, and then some. Beca has trusted them with her life. Even though she doesn't open up much to them.

Talking about opening herself up, Beca was clearly not a fan. Beca had put her emotions buried inside, out of sight, out of mind. Covered it up with denials, rationalizations, suppressions, excuses, and so many, many other terms that a psychologist would like to call _self-defense mechanism_.

Fancy. I know.

Well, as unhealthy as it sounds, that felt enough though. For her. To keep it all to herself. And for a very long time, she didn't even remember how it felt like to be not alone. To be honest, she was too afraid to be not alone.

So for four years after Barden, Beca deemed that her life was enough. Supposedly. Even though other than Donna, Harvey, and Stephan, she basically didn't have anybody else in her life. No people meant no unnecessary drama, hence no pain and hurt.

That was her life's motto. Was.

Judging by that, everybody would've thought that Beca had a good life, great even. Heck, you and I would kill for a life like hers. Admit it.

For Beca, it wasn't perfect. But who needed perfect anyway when almost perfect was more than enough already. Pfft... Perfect is overrated. Or so she thought. And for more than four years after graduated, Beca was more than fine with her almost perfect life. And nope, she didn't need anybody else in order to be happy. She was happy. Supposedly.

Nevertheless, life always has something up its sleeve. And in Beca's case, Ashley happened. A surprise that Beca didn't know that she had been waiting, or even considered that she'd ever need in her life.

But it turned out, Ashley became the missing piece that perfected and completed Beca's life. Why? Because she made Beca felt that almost perfect just wasn't enough anymore. She even threw away her almost perfect life for Ashley.

You'll see why.

When they just met, Ashley was nothing like Beca. A very open person versus a hiding under the bunker type of closed off one. They were like the bright day compared to the dark starless cloudy night. Rainbow and sunshine met thunderstorm and dark humor. A bubbly optimist with a hopeless skeptics. Heart under the sleeve and heart under the cheeks.

And you clearly know which is whom. So no explanation needed. You get the picture.

In conclusion, they had nothing in common. So, personality wise, it's safe to say that they are as close as the north pole to south pole. However, they are bound to pull each other by the gravity. To balance each other. That is, if you want to be poetic or something.

Funny how things turned out though, right? The one person that scared the hell out of her mind to be committed, fell in love with the one person that had no fear to put herself into any kind of relationship.

The most private loner set her eyes and heart on the most opened person. Well, what did they know anyway? People said that opposite attracts. So maybe, just maybe, they - _the people_ , were right in this case.

Hold it. Scratch the maybes. At this point, Beca is certain that she and Ashley are made for each other. Ironic. I know. And today, they're having their 5th anniversary.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that, would be a sneak peak of Beca's life ten years after Barden. The other Bellas are on their way back into Beca's life. But will it be good, or causing more complication instead? You'll get more in the next chapter. See you. And in the meanwhile, sit tight and make good choices.


	2. Meeting Her For The First Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is about how Beca met Ashley.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, I don't own Pitch Perfect.  
> Sorry in advance for misspelling and bad grammar. English is not my first language. I'm opened for critiques and suggestions though.  
> Thanks for reading.

 In the last chapter, we were left hanging on the night of Beca and Ashley's 5th anniversary. So... here it goes. It's  **September 26th 2025 in L.A.** At night.

After a candlelight dinner and a long walk by the beach, Beca and Ashley decided to join their friends at one of Beca's karaoke bar in L.A.. They occupied a table by the corner of the VIP room. After a couple of toasts and congratulations, they just hang out as usual.

Just a 5th anniversary. No big deal. Right? Maybe. We'll see.

"Hey Beca. Tell us. And be honest, Dude." Patrick starts with a sly smile. "Who's your favorite character in our girls show?"

Beca certainly knows that answering that question will only lead to a group feud. Nevertheless, she smirks and says, "Caleb. Duh. With that genius brain, that scowled face, the badass attitude that melt into a giant puddle because of Hanna? It explains itself, dude. Not to mention that killer body. And I'm gay."

Everybody laugh while Troian teases, "Wow. Instantly. Without hesitation. Ash, you've got yourself a competition here."

"Oh, I don't worry at all." Ashley responds casually. Yet Beca can see a hint of sly smile by the corner of her lips.

"My love here, is as straight as a rainbow. So, nope. Not worried at all." Ashley adds before turning to Beca, inching her face closer to Beca's with devilish smile and says, "Besides, I don't think she will prefer that-" she points her chin toward Tyler who's sitting in front of her, "-than all of this." She finishes with husky voice, biting her bottom lip seductively as she gestures her hand to her body.

Beca gulps and her jaw drops, earning a whole-heartily laughter from the group.

With a huge grin, Ashley kisses her girlfriend's cheek and says, "Judging from that face, I don't think I have a competition, do I Dear?"

Beca chuckles and shakes her head lightly. Then she purses her lips, humming with a mock thinking face. Then she sighs over dramatically. "I don't know, Hon. Maybe I need uh... more persuasion? I mean it's been five years. Maybe..." She glances at her girlfriend playfully, purposively trailing the end of the sentence and leaves it hanging.

"Hey!" Ashley exclaims, slapping Beca's arm playfully, pouting and scolds, "It is not what I heard this morning. Or in the shower. Or in the car after dinner."

A loud  _"Ew... gross."_  and scrunched faces are coming from their friends while Beca barks out a carefree laughter. Then Beca laces her fingers with Ashley's, kisses the tip of her nose lightly, and says with a goofy grin, "It's you, pretty weirdo."

Ashley huffs and pouts her lips. "You need to do more than that to make me feel better. Or you're going to sleep on the couch tonight."

Upon seeing her girlfriend's childlike manner that she loves and adores, Beca laughs again. Then she kisses Ashley's forehead before she says, "I." Followed with a kiss on the tip of Ashley's nose, "Love." And finishes with a gentle lingered kiss on the half-pouted half-smiling lips, "You."

Then Beca pulls back slowly and asks, "How about that?"

Ashley tries unsuccessfully to hide the grin on her face. But, the twinkle in her eyes gives her away. She rolls her eyes in mock annoyance and grumbles, "It will do. For now. But you have to make it up for me tonight."

Seeing through her girlfriend, who is trying failingly to hide her smile, Beca suppresses her grin and says, "Yes My Lady."

Tyler laughs, raises his glass, and jokingly says with a wink, "Well, you know where to find me, DJ. In case... you know... you change your direction."

Ashley throws a handful of peanuts toward Tyler, which he unsuccessfully ducks, earning another bark of laughter in their table.

Keegan shakes his head lightly and says, "Five years together and you two still go at it worse than horny teenagers."

"What can I say?" Ashley smiles smugly. "My girlfriend has a great talent using her fingers. I guess the years being a DJ has its own benefit...s."

That earns other mocking comments from the group.

"How about the girls cast?" Ian continues with a smirk after the laughter unwind.

"Oh no no no no." Beca answers, wiggling her index finger. "I'm not falling into that trap, Ian."

"You are no fun at all another Mitchell." Shay comments.

Ian changes the question while wiggling his eyebrows. "Your favorite pairing?"

"Spaleb definitely." Beca answers without hesitation. Again. "Sorry Hon, but I really want to know what kind of monsters two geniuses can produce."

Ashley gasps mockingly and retorts, "How could you?"

"And no." Beca adds with bored-looking face. "I don't enjoy seeing Hanna and Caleb playing tonsils tennis. Especially when you always force me to watch the show with you."

Ashley turns to her girlfriend with mischievous smile as she says, "I've never heard any complain about the extracurricular activities we do after watching the show."

"Duh." Beca replies smugly. "Because I didn't. Complain. Ever."

Another laughter erupts from their table.

"So you prefer my fiancé doing that tonsils tennis with Caleb instead, huh?" Patrick responds, narrowing his eyes with a mock hurting face. "I thought I was your best friend."

Beca scoffs and says, "Tone down the drama, princess."

Keegan adds, "Spencer is supposed to be with Toby. They are made for each other."

Patrick playfully puts his hands on Keegan's neck as if he wants to choke him. "Man, you need to stop touching my fiancé."

Troian takes a picture of them and laughs at her fiancé.

"Come on Patrick." Keegan says with a mock fear on his face. "You know that it was all just an act. You know that Troian loves you man."

Just as Patrick puts down his hands, Keegan adds, "But Spencer loves Toby."

And yeah. Another laughter comes out. They are loud.

Then Patrick sips his whiskey and raises his right eyebrow at Beca as he asks, "How about you Dude? After six freaking seasons, did you ever get jealous or angry of Haleb's sex montages?"

"Meh..." Beca just shrugs and keeps sipping her ice tea slowly.

Troian furrows her eyebrows curiously and says, "Yeah, there were so many hot scenes between them through all seasons, tiny bit. I don't believe that you never got upset or at least irritated."

After putting her drink down, Beca casually says, "Well, of course I got jealous sometimes." Then she points her chin toward Keegan, "But like Keegan said earlier, it was all part of an act. And I know her... you know... her uh... face and expression when we uh... ehem... doing it, you know. And what she showed on the scenes are not her... uhm... real enjoying being pleasured face?"

"Babe!" Ashley slaps Beca's arm playfully.

"Eeew..." Sasha scrunches her face. "We so do not need to know that."

Beca laughs and looks at her blonde girlfriend, who is sitting next to her and sending her a deathly glare.

"What?" Beca retorts with a smirk. "They asked, I answered!"

Then Beca turns her attention back to the group and says nonchalantly, "Besides, it's not like I could complain or do anything about it anyway. You know. Knowing your line of work."

Ashley clears her throat. "You mean  _our_  work, Babe."

Beca simply rolls her eyes while Ashley narrows her eyes at her girlfriend and smirks devilishly as she says, "She is not allowed to be jealous anyway. Not when every time I went to her DJ-ing gigs, I have to restrain myself from punching and slapping every men and women who throw themselves at her in the DJ booth. Right,  _Honey_?"

Upon hearing the punctuation on the word  _honey_ , Beca just shrugs her left shoulder, trying to look cool when she responds, "Yes, my dear."

Everybody laugh at the couple, except Tyler, who makes a whip noise and teases, "Dude, you are so whipped."

Although she is glaring at Tyler, Beca admits – _to herself obviously_ , that being with Ashley has softened her edges in so many ways. She has become more open with people and doesn't really mind the PDA.

Okay, scratch that. She even enjoys the PDA. Err...

Okay! Stop narrowing your eyes doubtfully, folks! Guilty as charged. She loves it.  _Loves it_  loves it. Can you blame her? When your girlfriend is as stunning as Ashley is, you too would've been proudly showing the world that she's yours. Like all the time.

Sasha, the youngest among them, gets curious. "But seriously. Did you two ever get angry or argue about that? Like, ever? Even Hudson got upset sometimes. Especially when we haven't seen each other in a long time."

"Hmmm..." Ashley mocks a thinking look. "Well... We had our fair share of fights. Let's just say that we handle it really well. I mean, really... really... well... We have our ways."

The way she ends the sentence with a mischievous wink makes sure that everybody get the idea. But Sasha narrows her eyes and innocently asks, "Really well, how?"

Shay sighs and says, "I think she meant a lot of hot and steamy of angry and make up sex, Sasha."

"Oh... that... um... okay." Sasha stutters with a blush.

Everybody just laugh and tease Sasha for being so naive.

Yet Beca rolls her eyes playfully and says, "Oh, get your head out of the gutter, Shay. She meant we are doing really well at communication. Whenever we are in doubt, we talk about it. That's it." She pauses to sip her drink, and then adds, "And yeah, the sex do help. A lot."

Then everybody bark out another laughter. Told you. They are loud.

With a deep contented sigh, Beca looks around her. And she couldn't help but wonder how she got here. Ten years ago, or even six years ago, if someone had told her that she would be in a long term relationship with a wonderful woman, has a group of friends - _other than Donna and Harvey obviously,_  that care about her and she pretends not to care about, Beca would have scoffed and told them to fuck off.

Seriously. You and I know that for sure.

It would've been like an unrealistic dream comes true. Which is unrealistic. And Beca did have this kind of life before, but it didn't turn out well. However, life seems to have another plan. So, here she is, sitting and laughing among her best friends with the love of her life snuggling up on her.

Then Beca lets her mind wanders back to the time she met Ashley for the first time. Well, maybe it's a little bit of sugar coating to say they  _met_. More like collided to be exact. With Beca's ice tea spilled all over Ashley. Yep. Lucky Beca, right?

* * *

 

**Flashback: 5 years and 6 months ago.**

Beca was at the first party that she had ever attended. Well, more to Donna and Harvey's demand anyway. They were very adamant for her to come and celebrate her own new established records label. She agreed to go with the conditions that nobody should know who she is or even talk to her at all. And as usual and always, Harvey would be the one that gave the speech.

It was very obvious that Beca felt very uncomfortable and bored out of her mind at the party. And to make it all worse, she just had to bump into someone, spilling her ice tea all over the other person.

Beca was ready to apologize. But suddenly, she lost her ability to produce words as her body froze up and her jaw dropped when she looked up only to find a very breath taking and stunning blonde, who happened to have a pair of gorgeous blue eyes, right in front of her.

Beca didn't even realize of how she looked like until Donna nudged her on her shoulder. Aware of her dumbstruck reaction, Beca rolled her eyes and hurriedly said, "I'm sorry." Then she pulled out a grey handkerchief from the pocket on the left side of her pants. "Here, use this."

That blonde was brushing her hand on her red dress before she looked up and saw the thing that Beca offered. The blue-eyed blonde raised her eyebrows comically, taking the handkerchief and asked, "People still bring this stuff?"

"Uh... Yeah? I guess? Uh... I mean, I do." Beca stuttered, rubbing the back of her neck nervously. Beca only dared to steal a couple of glances toward the blonde, who were gently pressing the handkerchief onto her dress.

"This won't do. I need to go to the bathroom to take care of this."

"Again, I am so sorry." Beca grimaced apologetically. "I wasn't paying attention at all. My middle name is klutz. Maybe it should've been my first name."

The blonde girl simply giggled upon seeing how nervous the brunette was.

Upon hearing the sweetest amusing tone that caught her ears, Beca shot her eyes up and stared at the blonde in awe.

"It's okay, Klutz." Ashley said with a knowing smirk. She was confident about her appearance. And it was common for people to stare at her the way Beca did. Then she offered her hand for a handshake. "Well, my name is Ashley. Ashley Benson."

With her cheeks blushing furiously, Beca cleared her throat, trying unsuccessfully to calm her nerves and muttered, "Uh... actually... that is not my real name."

"Hmmm..." Ashley smiled teasingly. "So, are you going to leave me hanging uh..."

"Uh... Sorry." Beca quickly took Ashley's hand, shaking it lightly. "Beca. Beca Mitchell."

Their hands lingered on longer than necessary until Beca heard Donna coughed lightly. Beca pulled her hand back, shaking her head lightly to get her mind out from the dazzling smile of the blonde before she said, "This is Donna Paulsen."

Ashley stared at Donna questionably. "Donna Paulsen as in..."

Beca furrowed her eyebrows, puzzled by the way Ashley trailed her end of the sentence.

Knowing just how oblivious Beca could be, Donna just rolled her eyes, sighing before she put on a smile and said, "Donna Paulsen as in Beca's personal assistant Donna Paulsen."

"Oh." Ashley looked as if she was relieved. She smiled and then offered her hand for a handshake. "Well Donna Paulsen as in Beca's personal assistant Donna Paulsen, I'm Ashley. As in Ashley Benson."

"I know who you are." The red head responded with a genuine smile as she shook Ashley's hand. "Great show by the way."

"Thank you." Ashley smiled back.

As she pulled back her hand, Ashley turned to the brunette, and says, "Okay then. I will go to the bathroom and clean up. Nice meeting you... Klutz."

Without thinking about it, Beca blurted out, "You can give Donna your number. I will pay for that dress. Or do whatever it is to make it up to you."

After a second of being taken aback, Ashley smirked and teased, "Are you trying to get my number, Beca Mitchell?"

"No. It's not what I meant." Beca said frantically with her eyes widened. "I uh... was thinking that... your dress is ruined... uh... Donna could..."

Ashley and Donna chuckled upon seeing how Beca turned into a bumbling mess.

"I was kidding, Beca. Don't sweat it." Ashley said, suppressing her grin before she added with a knowing wink, "But I think it's too late to warn you about that."

Was it hot that night, folks.

Beca's face was blushing red with a nervous smile. No. hold that. Not a smile. A grimace. Then she looked down at the floor while shuffling her feet. Yep. Couldn't be more obvious of how nervous she was.

Amused. That was how Ashley felt by seeing the brunette's shy behavior. Charmed to be precise. She wondered how a person could be so awkward yet so adorably sweet and cute all at the same time. To say that she was attracted to the brunette would've been an understatement.

Then Ashley's smile became wider as an idea popped into her mind. "Tell you what. I won't press any charges if you agree to grab a drink with me after I deal with this mess."

Stunned by the fact that such a beautiful lady asked her for a drink, Beca froze up for a second. She was indeed surprised that anybody would've taken a time to talk to her. You know, since she didn't have the most welcome vibe. She practically had the words  _Fuck Off_ , printed boldly with black ink on her forehead. Not to mention her heavy eyeliner and ear piercings that didn't exactly say  _I'm warm and fluffy. Come and be friends with me._

Seemed to see that the blonde was interested with the brunette, Donna did a favor to the very stunned Beca by answering, "Don't mind her dumbstruck. It is her way to say that she would be glad to have a drink with you."

Beca snapped her head to Donna and shot her a warning glare that says,  _"What the hell?"_

Donna just rolled her eyes at Beca and turned to smile at the blonde.

"Very well then." Ashley beamed. "Do you mind waiting for me by the bar? I'll be just a minute." Then she walked toward the bathroom.

After making sure that the blonde was out of hearing range, Beca turned to Donna and scolded, "What the hell, Donna?!"

"Stop being so dense, Monkey." Donna said with bored-looking face. "She is obviously attracted you. You'll thank me later."

Little did she know, she would be thanking Donna for the next five years. And maybe more. Who knows. However, at that moment, Beca groaned and stomped her tiny feet to the bar.

Beca was nourishing her glass of ice tea by the corner of the bar when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She looked over her shoulder and found that Ashley was beaming at her. She couldn't help but grinning back at the blonde.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." Ashley said as she slid on the stool next to Beca.

"It's okay." Beca answered with a shrug. She tapped her fingers nervously on the glass while her eyes wandered around, looking for Donna because the crowds were starting to creep her out.

"Are you always this nervous around people?"

With a tight smile, Beca sighed and answered with raised eyebrows. "Try full blown panic to be precise."

Ashley hummed curiously but she tried to start a conversation anyway. With a playful tone, she asked, "So, tell me Beca Klutz Mitchell. What brought you here tonight if you are not so comfortable with the crowd?"

Beca certainly couldn't tell her the truth, but she didn't want to lie either. So she chose to give a vague respond instead. "I uh... kind of obligated to show up. I guess."

"Oh. Let me guess." Ashley chirped instantly. "You know the owner. They are your friends and they force you to come. Am I close?"

"Uhm... Something like that."

When Beca didn't ask her anything, Ashley chuckled and teased, "It's not an interrogation you know. So you can ask me back."

Beca chuckled nervously at the blonde's bluntness. "I'm sorry uh... Ashley. I'm just uh... not really good at this."

"At talking with people?"

"Well that... and uh... especially with someone that has crazily captivating blue eyes." Beca stammered nervously. She didn't mean to flirt but the words just flowed out of her mouth. And of course she regretted it instantly.  _"Crazily? Really, Mitchell? Is that how rusty you are?"_

Ashley knew that it was the most common over-kill type of flirting. Yet she giggled and blushed like an inexperienced teenager. Maybe it was because of the way Beca saying it. It was way too far from being flirty. And certainly too specific to be just a casual compliment. Let's just hope that she didn't see it as creepy.

Beca didn't seem to notice though as she quickly tried to cover up the embarrassment. "What about you? What brings you here tonight?"

"Well... I'm in this line of business. So I got invited by proxy."

"So... you must be in the showbis. An actress, maybe?"

Ashley chuckled at Beca's statement. She thought the brunette was playing her. "What gives, Sherlock?"

"Well, first of, you said you are in this line of business." Beca started, looking very serious. "If you are a singer or someone who works with music, I would've known. Second of, you don't seem like a business type of person, no offense. And uhm... Donna did mention about a great show? So..."

Ashley's eyes widened in surprise and her lips formed a huge grin before she exclaimed, "You honestly don't know!"

"Uh..." Beca looked confused. "And what is it that I'm supposed to know?"

Ashley just stared at her with comic surprised look.

Thinking like she had offended the blonde, Beca hurriedly said, "I am truly sorry if I offended you. I didn't mean to do that. I'm not an outgoing person. So I'm kind of outdated."

Ashley threw her head back, laughing whole-heartily for seeing how innocent the brunette was.

Beca just stared at her with puzzled look since she didn't understand why the blonde laughed. The laughter was delightful though. And she couldn't help but staring at Ashley when she noticed how attractive Ashley was when she's laughing.

Her eyes formed into a perfect crescent. The blue part of her eyes looked so bright with a glint of tears, glimmering as the light reflected on them. The dimples on her cheeks matched the crinkle by the corner of her eyes in such a natural way. Her cheeks became rosy red.

Then the best thing that caught Beca's attention the most was its sound. It sounded crunchy yet soft in the same time. It was so light and joyful. Unknowingly to Beca, a soft smile appeared on her own face.

"I'm so sorry Becs." Ashley said as the laughter unwind, wiping the tears from the corner of her eyes. "I didn't mean to offend you. It's just... How? Have you been living under a rock?"

Beca was taken aback by the nickname and the familiar words. She hadn't heard anyone called her with that name for more than four years. And the realization hit her; Ashley's eyes was the same color with the person that she hadn't been thinking for a while now.  _Hadn't_.

In addition, if Beca looked deeper, they kind of had the same cheery bubbly personality. These insights certainly made her wonder whether or not she was attracted to the blonde because of the resemblance. She was so lost in her thought that she didn't realize Ashley was waving in front of her.

"Earth to Beca."

"Uh... I'm sorry." Beca blinked to pull her mind back to the person in front of her. "What did you say?"

"Are you okay? You were kind of space out for a minute."

"Yeah. I was uh... You know what? Nevermind."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. So uh... Where were we?" Beca tried to change the subject. "Ah... Why did you laugh?"

Ashley seemed to understand not to push the brunette. So she let it go. Then she asked in comic surprise, "You seriously don't recognize me?"

"Uh... Should I?... Recognize you? I mean, have we met? Or have I spilled my drink on you before that I don't have any recollection about?"

Again, Ashley was amused.

It's not like she liked to throw her celebrity status card or anything. She's not that kind of person. She just found it hard to believe that there was any teenager or young adult that didn't know her from a certain TV series. They'd made quite a successful rating this year on their first season. Besides, she was the main character in a famous cheerleader movie a couple of years back. Being not recognized was a little bit unusual for her.

With her eyes narrowed, Ashley stared at Beca, intrigued as she asked, "Have you heard of a TV series called Pretty Little Liars?"

"Aaahh..."

"Aaahh... as in aaahh I recognize you now or aaahh I finally realize why I don't know you?"

Beca chuckled and said, "It's the latter."

"You don't know Pretty Little Liars?"

"More like I don't know any kind of TV series or movies. I'm uh... not big on visual entertainment called movie or TV series."

"Wow."

Beca just shrugged nonchalantly, sipping her ice tea to cover up the nervousness.

"You, Beca Mitchell, are weirdly interesting."

Beca raised an eyebrow doubtfully because she wasn't used to that reaction. Usually people would've at least laughed at her and asked her the reason behind, recommended her their favorite movies, or worse, pushed her to watch movies with them.

"You're not going to ask me why or push me to watch any movies?"

"I'm sure as hell curious. But who am I to ask or judge what you like or not like to do."

Again, Beca raised an eyebrow with a doubtful scoff.

"What? People have their own personal quirks. I, for one, sure have one hell of personal quirks on my own."

Impressed, Beca tried to suppress her smile and asked, "Do I get the honor to know one of Ashley Benson's quirks?"

"Sure you do." Ashley replied nonchalantly. And then she smirked and added, "If you tell me why you don't like movies or TV series."

Beca laughed. She couldn't even believe that she could laugh so freely around a stranger she just met less than an hour ago. A little bit amused and a lot impressed, Beca pressed her lips with a tight smile, nodding her head as she said, "Well played, Benson. Well played."

Then they fell into a comfortable silent for a while. Well, maybe not so comfortable because they were busy thinking about how easy it was for them to converse with each other. The attraction to each other was new to both of them.

Ashley took a sip of her drink, trying to muster some courage before saying, "So, just so we clear here, I don't want to have any angry girlfriend giving me a third degree for monopolizing you tonight."

Beca snorted knowingly, smirking and teased, "Smooth. And subtle. Really."

Ashley blushed for getting caught. When Beca didn't say anything more, she simply asked, "Well?"

It took a couple of seconds, but Beca finally casually answered, "No. No girlfriend. Or boyfriend."

Maybe it was just a gut feeling, but Ashley was sure that Beca wasn't done yet. So she waited for a second. And it was like the universe confirmed her previous guess. Without looking at Ashley, Beca muttered, "As the matter of fact, no friends at all. So don't worry. You might be monopolizing me tonight, but there is no one that will mind about it."

"My gain then." Ashley beamed at her. But then asked half-jokingly, "Wait. But you are not a felon on the run or a psycho right?"

"I might be."

Upon seeing Ashley's smile faltered, Beca snorted and said, "Easy there Benson. I'm not a felon or a psycho. Honest. Unless being an independent who enjoy being alone way too much is considered as a felony, then nope."

A relief sigh escaped Ashley's lips. And before she knew it, her lips blurted out, "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Enjoy being alone too much. Someone broke your heart and you don't believe in anybody anymore?"

Beca took a moment by sipping her drink before she nonchalantly answered, "I just do better on my own."

Ashley scoffed. "No offense Becs. But it is the lamest excuse. Everybody is good on their own. But we are certainly better when we're not."

"Works for me."

"Huh." Ashley narrowed her eyes, smiling as she said, "Stay longer. Be friends with me. I believe I can break you."

"You can try. But I won't be so sure if I were you. Just don't blame yourself when you fail."

"Does it mean you agree to be my friend then, Mitchell?"

Beca's eyes widened. Yep. She fell into that trap. Yet she laughed lightly and said, "You're good at this game, Benson."

"So it seems." Ashley responded with a smug smirk. "Ready to be changed by the mind blowing Benson Method?"

With an undermining scoff, Beca sarcastically said, "Good luck with that. Just don't hold your breath."

"Oh I won't." Ashley chirped cheerfully. "You won't even know when it's done."

Beca rolled her eyes yet a light tug of smile appeared on the corner of her lips.

"Oh. By the way. That irritated vibe you keep around you, the dark eyeliner, and those ear piercings you use to scare people off?"

Beca raised an eyebrow as if daring the blonde, expecting an insult coming her way.

"They don't work for me."

And again, Beca was amused. She covered it with a scoff before she said, "Oh. You just wait and see."

"Nu uh." Ashley said, wiggling her finger and smiling confidently. " _You_  wait and see."

Beca just rolled her eyes again, trying so hard to hide the grin that pushed to surface.

Ashley grinned smugly upon seeing the not so subtle joy in Beca's eyes. Then she asked, "So, why the handkerchief, Romeo? Were you not born from this century?"

Suddenly, the light in Beca's eyes dimmed slightly, but she put on a weak smile and said, "Well, it's just a habit I've carried ever since I was a first grader."

Beca stopped out of hesitation. But she could see that Ashley was waiting silently. So she continued, "I was a clumsy kid. Well you witness that first-handedly. When I was in the first grade, I usually scratched my face with many things. You know. Crayon, dirt, food, paint, glue, blood, sand. Just anything with color really. So my mom, she uh... she taught me that it's better to be prepared and she always slipped one handkerchief into my pocket every day."

The hint of sadness in Beca's eyes and voice were quite obvious. So Ashley assumed that mother must be a soft spot to touch. She put her hand cautiously on Beca's and squeezed it gently as she said, "She is a very smart lady, Becs."

Surprisingly, Beca didn't mind being touched by Ashley. She put on a tight appreciative smile though. She was trying to decipher the meaning of this... weirdly good feeling she was having.

"I think, she must've anticipated that years later you would've spilled your drink on me."

Beca chuckled and retorted, "You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

When Ashley's cheeks became flushing red, Beca nervously muttered, "I'd really like to believe that she anticipated me spilling my drink on you today."

And... just like that. They both were falling into this nervous shy weird awkward silent.

Yep. Beca was hooked to the blonde since the first sight. They kept on talking for the whole night by the bar about everything and nothing at all. Even unaware when the party started to unwind. Before they knew it, Donna came to inform them that it was already two in the morning and Beca had to go home.

"I'll uh... walk you to your car." Beca said automatically.

Ashley bit her bottom lip to suppress a grin. "Sure."

Beca could see that Donna was smiling knowingly from Ashley's back. With Donna trailing them not so far from behind, they walked side by side closely. And their shoulders bumped into each other's a couple of times.

"Well, I never thought that I would ever say this after a party. But uhm... I really have a great time tonight. Uh... talking with you." Beca said nervously, pushing her hands into her jeans' pockets.

"It's not that hard right?" Ashley said with a smirk. When she realized how nervous Beca was, she added with a shy smile, "I'm glad you do. And just so you know, I also have a great time tonight talking with you."

Beca couldn't help but grinning from ear to ear. Then they arrived near a silver BMW.

"This is me." Ashley said.

Beca shuffled her feet back and forth, rubbing the back of her neck nervously before opening the back passenger door for Ashley. "It's uh... very nice meeting you."

"It's very nice meeting you too, Beca." Ashley said before leaning in to kiss Beca on the cheek.

And damn it! Beca was flushing red. She felt some kind of electric sensation spreading on her cheek where Ashley' lips lingered. It was a very unfamiliar yet welcomed feeling. She didn't know why, but she had this urge to see Ashley again.

Beca closed her eyes, taking a deep breath and clenched her hands in the pockets.  _"It's now or never, Mitchell."_

That was the pep talk she gave to herself before blurting out, "Doyouwanttograbcoffeesometime?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't catch that. What did you say?"

Beca took a deep breath, feeling how silly she must've looked like. She rubbed the back of her neck again for the umpteenth times that night - _it's going to need a moisturizer for the scratch_ , with her eyes fixed on her boots. "I uh... I'm wondering, if you uh... you know, want to grab coffee sometimes... with me?"

Shocked? Stunned? Surprised? Amazed? Yep. Amazed. Ashley didn't think that Beca would ask her out. So excuse her for looking silly with her mouth opened by then.

When she didn't get any response, Beca glanced expectantly at Ashley. And when she saw the seemed like a shocked look on Ashley's face, she rambled, "I mean you don't have to. You can say no. Well, it will be better if you say yes though. But why would you? Who's crazy enough to agree on going out for coffee with a stranger they just met? Ugh... I'm so bad at this. I'm so sorry, my bad, just forget that I asked. We can pretend that I never asked."

Ashley chuckled with rosy cheeks and replied, "I can be crazy enough."

This time, it was Beca's turn to be frozen up with her jaw dropped open. Why wouldn't she? She just rambling out of her mind frantically like an idiot yet this gorgeous blonde agreed to go out with her. Lucky her. Right?

"Well, you know." Ashley teased upon seeing Beca's dumbstruck expression. "Crazy enough to take an offer to grab some coffee with a stranger. Especially when the stranger is very adorably cute."

"I am so not adorable nor cute, Benson."

"Who said I was talking about you?"

"Wha... I thought... wait, what?"

Ashley barked out her delightful laughter – _in Beca's opinion_ , upon seeing Beca's manner. Then she took Beca's hands in hers, smiling softly as she said, "You are definitely something else, Beca Mitchell. I was kidding, silly. Of course I was talking about you."

"Oh. You're apparently not only crazy. But also mean."

"Now, give me your phone." Ashley put her hand out.

"What? Why? Don't you have your own phone?"

Ashley snorted. "You really don't know how to do this, do you?"

"You have no idea." Beca rolled her eyes. "Now, why would you need my phone?"

"To put my number on it. Duh. We need to communicate about the time and place of that coffee you asked me. Becs... in this century, we, modern people, use this kind of rectangular device. You know, to communicate. It's called a phone."

"Haha. Very funny." Beca handed Ashley her phone. She watched intently as the blonde put her number on it.

"There. My number's on it. And I already texted myself to get your number. So, it's too late for a second thought if you want to bail on the date." Ashley winked as she hands back Beca's phone.

"So, it's a date, huh?" Beca couldn't help the knowing smirk on her face.

Successful in getting Beca's attention on her not so subtle attempt to reassure the meaning of the so-called coffee meeting, Ashley smiled cheerfully. With an effort to seem nonchalant, Ashley shrugged and said, "It can be a date. I mean, if you want to."

Beca chuckled real soft and said, "It's a date then."

Ashley beamed at her and leaned in to kiss her cheek again. "It's settled then, Mitchell. Call me about the details."

Again, Beca was stunned by the kiss. But she quickly put on her charming lopsided smile. "Yes ma'am."

After that, Ashley got into the car and then Beca slammed the door gently. They waved goodbye by the window. Beca watched as Ashley's car turned at the corner of the street before walking- no, scratch that. She was skipping her feet to her waiting car. When she slid inside, Donna was smiling and looking at her knowingly.

"Shut up, Donna." Beca muttered with her cheeks turning red.

"I didn't say anything."

That was their first meeting. Seems cool, right? Well, the next five years were uhm... more colorful. Let's start with the fact that it took Beca six months to officially ask Ashley to be her girlfriend. It happened because Beca needed to be sure that she wasn't into Ashley for some unresolved first love or anything.

At first, Beca couldn't deny the resemblance between Ashley with her first love. Someone with red hair, but personality wise had the similar attitudes. And let's not pretend that we don't know who it is. Because we do.

Well, that was just one reason though. The other was that Beca being Beca. And she had always been terrified to put herself out there, let alone to admit that she had feeling to other people. It wasn't her zone and forte. She avoided that like a plague.

But after months of constant texting, midnight calls, several casual coffee and lunch dates, getting drunk together, and one hell of a trip to the hospital, Beca was finally certain about her feeling toward the blonde.

So, six months after the first encounter and two months after the incident that required a trip to the hospital, Beca officially asked Ashley to be her girlfriend.

In case you're wondering how, she sang a song. Of course. She's Beca Mitchell. But not only a song. She made a dinner reservation exclusively only for the two of them at a rooftop restaurant. After dinner and pleasantries, Beca serenaded Ashley with a love song. While playing a piano. Yep. All out.

When the song ended, Beca asked, "So uhm... Do you maybe uh... Want to make it official? Be my girlfriend? Or uh... something like that?"

Ashley chuckled. Yeah. Chuckled. And Beca felt like an idiot. Thinking that why would anybody date her.

"I thought I was already your girlfriend." Ashley said cheerfully. Then she wrapped her arms around Beca's neck and added, "You know. After you told me that you love me two months ago at the hospital."

A face-splitting grin appeared on Beca's face but she suppressed it instantly and nonchalantly said, "I didn't say I love you."

"Nu uh." Ashley said in confusion. "You did."

"I said..." Beca trailed with a smirk. "I  _think_  I'm falling in love with you."

"Haha." Ashley rolled her eyes and slapped Beca's arm playfully as she said, "Very funny, Mitchell."

"It's my middle name!" Beca exclaimed. "Beca Ste- _funny_  Mitchell."

Ashley couldn't help but chuckle with an eye rolling.

"Pun intended." Beca added with a smartass smirk.

"Just kiss me already, girlfriend." Ashley demanded with a pout.

And Beca complied. Whole-heartily. No need to get into the detail. You know how to kiss.

.

.

You do, right?

**End of Flashback.**

Okay folks. That is the second chapter. Their anniversary night isn't over yet. But I have to wrap this chapter in regard of the chapter's tittle.

I have a surprise in the next chapter. Until then, sit tight and make good choices.

Oh. About the song Beca had sung to ask Ashley to be her girlfriend. You'll find out later.


	3. The Ups and Downs and Everything in Between

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the last chapter, we talked about how Beca met Ashley for the first time and asked her to be a girlfriend. Now, like I said by the end of the 2nd chapter, we're still gonna be talking about the 5th anniversary. In this chapter, we'll also talk about their life together in the last five years. Here it goes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, by the way, I don't own Pitch Perfect. Neither the song in this chapter. It's Top Of The World by Anthem Lights.  
> Enjoy. And feel free to comments or give critiques. I'm opened for suggestions.

As the memory or their first meeting flashes in her mind, Beca doesn't notice that she has been smiling. On her own. Creepily. But it doesn't matter. Let's get back to their love story.

Since she found Ashley, Beca never wanted to be alone anymore. No matter how hard the situation was, she always chose to face it head on with Ashley.

But like every other relationship, it's not always rainbow and sunshine. Definitely. There were a lot of bumpy road and scorching roller coaster along the way. We certainly can't talk about all of it. But let's see some of the significant ones.

The first down line of the roller coaster in their relationship happened a year into their relationship. Ashley wanted to come out about their relationship to the public other than her best friends and family. Well, to be fair, it was getting harder to keep their relationship under the radar with Ashley's growing popularity as a celebrity.

On the other hand, it was a terrifying idea for someone like Beca. Seriously. She had been hiding her life for years for a reason. And it wasn't as easy as flipping a hand to just jump out of her comfortable safe closet. There would be consequences.

So certainly, Beca voted against the idea. It's not like she didn't love Ashley enough. She was just... horrified. And paranoid.

And naturally, they had their first huge fight,that almost tore them apart. But in the end, Beca relented. Why? It's simple. Because Ashley had a very solid reason; Beca couldn't hide forever.

Although it was hard, Beca started to surface and came up to the public by revealing DJ M's real identity. Then she changed her stage name into DJ Mitchell. Suddenly, her life was under not only a crazy pumping blinding lights, but also a super huge magnifying glass.

Beca was never fond of the idea of living under the microscope called the media, so the transition process hit her hard. It was a good thing that Ashley was always there by her side, held her hand, tirelessly showed her how wonderful it felt to be living and loving freely.

Despite of the fact that Beca was a very closed off person and still kept her feeling for herself, Ashley loved her anyway, for whoever and however she was. Especially when Beca had been nothing but sweet, loving, caring, considerate, faithful, kind, supportive, understanding, and adorably awkward.

So Ashley waited patiently for Beca to open herself up. Then, after their 2nd anniversary, Ashley wanted them to move in together. Again, Beca was still not ready yet. They had a huge fight that ended up with Ashley walking out the door. They didn't see or talk to each other for more than a month.

Beca knew that Ashley didn't want to be left out at the other side of the wall anymore. Not when she was willing to give every single piece of her heart to Beca. Being left by Ashley was the most terrifying moment for Beca, because she finally realized how much Ashley meant to her.

Yep. She didn't want to lose Ashley. She couldn't. Especially if it was for some stupid reasons like being stubborn and afraid of getting hurt.

Eventually, Beca decided that she shouldn't keep running and hiding out of fear. Not if it kept her from having the happy ending that she deserved. And not if it hurt the person she loved the most.

The only way to win Ashley back was that Beca had to own up her fear and let go of her insecurities. Beca clearly knew that. She couldn't just keep leaving Ashley out because it was selfish and it was indeed unfair to the blonde. So, she threw her fear out of the window, gave in, be the bigger person, and surrendered all.

One night, weeks after not seeing and talking to Ashley, Beca came to Ashley's apartment and told her everything. At that moment, Beca opened her Pandora box to Ashley, and let her know everything that made she vow to never give any spaces or chances for other people to come close and hurt her ever again. She told Ashley about all of the things that made her run to the opposite direction of any commitment and why she believed that nobody stay.

Just like all of the other damaged person had experienced, the first crack always started from family. Beca's parents got divorced because her father had cheated on her mother when she was only eight years old. The process was hard and it didn't just flip her life upside down, but also changed the way she think about relationship.

Beca had lived a hard but loving life with her mother until her so-called father forced her to leave her mother and go to college. Then when she was a junior in college, her mother died suddenly from pancreatic cancer and it left her crushed and devastated. For the cherry on top, her father disowned her after she came out as a gay not long before graduation.

After the family issue, Beca told Ashley about the first group that she had considered as family, The Bellas. Before they started dating, she had told Ashley about how she ended up staying and finishing her degree in musical engineering with the support from The Bellas. She even had a couple of framed pictures of The Bellas in her penthouse and office. However, whenever Ashley ask more about it, Beca would just brush her off and change the topic.

That night, Beca finally told Ashley everything about every single Bella. She talked about how college turned out to be the best part of her life because of them. She didn't leave any detail out, from Aubrey with her pukegate, until world championship. It means, she also talked about her first love, Chloe Beale.

Beca told Ashley everything about Chloe, starting from how they met, how she slowly fell in love with the red head, and in the end, how she decided to leave without any word after graduation.

Ashley finally connected the dots why Beca hid her identity for years, why it took Beca so long to ask her to be a girlfriend, why she didn't want to come out on their relationship even after a year of dating, and why Beca was hesitant to move in together.

Everything was finally out in the open. Ashley held Beca till the sun came up, kept wiping the tears that fell silently on the brunette's cheeks while whispering repeatedly, "It's okay, Babe. I understand. I love you, I will always do. I'll never leave you, ever again. I promise."

In Ashley's arms, Beca finally had the most peaceful sleep she'd ever had after years while the blonde singing Make You Feel My Love by Adele ever so softly. The next day, Beca apologized profusely and promised that she would do her best to be better and more open.

They made up with an agreement that Beca would see a professional to solve her emotional problems, and then Ashley agreed to move on with Beca. They got back together and became stronger than ever.

After that revelation, Beca introduced Ashley to a couple of Bellas. Stacie was the first Bella that Beca contacted after a couple of sessions with her therapist, and they had hung out together a couple of times.

Ashley also met and eventually became best friend with Emily since Beca produced Emily's 3rd album. Other than the two tall brunettes, she also met the hilarious blonde, Fat Amy, who had visited the brunette in L.A. a couple of times after Stacie called her about the tiny brunette.

The last minor quakes in their relationship so far happened just three years and a half into their relationship. Beca had gotten a job that required her to stay in London for 6 months. It was the longest time they had to be separated ever since they got together.

Even with constant phone calls, face timing, and weekend visits every now and then, the distant and time differences took a toll on their relationship. In addition to it, there was a rumor around the air that Ashley was having an affair when Beca was away. Which was very untrue. But Beca being the insecure one, it sure did some number on her. In the end, they talked and worked it out.

Judging from all of that, it's safe to say that the last 5 years hadn't been a walk in a park for them. More like a ride on a burning roller coaster. Nevertheless, Ashley stayed with Beca and never once left again after the promise she made.

It took them both quite sometimes, one hell lots of compromises, and almost everything they had to be where they are today. Even so, sometimes, Beca still wondered how Ashley could still be in love with her after seeing, facing, being hit and hurt by all of her insecurities.

Slowly but sure, the blonde changed almost everything that Beca had ever believed in. Ashley brought the best out of her. She helped Beca to face her fear, deal with her insecurities, learn to let go of her past, and fight for what she really wants. For the things that she deserves.

After been through hell, Beca came back. This 32 year old Beca Mitchell is a changed person. Well, she's still as clumsy as ever, still the same whiny and sarcastic brat, still the same socially awkward alt girl. More or less. Just with new features.

She's brave to embrace the pain, she's learnt to pick herself up when she falls apart, and she doesn't let the weight of the world bring her down. More importantly, she finally has faith that sometimes somehow, people stay. Because so far, after everything, Ashley stays.

For that, Beca made a promise to herself that she would never take Ashley for granted, and would always try to be a better person that deserves Ashley's love.

The last thought reminds her of the one thing that she's been contemplating to do for a little over a year now.

Beca closes her eyes and sighs. She is so lost in her thought and she doesn't notice that Ashley has been watching her well-known-mind-wandering face all along.

Ashley pokes her girlfriend on the cheek and softly asks, "Babe, what's on that pretty little head of yours?"

"I was thinking about the day that we met." Beca says with a soft smile. "Remember? At the party? I spilled my drink on you."

After earning a nod from her girlfriend, Beca continues, "I was so captivated by your blue eyes that I forgot how to speak or even move for a moment. Literally. That was even before I heard you laugh. The first time I heard you laugh, all I could think about is how beautiful it sounded and how bad I wanted to hear it again and again and again."

"Dork." Ashley says, grinning from ear to ear before pressing a kiss on Beca's left upper arm.

"Yours nonetheless." Beca presses her lips onto Ashley's crown and smiles contently. Then she glances down to their lacing hands, and slowly trails her eyes up to look into Ashley's ocean blue eyes only to lean in and gently kiss her lips.

It's short but firm. Casual but deliberate. She pulls back a little bit and rests their foreheads together, looking deep into Ashley's eyes as she says, "I love you, Hon. It's been a long way until this moment. Thank you for loving me."

Ashley's smile becomes wider and then she gives Beca a soft peck before saying, "I love you too Babe. Always."

"Aaaaw..." Their friends tease, throwing comments about how disgustingly sweet and adorable they were, making both Ashley and Beca blush even more.

Suddenly, Patrick is up on his feet, smirking toward the tiny brunette and says, "I'm afraid we need more prove, Mitchell."

Beca raises an eyebrow in confusion, but her face changes immediately when Patrick walks to the stage.

"Dude! Don't!" Beca shouts frantically. But poor Beca. She's too late.

"Attention people." Patrick says, standing behind a mic with a huge grin on his face. "Tonight, two of my very best friends are celebrating their 5th anniversary. Look at that pair over there. The beautiful blonde and the grumpy brunette." He says, gesturing his hand to their table. "I know, right? They're like the real life version of beauty and the beast."

Upon hearing a loud laughter from the audience, Patrick grins from ear to ear while the DJ is staring at him with deathly glare.

"Kidding dude." He turns to the audience and continues, "She told me yesterday that she would do anything to make her girlfriend happy. Not only yesterday to be honest. She said that, a lot. So now I challenge her to sing for her girlfriend on this stage."

The crowds are clapping and cheering. Patrick almost gets off the stage, but he jumps back behind the mic and then says, "And I thank you all in advance. Because I'm pretty sure that the police will find my body by the shore next morning."

The crowds bark out a louder laughter as Patrick hops off the stage and walks back to their table.

Beca groans loudly and punches Patrick on his arm not so playfully. "What the fuck are you doing?"

Patrick just smirks with an eyebrow raised as if challenging the brunette.

After turning to her girlfriend and showing her terrified look, Beca pleads, "Hon..."

Ashley laughs lightly and kisses her girlfriend chastely on the lips before saying, "Go on. You'll be okay."

Beca groans again, turning her head back to Patrick. "You are so dead, Adams."

However, Beca stands up slowly, taking a deep breath and then walks up to the stage.

Even after all this time being a DJ, we would've thought that Beca already got used to be on the stage. But that is not the case, folks. She still got nervous every single time she has to perform.

With one hand grabbing the guitar tightly, and the other rubbing the back of her neck nervously, Beca nervously says, "Uh... I am Beca. I uh, will sing."

After realizing how dumb she must've looked like, Beca rolls her eyes and blurts out, "Well obviously. What else am I going to do on this stage with a guitar in my hands."

The self-insult earns a loud laughter from the little crowd in the VIP room. After the laughter unwind, Beca dries the sweat off her palm on her jeans, rambles out as the nerves are eating her up. "Though uh... it has been ten years since the last time I sing in front of the crowds. Usually I'm the person behind the curtain, or the mixing table. But uh... tonight it's not the case. Thanks to my asshole best friend."

With a deathly glare toward Patrick that earns another laughter from the audience, Beca mutters, "So uh... bear with me please."

Upon seeing how nervous his best friend is, Patrick shouts, "Just sing already, Mitchell!"

Beca glares at him but she says, "Okay, I uh... I'll just sing now. This is an acoustic cover of The Top of The World by Anthem Lights. They are one hell of a great group. I uh... wrote this song almost three years ago. Now, uhm, this is for the woman that inspired me to write and produce this song. Ashley, uh... I love you Hon. Always."

"I love you too Babe! Always!" Ashley shouts before blowing a kiss toward her girlfriend.

Then Beca starts strumming her guitar, trying to do one hell out of improvisation with her still shaking fingers because the original song is a little bit upbeat.

This song came into her mind just a second before she hopped on the stage. Beca knew what she wanted to say with this song. For so many reasons that she has showed how much she loves her girlfriend, she always feel that it isn't enough.

Despite of so many songs Beca had produced and mixes she'd made inspired by her girlfriend, she finds that actually singing it makes it feel more real.

Because, come on people. Beca might not be good at telling her felling, but she knows damn well how to sing it.

Therefore, as uncomfortable as she is for being forced to sing on the stage, Beca sing whole-heartily. Because for once, she wants to show the world - _or in this case the 50-ish people in the VIP room_ , just how crazy she is about Ashley.

Beca shakes her head and her hands lightly, trying to shake down the nerves before she closes her eyes and forgets about everything but her girlfriend. And then she sings.

_Tell me we don't have to leave, say we can stay forever_   
_That we can always be, just me and you together_   
_Cause this moment is all that I want_   
_Oooh_

_Tell me how it used to be, and let me make it better_   
_Cause baby you and me, we'll fly above the weather_   
_Where we're going, there's no holding on_   
_No_   
_Let my eyes be your sunrise here_

_Standing on top of the world, hands up in the air feeling so alive_   
_Screaming at the top of our lungs, to the rhythm of our heartbeat beating tonight_   
_We go_   
_Oooh standing on top of the world_

Beca opens her eyes slowly, looking for the pair of blue-eyes she adores the most. She has to find them. Because the next part of the song is her favorite.

Then she finds them, the pair of blue eyes that belong to the one and only Ashley Benson. Who is staring at her with the widest smile that crinkles the corner of her eyes and shows how deep her dimples go. All on her beautifully featured face. She keeps her eyes on Ashley's as she sing.

_So this is what it feels like, living this life in color_   
_Say bye to black and white, you let me change it over_   
_Now I see there's no going back_   
_No_

_Finally I understand, what feeling's supposed to feel like_   
_And when I got your hand, I've never been so high_   
_All I need is all that you have_   
_Oh_   
_Your eyes are my sunrise here_

_Standing on top of the world, hands up in the air feeling so alive_   
_Screaming at the top of our lungs, to the rhythm of our heartbeat beating tonight_   
_We go_   
_Oooh standing on top of the world_

By now, Beca can feel her jaw hurt because of the splitting grin on her face. Especially when Ashley is staring back at her with glimmering eyes and fond smile.

_And from way up here our problem seems so small_   
_So baby have no fear we'll fly above it all_

_Standing on top of the world, Hands up in the air feeling so alive_   
_Screaming at the top of our lungs, To the rhythm of our heartbeat beating tonight_   
_We go_   
_Oooh standing on top of the world_

Beca ends the performance with a deafening cheers and clasps from the audience. More specifically from the group of her friends. Beca sees that Ashley has already stood up and walked to her. So she hops down the stage and rushes to her girlfriend, wrapping her arms around Ashley's mid-thigh and lifts her up.

Ashley squeals, throwing her head back in a laughter before she cups Beca's cheeks and kisses her passionately.

Everybody is cheering and whistling at them, and their friends keep throwing confetti's toward them.

They pull away from each other, resting their foreheads together with the widest grin they have. This is indeed the greatest way to celebrate their 5th anniversary. Little did Beca know, someone has been watching her since she walked up to the stage.

Told you in the first chapter. Life always has something up its sleeve. Just when Beca thought that everything is going perfectly in her life, she gets more surprise. We'll see what, or more precisely, who it is. In the next chapter.

Until then, sit tight and make good choices. Thank you for reading.


	4. First Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey folks! Last time we were left off after Beca sang to Ashley, and there was someone lurking in the corner. I think most of you have already figured out who it was. Or is.  
> So, this is another chapter, and I'm trying something different in this one. I split it in three POVs. Hopefully it's not confusing. If it is, please remind me. I'd love to improve my writing skill. Throw me some critiques.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now, I want to thank the reviewers. The first one is bechloeorbhloe. Yes. I am indeed a tease. Glad that you get it. ;)  
> The second one would be RJRMovieFan. Thank you for the review dude. And about the curve ball, I love dark and twisty. So, you can expect some of curve balls along the way. Oh and about feeling different to see Beca without the other Bella? Don't worry. They'll be here. Soon.  
> Now we can start this chapter. Once again, I don't own Pitch Perfect, and neither the song I put down in this chapter. It's Passenger Seat by Stephen Speaks.

 

**Now for the unknown person. Please brace yourself _*drumroll... ... ..._  Tadaaa! It's the one and only, the stunning Chloe Beale! Yep. Most of you might have predicted it. We'll start with Chloe's POV.**

When she decided to come to a karaoke bar that night, Chloe never thought that she would meet the person who broke her heart years ago. Honestly, she'd never thought that she would've met Beca ever again.

However, as always, fate has another plan. No kidding. I believe the universe just need a dark humor. It loves to mess with your life when you think the odd has already been in your favor. Are you with me? Doesn't matter. Let's go back to the story.

It feels like being hit with a ton of bricks. Yep. That is how Chloe feel when she sees Beca walking up to the stage. It takes her a great deal of courage, and a couple shots of pure tequila until she deems that she's brave enough to approach  _her_  DJ.

The group is laughing so hard from the joke a brunette guy tells when Chloe comes slowly from behind  _her_  DJ. She covers Beca's eyes with her hands, and whispers near her ear, "Guess who?"

Dear god. Do the tiny brunette jumps from her seat. Her eyes go wide and her jaw drops in tremendous shock for a second before she gasps.

"Chloe?" Beca says hesitantly at first. Then she turns around, and when she sees the grin on Chloe's face, she shouts, "Chloe!"

"Becs!" Chloe jumps and tackles Beca with a bone-breaking hug. She couldn't have been more care less about her surroundings.

"Air... I need air, Beale."

Chloe pulls away a little bit to see the face she haven't seen in a very long time. For her, Beca looks almost the same as ten years ago before she left. Except that there are less eye liner, and somehow she seems lighter, more confident, and more approachable.

It must have something to do with the way she carries herself, the way she moves, and Chloe can't exactly pinpoint what it is. But it sure bring a sense of strength in her character.

If college Beca was attractive, this older Beca has the glow that Chloe can only describe as charming. And it isn't even close to what the brunette represents.

After pulling herself out from the haze of Beca Mitchell, Chloe exclaims, "How did you know that it was me?!"

"What are you doing here?!" Beca exclaims at the same time. Then they chuckle.

"Oh please Beale. I could recognize that vanilla perfume of yours from miles away. I bought you your first bottle remember? Besides, it's only you who dare to break into my personal bubble that close, intentionally, without a warning. Still have that old habit of breaking in I see."

Upon seeing the knowing smirk on Beca's face, Chloe slaps her arm playfully and chuckles.

"Aw!" Beca glares at her while rubbing her slapped arm. "Violent much? I think you broke one or two of my ribs by that bear hug."

"Well, hello to you too, long lost friend." Chloe rolls her eyes playfully. "Don't be such a baby Becs. I barely touch you. Besides, pretend all your way to China. I know you love that hug. You always have. And I'll just ignore how creepy you are for remembering my perfume after all this time."

Upon seeing that Beca is just staring at her in mock upset, Chloe smiles and adds, "I've missed you Becs."

Beca's eyes soften, smiling as she replies, "I've missed you too, Chlo."

Upon hearing that nickname, Chloe can't help herself from beaming her signature megawatt smile that splits from ear to ear and can light up the whole universe, thinking about how endearing it sounds even after all this time. And that is just how easy to be drawn into Beca's charm.

"Earth to Chloe."

"Sorry, what were you saying?"

"Got lost in Chloe land?"

Chloe just gives the tiny brunette a weak smile.

"What are you doing in L.A.? Aren't you supposed to be in Boston, teaching a bunch of ruggrats about art and music?"

"Well, I got offered a teaching job at a private school here like a month ago. I'm staying in L.A. now, teaching a bunch of ruggrats about art and music."

When Beca remains silent and looks at her face with unreadable expression, Chloe playfully asks, "What? Aren't you happy to see me, Becs?"

"Well, no uh... I mean yes. Of course, I'm happy to see you. Uh... good for you. I mean... uh... congratulations? Or uh... welcome to L.A.? I guess?"

Chloe just laughs lightly, realizing that her long lost friend still carry that awkward antique attitude even after years. There are a moment of comfortable silent wrap them around for a couple of seconds.

"Well, I'm proud of you, Chlo." Beca eventually breaks the silent. When Chloe doesn't say anything, she smirks and asks, "Aren't you supposed to ask about how I am now, Red?"

The red head giggles lightly seeing the smirk she loves the most. "I don't think I need to,  _my_  DJ."

Beca suddenly seems nervous and she looks down to her boots. Before she can say anything, Chloe beats her to that by pinching her cheeks playfully, and cheerfully says, "From the media. Duh! You are one of the best music producers and DJ in the whole world. Of course, I know how you are. And I am also very proud of you."

Beca simply sighs in relief, yet her eyes are still fixed on the floor.

Chloe is searching for that pair of steely blue eyes when the brunette glances up to see hers at the same time. They just look at each other and forget that they are actually surrounded by people until they hear someone clears her throat.

"Babe?" A woman's voice startle both her and Beca.

"Oh... Sorry. I got caught up." Beca turns around to wrap her arm around a blonde's waist.

"Well, Chloe, meet my girlfriend, Ashley." The brunette says with a beaming smile toward the blonde next to her. Then she shifts a little to point at the group next to them. "And those loud people over there are our friends. Movie nerds, this is Chloe Beale, my best friend from college."

Chloe smiles politely and offers her hand for a handshake to Ashley, which Ashley returns with the same effort.

Four years ago, when Beca finally came out of her hiding and announced that she was dating a girl, Chloe was not only surprised, but she was also hurt. She never knew that Beca was into girls when they were in college. That was the reason she never made a move toward the brunette.

Tonight, she got even more surprised when she saw  _her_  little DJ, the self-proclaimed badass Beca  _Effin_  Mitchell, went on the stage, sang a cheesy love song for her girlfriend, and on the top of all, she hugged and kissed her girlfriend in front of one hell lots of people.

Yep. Singing alone in front of at least 10 people is a great deal for Beca.

As much as Chloe could remember, the Beca she knew more than ten years ago wouldn't even consider doing any of those things.

Well, what did she know, right? It has been a very long time anyway. Ten years folks. Ten years.

"Hi Chloe." Everybody else greet the red head with friendly smiles and waves. And that pulls Chloe out of her own train of thought.

Chloe smiles apologetically, waves back to the group, and says, "Hi. I am sorry if I interrupted." Then she realizes how familiar the group is. "Hey! I know all of you. Aren't you all from that TV series about a group of friends that are being terrorized by A?"

"Yep." A long-haired brunette chirps, popping the P. "That's us. I am Shay by the way. Beca and I are sisters from another mister. You know, we're the Mitchells. These are Sasha, Troian, Patrick, Tyler, Ian, and Keegan."

Then another brown haired girl named Troian chips in and bombards Chloe with a bunch of questions. "Beca has a best friend? What a shock. How much did she pay you to play pretend? Did she threatened you?"

Even though she is getting a deathly glare from Beca, Troian just smiles slyly and asks Chloe, "Are you here alone Chlo?"

"Oh, shoot!" Chloe's eyes widen. "Actually, I came with someone. I was trying to find them when I saw Beca." She looks around frantically before checking her phone. "Damn it! Perfect. My phone just died."

Beca pulls Chloe's hands and says, "Why don't you just sit here with us and wait for them to find you?"

After noticing the frown on Ashley's face, and how the group are eyeing their hands, Chloe wants to refuse. However, when she looks at Beca's pleading eyes, she just can't do it. So she sheepishly says, "Well, if it's okay with the group..."

"Of course it's okay." A brunette man hurriedly responds. "We want to hear all about college Beca. So... tell us uh... Chloe, right?"

Chloe nods, taking a seat on Beca's right side.

"I'm Tyler." He flashes her a warm smile that turns into a smirk when he asks, "Has Beca always been this annoying, arrogant, little weirdo?"

Chloe chuckles as Beca throws a peanut at him, which he ducks successfully. The group bark out a laughter upon seeing that act.

"Yes, indeed." Chloe explains, trying to suppress her own grin. "And also, she has always been a reclusive, drama queen, whiny, act like a badass but secretly a softy inside, cocky little DJ."

"That hurts. I'm wounded. You just hurt my fragile tiny little ego." Beca says with bored looking face. Of course the group burst out in laughter.

"Yeah... yeah... yeah... keep going. Make fun of the tiny people. Haha... very funny. It's good to know how highly you all think of me. I'm truly flattered." Beca says in mock upset.

When her friends don't stop laughing at her, Beca turn at her girlfriend, furrowing her eyebrows, pressing her lips together, acting like an upset child and grumbles, "Hon, aren't you supposed to be the sweet girlfriend that you are and tell them to stop teasing me?"

Ashley chuckles, shakes her head lightly, and taps Beca on the nose. "Nope. It's every women for themselves, Babe."

It hurts. Definitely hurt. Seeing how  _her_  Beca acts around Ashley, and it's something Chloe has never seen before. But Chloe laughs with everybody, trying to hide a pang in her chest.

Chloe puts on a forced wider smile when Beca turns to her, running her fingers through her brown locks with a mock-frustrated face.

"You just met them, yet you already team up with them. That is so not cool, Beale. You are supposed to be on my side, have my back, defend my honor, or whatever it is a best friend should be doing."

"Poor Beca." Chloe mocks an overly pitiful face. "That's what you got when you never keep in touch for ten years, Becs."

When Beca's face becomes pale so suddenly, Chloe regrets what she said almost immediately.

"I'm so sorry, Chlo." Beca mutters.

A sigh. It's the first thing Chloe does when Beca looks at her with sad eyes. To be honest, this isn't the reaction she has always imagined she'd do if she ever meet Beca again. She thought that she was going to be angry. Slapping, kicking, and tearing apart kind of angry.

Well, because she should be angry. She tried to contact the tiny DJ with hundreds of texts, emails, and voice mails in a year after graduation. But when she received nothing in return, eventually she stopped trying. It had become too painful to be left behind and ignored.

So yeah, Chloe knows clearly that she has every single right to be angry and furious at Beca. But when she looks at how sad and sincere the brunette has apologized, she gives in. For now at the very least.

With a soft smile, Chloe says, "It's okay Becs. You're here now. It all will be forgiven and forgotten as long as you explain yourself. And promise me. Never disappear from my life, ever again Becs."

Beca grins from ear to ear and looks into Chloe's eyes. She puts her hand on Chloe's, squeezes it firmly as she says, "Never again. I promise. In fact, I might even do the pinky promise."

The red head laughs lightly and links her pinky finger with the brunette's.

Chloe is fully aware that the group are glancing at each other, looking confused of the interaction between the two of them. They also keep glancing at Ashley, as if asking for elaboration while Ashley just raises her eyebrows, smiles tightly, and subtly shrugs. But Chloe notices.

The tension is raising, so Chloe is relieved when Shay playfully says, "So Chloe, since you already knew who we are and what we do, please tell us about yourself. And do us the favor to tell the story about how you, unfortunately, met the tiny bit over there."

"Yeah." Troain chips in. "Geez Beca. We all know that we've  _only_  been friends with you for more than five years. But how come you never mention about your best friend in college to us before? Seriously. We thought we already go up from being strangers to being at least some people that you might recognize in the crowd."

While Beca is glaring at Troian, Chloe can't help the relieved sigh escapes from her smiling lips, knowing that even time can't change certain things in Beca. Things that make her who she is, the very private and closed off person.

Chloe takes a deep breath before she answers, "Well, Beca and I met in college when I was a senior. Beca was only a freshman back then. I was a co-captain in acapella group called The Barden Bella, and I uh..." she hesitates a little bit but continues, "recruited her to join us. I stayed three more years in college for The Bella, and in those four years, Beca and I became best friend."

Everybody seem shocked and confused.

"Beca was in acapella group?" Sasha asks doubtfully.

"The so called badass DJ Mitchell sing acapella?" Troian asks in comic surprise. "For real? We thought that it was a myth. And we've heard the rumor, but still... acapella?"

Chloe just bites her lower lip to suppress her laughter and nods. Then everybody laugh their ass off.

"Unbelievable!" Shay exclaims in comic surprise.

Ian shakes his head in disbelief. "I think hell must've frozen already."

"I wonder what kind of tornado storm that happened on the day Beca Mitchell auditioned to  _The Barden Bella_." Tyler narrows his eyes in a mock thinking face.

Chloe just nods and chuckles while Beca sends deathly glare at her friends and exclaimes, "What's wrong with me joining acapella group? Singing acapella is cool and totally badass. It is so not easy to sing, and dance, and match pitch, and harmonize, and rap, and beatboxing, oh and also do props all at the same time. Not to mention all of the cardio I did. Those things must've added my badass points. By a lot."

A warm feeling creep into Chloe's chest, looking at Beca defending their acapella group. She can't help but staring fondly at the tiny brunette. Yet she teases, "If I recall correctly, you said it was lame Becs."

Beca blushes and mutters, "Yeah, well, that was before I became a part of the strangest yet the most amazing acapella group in the whole world with a bunch of weirdos."

The group only pull their eyebrows up in disbelief, staring at Beca doubtfully as if saying,  _"Really?"_

"We even had trophies to prove that. Right, Red?"

Chloe just nods to respond.

"In fact, we won three national championship and a world championship when Chloe and I were captains. Me and my very best friend over here brought our team to be the first American acapella group who won world. We, are the dynamic duo." Beca says smugly, pats her own chest, and raises her hand for a high five.

"Totes!" Chloe smacks her hand onto Beca's with a huge grin on her face. "We were inseparable. I am the Brain to her Pinky, Jerry to her Tom, Doraemon to her Nobita, SpongeBob to her Patrick, peanut butter to her jelly, and so on."

"I hope I'm not the lessen duo." Beca laughs upon hearing the personification. And damn it! Did it flutter Chloe's chest. Chloe turns to look at Beca and her heart begins to thump crazily as she sees the fond smile forming on the brunette's face.

"Yeah, it was always us against the world, Red. We had quite an adventure, didn't we?" Beca retorts softly.

"Yeah." Chloe says fondly. "We did."

"Seriously, how did you manage to recruit Beca into an acapella group?" Sasha asks curiously.

"Well..." Chloe turns to see Sasha, puts her finger on her chin, humming in thinking before she turns to look at Beca, smirking as she says, "Let's just say that I could be very persuasive. Am I right, Becs?"

Beca is blushing red, remembering their shower incident, vividly. "Yeah... Uh, whatever you say, Red."

* * *

 

**From this point, we'll see it from Ashley's POV folks.**

Ashley couldn't ask for a better way to celebrate her and Beca's 5th anniversary. Yeah. There's nothing extravaganza about it, but it is sweet, lovable, and personal because they share it with their closest friends.

I mean, what's more romantic than being serenaded by your socially awkward girlfriend in front of a lot of audience at a karaoke bar? I guess nothing.

So, yes. Ashley is more than swoon by the gesture. In fact, she is over the moon. It's not that Beca is not a sweet romantic person. Beca is indeed and truly a romantic person. Just closeted. So the fact that she did it in front of other people did say something more.

They are having a great time around their best friend when suddenly a certain red head surprises Beca from behind. The person seems familiar to her, but she can't really remember. So, Ashley is beyond taken aback when she hears the name Beca shouts out.

_Chloe_.

Of course she is familiar with that name. You would've been taken aback too when it's the name of your girlfriend's unrequited first love's name, let alone the only person your girlfriend ever loved for a very long time.

An uneasy feeling starts creeping up in Ashley upon seeing the way Beca and Chloe act and behave toward each other, and even more so by the nicknames. The thing that bothers her the most is the way Beca looks at Chloe. What is it? Is it longing or fondness? It sure raises some jealousy in her chest.

It's not like Ashley doesn't know anything about their story. In fact, she knows everything about Beca, including her feeling toward the red head and all of the things they'd been through together when they were still in college.

She even knows that she should be thanking the red head for being there with the brunette when her mother died. Otherwise, maybe she wouldn't even have a chance to meet her girlfriend in the first place.

And after all of the things that her and Beca have been through, Ashley feels nothing but optimistic about their future. In the past five years, they've learnt their lessons and grown a lot in this relationship. Either as a person and as a couple.

It's true. Beca has become a person that can be completely open in their relationship, and Ashley has learnt when to push or to pull the brunette. They fit and complement each other. They become better at communication, which is a very important thing, knowing their working environment and how paranoid Beca can be.

Well, that's what she thought. But apparently, seeing Beca with her first love is a whole different story than just listening to the story about them.

Ashley's train of thought is cut off when Troian asks about the huge pink elephant in the room. "If you were so inseparable, then how come you lost contact for ten years?"

Patrick immediately elbows Troian on her arm. On the other side, Ashley shots a deathly glare toward Troian when she sees her girlfriend flinches. Beca's demeanor changes in an instant, and Ashley certainly notices.

The frown on her face, her shoes suddenly become more interesting to her eyes, fingers tapping on the knees, and the rapid legs bouncing. Yep. That is the nervous Beca. The Beca who gets caught for doing something wrong.

Ashley knows that so well, so she quickly slips her hand into Beca's and squeezes it gently.

On the other hand, Chloe seems to be taken aback by the question, but she recovers rather quickly. Ashley notices the tight smile though.

"Well..." Chloe starts hesitantly. "After graduation, life happened. I moved to Boston for grad school and I ended up travelling around the globe for four years to teach underprivileged kids with the peace corps. Then I came back to Boston to teach Art and Music program at The Winsor School for three years. Meanwhile, Beca got a job as a DJ and junior music producer in another state and she was travelling a lot for tours for years. We were busy chasing our dreams and the distance was just the cherry on top. We drifted apart, and suddenly ten years have already passed."

It's as awkward as it can be. So Ashley eyes Patrick, and the blonde man gets the cue to start another conversation.

"What do you think about L.A. so far?" Patrick asks, putting on his warm smile.

"It's fine." Chloe says cheerfully. "I've got my best friends around the corner. So, it's been good to be here."

Ashley sighs in relief as the conversation flow in a different direction. They talk about how Chloe enjoy L.A. so far, about the TV series, and other casual stuff.

At some point, the group spread out to the stage to sing, to the bar, or to the dance floor. The only people that stay at their table are Ashley, Beca, Chloe, Troian, and Patrick. While chatting with the other three, Ashley can't help but notice how quiet her girlfriend has been.

Ashley can see from the corner of her eyes that Beca is stealing glances at Chloe every once in a while. She kisses Beca's upper left arm, and when the brunette turns to look at her, Ashley gives her a subtle puzzled look as though asking whether she is okay or not. Beca just nods lightly and kisses her forehead.

Although she isn't reassured by that nod, Ashley doesn't want to push the brunette, knowing that it isn't the time and place. She decides to put a note on her mind to ask about it later. She sighs a long defeated breath.

Well, the night is just getting more interesting folks.

Suddenly a song comes up and Ashley sees how Beca tense up a bit before smiling and humming along with the song. Ashley knows this song pretty well because Beca had told her several times before about the story behind.

She is a little bit surprised when she hears Chloe is also singing along softly. Turns out, Beca is just as surprised because she asks how Chloe still remember this song. And Ashley's mind goes wild.

This must be a mean joke. The girl just can't have a rest.

Ashley's nerves become unsettled, but she tries to brush it off. Then her jealousy jumps off the chart when Chloe asks her a ballsy request. Ashley looks at Beca who just shrugs, then at Patrick and Troian who are trying to hide their confusion.

It is a nerve-wrecking request, but Ashley can't say no. Not when Beca just gets her so called best friend slash first love back. So, Ashley put on a tight smile, shrugs, and shakes her head hesitantly before giving her answer.

* * *

 

**And from this point, it's Beca's POV.**

Beca's heart drops to her feet. Well it's impossible, but it feels exactly like that when she hears a voice of someone who are covering her eyes with their hands now. She can't hide the tremendous shock wash all over her being when she sees Chloe Beale. Her freaking first love Chloe Beale is standing before her in flesh.

Beca is preparing herself for a slap or a kicking in the ass that way past overdue coming to her. But surprisingly, she gets that damn beaming megawatt smile instead. The fucking damn smile that can light up the whole universe. If she was afraid and hesitant before, after that contagious smile, Beca grins and exclaims, "Chloe!"

Before Beca knows it, she's being tackled and almost fall onto the floor if it isn't for her fit feet. Yeah. Fit feet. The results of the work out she's done because of a very concern and very persistent girlfriend about her well-being. She buries her face onto Chloe's neck, breathing in the familiar warm scent of the red head that used to give her such a soothing effect.

Then they pull away and start to banter like ten years haven't happened at all. It's like they were never separated, that they are still the Beca-and-Chloe-together-you're-Bloe in college, according to Fat Amy's hilarious terms.

Meeting Chloe is unexpected, but somehow relieving for Beca. She is at lost of looking at Chloe until Ashley calls her. After the pleasantry of introducing and teasing the brunette, they fall into a dynamic conversation with the group.

While the others take interest in Chloe's story, Beca takes her time to look at the red head from hair to toe. Her radiant red hair that makes people stop and turn their head toward her. Her bright blue eyes that used to pull Beca in and give her such a warm fluttering feeling. Her signature megawatt smile that can light up the whole universe and break the dark clouds in Beca's mind whenever she had a bad day in college. The tiny little scar on her forehead that proves even an angel has a tiny bit of flaw. The sound of her laughter that makes other people can't resist but laughing too. Her long tanned legs that go for days.

Basically, Beca is studying everything about Chloe. And she finds out that physically, the red head hasn't changed so much. Other than her hair is shorter, hanging around her shoulder.

Beca also remembers Chloe's many kind of hugs. From the soft tugging on the arms that says I'm here for you, to the bone-breaking grip that screams I've missed you so much already even when we just met 3 hours ago.

And the most wonderful thing about Chloe that she misses the most is the way Chloe makes people feel good about themselves. It is one of the qualities that Beca always adores from the red head.

Suddenly, a very familiar song comes up and brings her mind back to one eventful evening when she was still a sophomore. She absentmindedly hums along. Her eyes shot up and her heart thumps so hard in her chest as she hears Chloe is also singing along softly.

"No fucking way!" Beca exclaims in comic surprise. "You remember this song?!"

"Of course I do, Becs." Chloe grins with a wink. "It's one of my favorites. I still listen to it regularly."

Beca's heart is trying to bang its way out from her chest. Or so she thought. Seems like it. For her.

"Ashley, do you mind if I borrow Beca for a dance?"

The hesitation in Chloe's voice can't prevent Beca from whipping her head so fast when Chloe says those words. She doesn't know why she just shrug when her girlfriend looks at her hesitantly with a glint of hurt in her eyes.

She can't bring herself to look at Ashley in the eyes. So, she looks down on her fingers instead. But damn it! Does she jumps on her seat when Ashley says, "Sure, why not."

Chloe pulls Beca up instantly as if she is afraid that Ashley will change her mind and drags her to the dance floor. She gently wraps her arms around Beca's shoulders and leans in closer.

On the other hand, Beca nervously puts her hands on Chloe's waist and absentmindedly hums along with the lyrics that she knows damn too well after so many mixes she made with this song 13 years ago.

Beca just sways slowly to the song with her eyes closed while her mind travels back to the first time she heard Passenger Seat by Stephen Speaks. Beca remembers it clearly like it was yesterday. The day when a song eventfully came up out of nowhere and made her realize that she had fallen in love with Chloe Beale.

* * *

 

**_Flashback: 13 years ago._ **

After Beca decided to stay at Barden, her father bought her a brand new car, a blue BMW. She was so excited and it was not a surprise that the first person she asked to go for a drive was Chloe. She was her best friend after all. After she got the car, she texted Chloe and of course Chloe excitedly agreed to go on a drive with Beca that evening, just the two of them.

Beca picked Chloe up at Bella's House after her shift at the radio station, and took Chloe on a drive to a hill just outside of the city. She also brought a couple of blankets, a picnic basket with sandwiches, Chloe's all-time favorite dessert, and two packs of chocolate milk.

She was thinking that they could do some stargazing. Beca tried to convince herself that it didn't seem like a date at all. She kept thinking that friends do this kind of thing, as friends, which is friendly.

To say that Beca felt freakishly nervous in the 30 minutes drive was an understatement. Her heart was beating so fast and she held the stirring wheel so tight like her life depended on it. Well, despite of the literal point of course. She decided to listen to the radio to distract her mind and suddenly this unfamiliar song came up.

_I look at her and have to smile_  
_As we go driving for a while_  
_Her hair blowing in the open window of my car_  
_And as we go I see the lights_  
_Watch them glimmer in her eyes_  
_In the darkness of the evening_

After the first verse, Beca smiled and stole a glance at Chloe, who at that exact moment were staring out at the scenery from the window. It was warm, so they decided to open the window instead of using the air conditioner.

She thought to herself,  _"Oh you must be fucking kidding me, universe! Really?!"_

Beca couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle as she saw how Chloe's hair was blowing gracefully from the wind and her face seemed brighten as the street light glimmered in her eyes. Just like the lyric said. Literally.

"Okay..." Chloe said in confusion. "You are creeping me out. Why are you smiling?"

"Nothing." Beca shrugged in mock nonchalant. "I'm just... happy... I guess."

"Huh." Chloe narrowed her eyes in disbelief.

_And I've got all that I need_  
_Right here in the passenger seat_  
_Oh, and I can't keep my eyes on the road_  
_Knowing that she's inches from me_

As the song went on, Beca couldn't help but glancing at Chloe every now and then, thinking about how true it was at that moment and how that song perfectly suited her feeling that evening. She felt like thousands of butterflies were flapping their wings in her stomach.

It felt weird but also warm, strange but familiar all at the same time. She had been feeling the same thing lately every time she spent time with Chloe. Or just simply looked at her. Or even only heard her voice.

_We stop to get something to drink_  
_My mind clouds and I can't think_  
_Scared to death to say I love her_  
_Then a moon peeks from the clouds_  
_Hear my heart that beats so loud_  
_Try to tell her simply_

After hearing the part  _scared to death to say I love her,_  Beca jerked the break abruptly as a realization hit her. She got a bunch of honks from the cars behind, but she just couldn't bring herself to care. Because she just realized that she was in love with Chloe. She was indeed, falling in love, head over heels with her very best friend.

Beca took a deep breath to calm her nerves and started to drive again slowly. Chloe just stared at her with puzzled look, but Beca just shook her head lightly. So Chloe reached and rubbed her thumb softly on Beca's hand, and then continued to stare out of the window, humming along with the melody.

Beca's mind was filled with every single touch, every single hug, every single lingering look, and every single mix she made in the past couple of months. Also every single night they spent cuddling up together in her dorm. It was so inevitable that she was slowly, obliviously, but certainly, falling in love with the one and only Chloe Elizabeth Beale.

_That I've got all that I need_  
_Right here in the passenger seat_  
_Oh, and I can't keep my eyes on the road_  
_Knowing that she's inches from me_

_Oh, and I know that this love grow_

_Oh, I've got all that I need_  
_Right here in the passenger seat_  
_Oh, and I can't keep my eyes on the road_  
_Knowing that she's inches from me_

Beca was so lost in her thought that she didn't even notice when the song already ended until she heard Chloe softly said, "I like that song. It's simple and relate-able."

"I uh... I guess so. Err... I didn't really pay attention to it though. Too focus on the road. Safe driving and all."

Chloe laughed and laced their fingers. "Aww... You don't have to be nervous Becs. I know how you feel. Tell you what. I also feel the same way. But this isn't your first time right?"

"Wha... Wh... uh... How... I mean what do you?" Beca stuttered in panic.

Chloe chuckled and said, "Relax, Becs. I know that this is your first and brand new car. You must be feeling nervous of driving it. I felt the same way the first time I got Bumblebee. It's normal. But this isn't the first time you drive a car, is it?"

Beca let out a relieved sigh and smirked. "You call your yellow bug Bumblebee? Whew... that is a brand new information. How could I just find out?"

"Why yeah. It just never came up before." Then Chloe clasped her hands together excitedly. "But we totes have to name your car too, Becs!"

"Oh no no no no." Beca scoffed. "It's bad enough that you name that poor little yellow car of yours bumblebee. I will not let you do that to my car. It's a  _car_. You can call it a car, or more precisely, Beca's car."

With pouting lips and her best puppy eyes, Chloe pleaded, "Oh, come on Becs. Please... pretty please... with a cherry on top?"

"No."

"Beeeccss..." Chloe dragged her voice like a child begging for sweets.

"Nooooo..." Beca mirrored with bored tone.

"Becs!" Now Chloe just intensified her pout and puppy eyes.

Beca groaned loudly and whined, "I'm never going to win this, aren't I?"

"Nope." Chloe said cheerfully, popping the P. "When will you learn that you can never win an argument with me. Especially when I bring in the famous Beale's pout and puppy eyes?"

Beca sighed dramatically. "I guess I need to learn how to live with that, huh?"

"Glad to know that it is settled." Chloe chimed in with a face-splitting grin.

A comfortable silent fell between them. Another song came up, but neither of them paid any attention. After a couple of minutes, Chloe asked, "How about azure?"

"Azure?"

"Yeah. Azure. It's the color of your car, and it matches your eyes anyway. So..."

Beca pursed her lips, narrowed her eyes, and then sighed in defeat. "Azure it is, Beale."

"Yay!" Chloe jumped on her seat, clapping her hands excitedly and kissed Beca on the cheek. "Welcome to the family, Azure!"

Beca felt the heat creeping up from her chest to her neck and all over her face. She cleared her throat, trying to hide the grin that threatened to split her face in two.

Yep. She was so screwed for falling in love. Not to mention to her very best friend. Her first very best friend.

**_End of flashback._ **

* * *

 

Beca pulls out from her thought when she notices a woman with short brunette hair and a pair of green eyes, walking right toward them. Before Beca can say anything, that woman taps Chloe on the shoulder.

Chloe turns around and exclaims, "Baby!"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Du du dum! Who is that? We'll find out in the next chapter.  
> Until then, sit tight and make good choices.  
> Thank you for reading. :)


	5. Out In The Open

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey again! :)  
> In the last chapter, Beca and Chloe were dancing when suddenly someone came to them.  
> In this chapter, I find it hard to split the POV. Hopefully it's not confusing. Please tell me if it is. I hope you enjoy. I don't own Pitch Perfect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before I start, I'd like to thank RJRMovieFan for the review. Yep. You were right. In this chapter, I'll introduce Chloe's SO. Other than that, I'll also give the full reason why Beca left after college. Well, there have been hints here and there, but this time, Chloe will find out. Finally.  
> So... here it is.

 

"Baby!" The red head exclaims, jumping into the woman's arms, and gives her a peck on the lips before saying, "I'm sorry. I got lost and my phone died."

The green-eyed brunette just chuckles when she says, "It is so you to get lost in a karaoke bar with a dead phone, Babe."

Chloe slaps her arm and pouts at her, making the woman she calls  _babe_  grins even wider.

Beca just stands there, slacked-jaw and confused. There is a little pang in her stomach.

_Oh. She's in a relationship._

Well, that's foolish of her to be stunned by that fact. Of course Chloe is in a relationship. She is Chloe freaking Beale. The definition of rainbow, and sunshine, and unicorn, and everything in between. Everybody must be blind or even worse, dead, not to see how amazingly wonderful she is. Right folks?

Trying to stay cool, Beca clears her throat and mutters, "Uh... Chlo?"

Upon hearing Beca's voice, Chloe turns back and her smile seems faltered a little bit. "Beca, this is Kristen, my uh... fiancé. Babe, this is Beca, my best friend from college."

"Oh." Kristen seems to be familiar with her. "Beca Mitchell."

Beca shakes Kristen's hand as they walk back to their table where Ashley is sitting alone without Patrick or Troian. Beca sits right next to Ashley, takes her hand, and laces their fingers. That act grounds her and calms her down as content feeling wash over her. She smiles at her girlfriend as Chloe introduces Kristen and Ashley to each other.

"Beca." Kristen says with a hint of arrogance. "I've heard so much about you. Chloe always brags about how crazily talented  _her_  DJ is. There isn't a day, even more than six hours where she doesn't listen to your songs or mixes. If I didn't know any better, I would've thought that she has a chronic crush with you. Because not only she has every single one of your mixes and songs, buys every single magazine and watches every single YouTube videos with you in it, but she also keep every single pictures of the two of you in college. However, after I heard that you were in The Bella and listened to your stuff, I have to admit that she's right. You are indeed, very talented. Great performance, by the way. Singing for your girlfriend."

Beca can see that Chloe's face has become as red as her hair. The red head just smiles shyly and looks at her own hands, which Beca just notices, has a diamond ring on it.

When it seems like Chloe and Beca won't be saying anything, Ashley jumps in, "Of course she is, Kristen."

Turning to her girlfriend, Beca smiles fondly to Ashley, who is gazing lovingly back at her.

Ashley pulls Beca closer and says, "Beca has been playing and mixing ever since she was very young and she has always had a great sense in music."

"Thanks hon." Beca says before kissing Ashley's temple gently.

Ashley just smiles to respond. Then Beca turns to Kristen. "Thanks, Kristen."

"You are a very lucky woman." Kristen says toward Ashley, causing the said tiny brunette blushes.

"I am indeed." Ashley says while gazing fondly at her girlfriend.

"I am the lucky one." Beca whispers near Ashley's ear softly, making the blonde beaming in happiness.

The whisper doesn't go unnoticed by Chloe and Kristen. Kristen sees how Chloe averts her eyes from the couple in front of them. She clears her throat and looks at Chloe before saying, "Well, I don't want to sound like an overly jealous fiancé. But I saw you both dancing to a certain song that Chloe loves so much. Maybe there's a story behind?"

Chloe suddenly lights up. "Why yeah. It was the song that played on the radio when Beca took me on a drive for the first time in her very first and very brand new car. She got that car in her sophomore year after she decided to stay at Barden."

"Yeah, azure." Ashley chirps in.

"You knew about azure?" Chloe asks in half-confusion and half-surprise. Maybe a little bit jealous. Maybe.

Ashley nods, smiling toward her girlfriend and says, "Not only knew her. We still take her out for a drive from time to time."

"You still have Azure?!" Chloe exclaims in comic surprise.

"Of course." Beca answers with her eyebrows raised, smiling tightly, looking at Chloe, trying to be nonchalant as she says, "Well, you know, she is my first car after all. Besides, we uh... I mean I have a lot of happy memories with her. So yeah. She's still sitting in my garage until today. I still take her up for a drive sometimes, when uh... whenever I'm feeling nostalgic. You know, when I miss college and uh... The Bellas. She has a historical value in my life. She was there in one of the most important period of my life."

Even though she can feel an uneasy glare is being thrown at her from Kristen, Beca keeps her eyes on Chloe, who is still talking about her car.

"Wow. Who knows the badass Beca Effin Mitchell has such a sentimental feeling toward a  _car_." Chloe says with a knowing smirk, earning an eye roll from the tiny DJ.

"Enough talking about me and my car." Beca tries to change the subject casually. "How about you? How the two of you met?"

Kristen turns and smiles lovingly at the red head, wrapping her arm around Chloe's waist as she says, "Why don't you tell the story Babe? It's your favorite thing to do, isn't it?"

"Of course Babe." Chloe says with a smile that doesn't quite reach her eyes. But a second later, she starts to talk animatedly about her relationship with Kristen.

Apparently, Kristen and Chloe met when she was teaching at Boston. Kristen was a writer who happened to have a reading session with Chloe's students. They hit it off and started dating after the first meeting. They have been together for almost 3 years and been engaged for almost a year, but they haven't picked a date for the wedding yet. More to Chloe's decision because she wants to settle down before starting a family. When Chloe decided to move to L.A., Kristen decided to come along because she could do her job as a writer from anywhere. They bought a house at a neighborhood near the school where Chloe is currently teaching.

While Chloe is talking, Beca is staring at her as if she doesn't want to miss every single word. Chloe looks back and forth between her fiancé and Beca, talking animatedly about her relationship with Kristen in the last three years.

Uncomfortable feeling starts to creep into Beca because she's torn between Kristen's arm around Chloe and Ashley's concerned staring. Every time Beca notices Ashley's staring, she will divert her eyes from Chloe to Kristen. The tension is eating her up, and when she can't take it anymore, Beca decides to excuse herself and go to the bathroom.

Beca goes to the bathroom inside the manager's office - _it was her karaoke bar after all_. She grips the edge of the sink tightly until her knuckles turn white while she squeezes her eyes shut tightly.

After a while, Beca takes a few deep breaths, opens her eyes slowly, and looks at herself in the mirror. She splashes water on her face and mutters, "Pull yourself together, Mitchell. You are completely, perfectly fine. Now deep breath."

Then the bathroom door opens and Ashley silently comes in. After turning Beca around slowly to face her, Ashley gently takes and holds Beca's hands in hers, looking at her girlfriend in concern as she asks, "Are you okay, Babe?"

"I uhm... yeah. I'm okay, Hon. I am."

"Are you sure?"

Beca just shuts her eyes and says, "I just... nevermind, I'm fine Hon. Really."

Ashley sighs deeply. "Babe, I know it's hard to meet Chloe again. It's okay. You can tell me."

"No, I'm uh... it's okay Hon."

Trying to stay calm, Ashley takes a deep breath and then softly asks, "How about you stop pretending to be okay and I stop beating around the bush? It will save us both some time. I know you, Babe. So ple-"

"I said I'm fine!" Beca snaps out angrily. "Why do you keep asking me and pushing me?! Do you want me to be not okay?!"

U oh. It's rare for Beca to snap at Ashley, because she knows that her girlfriend will always call her up on her shit. She certainly knows that Ashley is never the one who declares defeat silently. Especially when she is right. And Ashley is always right. Beca knows that very damn well.

"Well, maybe because I'm waiting for the honest answer!" Ashley snaps back. She pulls her hands back and folds them on her chest. "Do you think I haven't noticed how anxious you are tonight after she came?! Do you think I don't see the way you look at her?! I let you two dance so closely for God's sake!"

A sudden pang of guilt hits Beca. She runs her fingers through her hair and tries to put her hands on Ashley's arms, but the blonde shrugs her off. Although she is hurt by the rejection, Beca also sees the pain in Ashley's eyes. So, she takes a deep breath and tries to explain, "Hon, it's not-"

"Don't!" Ashley cuts her off harshly. "Don't even try to deny it, Babe. You clearly know that I know you very well. So don't you dare lying to me. We have always been honest and open with each other for a long time. Don't ruin what we have with a cheap  _nothing_. So unless you can tell me, right here and right now, that you are completely sure about how you act tonight has nothing to do with you meeting your first love after ten years, then please at least have the decency to not lie to me, or don't say anything at all."

Beca is stunned by the truth in Ashley's words. She wants to say something, just anything to make it better. She opens and closes her mouth repeatedly, but nothing comes out of it.

With tears threatening to fall from her eyes, Ashley says with shaky voice, "That's what I thought."

After a moment of complete silent, with tears running down her face, Ashley says, "I'm going home. I will ask Troian to take me home. Don't bother to come after me before you make up your mind and decide to tell me the truth."

With that being said, Ashley turns around, but Beca grabs her by the arm, trying to stop her from walking away.

Ashley looks at her girlfriend over her shoulder and says firmly, "Let me go, Becs. I don't want to stay here and end up saying the things that I don't mean then regret it. Or even worse, end up saying the things that I really mean and then regret it."

By that, Ashley shrugs her off and walks away, leaving Beca speechless for a moment, unsure about what to do before she snaps out of her thought and tries to chase after Ashley.

However, when she walks out of her karaoke bar, Troian pulls Beca to the side and snaps, "What the hell is going on Beca?!"

"What do you mean what is going on?!" Beca snaps back. "Nothing is going on, Troian. Mind your own business!"

Beca can take Ashley yelling at her. Hell! She even will take it if Ashley hits her or slaps her, not that she ever did. But she won't have such thing being thrown at her from anybody else.

"We are not idiots, and we are definitely not blind, Beca." Troian yells angrily, waving her hands around frantically above her head. "One minute you were telling us for the hundredths of times about how you met Ashley and showing us all just how much you love her. Then the second your best friend came, you slow danced with her, and now my best friend is crying and begging us to take her home. This is your fucking 5th anniversary! What the hell is wrong with you?!"

Yep. Troian is furious. Indeed. If she doesn't know any better, or hasn't witnessed first-handedly just how much Beca loves her best friend in the past 5 years, she would've slapped the tiny brunette straight on her face.

With her eyes glued to the floor and her shoulder slumped down, Beca brokenly says, "I messed up."

Troian rolls her eyes furiously and yells, "No shit, Sherlock!"

The tall brunette is going to give Beca more third degree, but when she looks at Beca's glassy eyes, she sighs and shakes her head. "Look, I honestly don't know what happen, but I need to go now. Shay and I will take her home and take care of her. Whatever mistake you did, you fix it. Okay? I don't know how, just fix it without hurting my best friend more than you already have. She loves you, Beca. So, you better fix this and make it up to her. Or else, I can't promise you will walk out of this without at least limping."

"Thanks, Troian." Beca nods dejectedly. "Tell Shay I appreciate what you do. I will try to fix this."

"No." Troian shakes her head and firmly states, "You  _do_  not only  _try_  to fix this. But you  _fix_  this. Understood?"

Beca simply nods. Right before Troian turns away, Beca grabs her arm and weakly says, "Please take a good care of her, will you?"

"You don't even have to ask." Troian says before walking away.

For once in a very long time, Beca doesn't know exactly what to do. She runs her fingers through her hair and walks back to the office. She sees and approaches a girl with a cigarette in her hand. "Hey, do you mind if I ask for a couple of cigs?"

"Rough night, huh?" That girl asks nonchalantly and gives her three cigarettes with a lighter.

"Yeah, kind of. Thanks by the way." Beca lights a cigarette and puffs. She gives the lighter back but the girl shakes her head and says, "Keep it. I have to go anyway. Take it easy, champ."

"Yeah. Thanks again." Beca says before walking up to the balcony by the office and stands by the railings with cigarette between her fingers.

It's been years since the last time Beca smoked, and she knows that Ashley will be even angrier if she finds out. However, Beca needs it to help her think clearly and calm her nerves. She blows slowly and stares intently at the unrevealed smoke in front of her.

Standing with her elbows resting on the cold steel fence and her mouth smoking deeply, Beca's mind is turning on full speed.

There's no doubt at all in her mind that she loves Ashley. The blonde is the one that she wants to spend the rest of her life with. Even though there are many differences between them and they've been through a lot of bumpy roads, they get through it all and still together.

Beca knows so well that she herself isn't the easiest person to deal with. Yet here they are, five years into their relationship, and still going strong.

Honestly, Beca doesn't know exactly how or why, but they just work. It isn't only because of Beca's change of mind toward love or happy ending. And it's certainly not because Ashley can't find someone better.

Maybe it's because of how patience Ashley toward Beca, or maybe it's because of how emotionally safe Beca feels with Ashley. There's one thing that Beca is sure of, they both want it to work, so they work together for their relationship. That is the main reason she bought a diamond ring a year ago.

However, there's this tiny little nag in the back of her mind. This thing is the source of her hesitation from proposing, aside from the fact that Beca wants it to be done perfectly. It's a compilation questions of  _what if_.

_What if I told Chloe about my feelings when we were still at Barden?_

_What if I stayed with Chloe and The Bellas?_

_What if the feeling I had for Chloe never really went away?_

Those are more than enough what if's to handle in a lifetime, never mind in one night. However, Beca knows that she has to figure it out. She needs to; or otherwise she might lost the love of her life.

Oh boy. Beca is so afraid because she hasn't really resolved this one thing from her past. Although she's sure that she's completely in love with Ashley, she can't shake off this fear that one day Chloe will come back into her life and all of the feelings she think she has left behind, crawl their way back into her heart.

Well, if tonight isn't prove enough anyway. One look from Chloe, and those questions just become louder in her mind. Beca becomes certainly uncertain about so many things.

Just after lighting a second cigarette, she hears Chloe's voice from behind, and she can't help the tired sigh escaping from her lips.

"I was looking for you."

Beca closes her eyes and takes a deep breath before saying, "Well, you found me."

Taking the space next to the brunette, Chloe lets out a soft chuckle and says, "You didn't come back."

"Uh... what?"

Chloe smiles, looking at her closely and says, "You never come back from the bathroom."

With her eyes staring at the city lights, Beca sucks the cigarette deeply and let the smoke out slowly through her mouth, then breathes it back in through her nose deeply.

"I need some air to clear my head." Beca says with smoke swirling out through her lips.

"Well..." Chloe scoffs. "It is definitely not to clear the air for everybody else around."

Beca snorts at Chloe's attempts of sarcasm, and then she asks cautiously, "Where is your fiancé, Red? Wouldn't she be looking for you?"

"She got a late call from her editor about her new draft. So she went home to work on it."

When Beca doesn't say anything, Chloe then follows looking at the city lights and softly asks, "I didn't know that you smoke."

_There are a lot of things you don't know about me._

That is of course the unspoken answer. Beca flicks the cigarette lightly and flatly says, "I started after the job got a little bit unbearable."

After a second of hesitation, Beca decides to be honest and continues, "I was a heavy smoker back then. It helped calming my nerves whenever I had gigs. The solitary life had its perks to my privacy, but it made it really hard when I had to be among the crowd."

Then Beca smokes deeply before she adds, "That was before I met Ashley though. I haven't smoked in years because she got me stopped more than five years ago. But when things got uh... too complicated, I take one or two."

"Does it have anything to do with Ashley walking out of here half an hour ago?" Chloe asks with a hint of hesitation in her voice.

Beca shuts her eyes lightly and sighs before muttering, "Yeah."

"Hmmm..." Chloe dares to steal a glance at Beca. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Nope."

"Hmmmkay..."

They become completely silent. Beca is busy thinking about her fight with Ashley, while Chloe is thinking back to the time when Beca left.

At first, Chloe thought that Beca needed space to deal with their separation after they graduated, because she knew Beca hated goodbyes. However, after two months without any sign that the brunette was at least alive, she became worried because even Warren didn't know where his daughter was.

Chloe knew that there was something going on between Beca and her father, because her father didn't even bat his eyes after knowing that his only daughter was gone, when in fact they were starting to get along. He just said that he didn't want to have anything to do with Beca anymore.

Starting from then, all of The Bellas had done their best to find their captain. They even reported Beca as a missing person to the police as an act of desperation after a month of fruitless search.

Imagine how confused they were when a day after their report, the police told them that Beca had contacted the police to say that she was in a good condition and just didn't want to be found.

Stacie also got an email from someone named Donna, telling them to stop looking because Beca wanted to be on her own. That was when Chloe realized that  _her_  DJ deliberately chose to leave The Bellas. To leave her. She was so devastated and depressed, drowning in the thought of the reasons why Beca would've done that to them, to her, but she never found out.

It took Chloe almost a year to start feeling like herself again. Even though she had moved on with her life, she'd never completely let her mind went off of the brunette.

Feeling hurt and betrayed keep Chloe from contacting  _her_  tiny DJ at all, even after Beca finally came out. She thought that if Beca didn't want anything to do with her, then she could do the same thing.

However, there are a lot of unanswered questions she has been carrying until the present day.

_Why did Beca leave (me)?_

_Why did Beca hide (from me)?_

_Why didn't Beca say anything (to me) about her sexual orientation?_

_Why didn't Beca reach out (to me) after she came out?_

_Did I do something wrong?_

_Was I a terrible friend?_

_Did she find out about my feelings and hate me for it?_

Can't hold herself from so many questions that need answers, Chloe takes a deep breath and mutters without looking at Beca, "Why didn't you answer any of my text and call, Becs?"

Beca's breaths hitched; she clenches her jaw and takes a deep breath before she weakly says, "I'm so sorry, Chlo."

"Yeah. You've said it. But why?" Chloe asks almost in pleading. "Why did you cut me off? I want answers, Becs."

Beca doesn't know what to say, so she just keeps looking down at the city lights while her mouth busy blowing out smoke.

A flow of heat is rising up from her stomach when Chloe sees Beca's flat expression. So she frantically asks, "Was it because I'm not a good enough friend for you? Was it because I'm not worth your time anymore after you became famous?"

Chloe is aware that her voice has become louder as the anger crawls its way back into her head. At the beginning, she'd wanted to believe that Beca had her reasons for disappearing on her. But after years went by, she didn't fight the negative thoughts anymore.

Well, in her defends, someone could only wait for so long without any sign of certainty. And I kind of agree.

But Beca's eyes widen in shock. "I didn't... That wasn't true... Not at all. Trust me. None of them were true, Chlo."

"Trust you?!" Chloe snaps angrily, staring at Beca furiously. "Are you fucking kidding me?! You asked me to trust you now?!"

The rage doesn't surprise Beca at all, because it is the normal reaction she's been expecting from the red head. However, her fight with Ashley still dominates her mind. Beca sighs and says tiredly, "Look, can we not talk about this right now? Please...?"

Little did Beca know, she just adds fuel to the fire in the pit of Chloe's years bottled up feelings. A ticking bomb of ten years' weight of anger, sadness, frustration, dejection, depression, self-doubt, and every other emotions that the red head has been feeling finally explodes.

Chloe pulls Beca harshly to face her and shouts, "When then Becs?! When?! In another ten years?! After you up and leave again without even a word?! Yeah?! So much for being best friends!"

Nothing comes up from Beca because she's stunned of how Chloe yanked her.

A sarcastic scoff comes from Chloe before she snaps, "You know what?! For someone who has always claimed herself to be my best friend, you sure have set a golden standard for the crappiest best friend ever Becs!"

Still, Beca remains silent. She just breathes in through her gritted teeth, thinking that she is right to come to this balcony outside of the office. Nobody is around close enough to witness or listen to their arguments.

Chloe knows that she should stop, but she can't help it. "For someone who has always been afraid of being left, you sure run faster than the speed of light on the first chance!"

The silent treatment from Beca only makes Chloe even angrier. "Guess you may have more in common with your father than you ever thought there, Beca Stephanie Mitchell!"

U oh. Chloe is touching too close to homebase. And she clearly knows that it is a low blow. But the hell with being all decent right? For her, Beca did this to herself. So Chloe feels that she has every right to be angry, even furious. Nothing can stop her now.

"And for someone who always believes that the universe has conspired with only one purpose and that is to hurt you, you sure went way over your head, to the hell and back, to hurt everybody else that's crazy enough to put their time to care about you."

Even though Chloe is trying to hurt Beca as much as she was hurt, tears are falling freely on her face. She doesn't even try to mask or hide the angry tears. She just stands there, with her jaw and hands clenched tightly.

"You! Are the most selfish, heartless, person I've ever known!"

Those remarks finally burst a blood vessel out of Beca. She can feel her boiling blood give such a pounding in her head, and her vein on her forehead is threatening to explode. Her heart is thumping so hard, making it harder for her to breath.

However, when Beca looks at the pain in Chloe's eyes, she realizes that Chloe said those things out of hurt. Beca has been hurting her for ten long years. She shuts her eyes, noticing every part of her tensed body, from her gritted teeth, her furrowed eyebrows, her thumping heart, and then her clenched jaw and hands.

Then Beca slowly takes more deep breaths, unclenches her jaw and her hands while feeling the wind blew on her face, gradually tuning down the roaring heat in her chest. She swallows anything her anger is trying to compose.

After feeling that she's calm enough, Beca opens her eyes and looks at a very wounded Chloe and speaks as soft as she can, "I am truly sorry for the pain I've caused, Chloe. I don't even know where to start or to show you how sorry I am. But you don't understand. I didn't-"

"What do I not understand, Becs?!" Chloe cuts her off by whipping her hand up harshly in front of Beca. "That it was easy for you to leave me?! To forget about me?! To move on with your life without me?! That I'm so unimportant in your life so you can easily erase me from your life?"

Chloe is panting as her breaths become shorter and shorter, but she keeps going, "That I was so completely worthless, you couldn't have taken one minute! One fucking minute, Beca! To text me only to say that you don't need me in your life anymore!"

Beca just sighs in defeat and keeps her mouth shut. She knows better than to speak and let herself being cut off by Chloe again. So she turns on her back, leaning against the railings, chosing to listen instead.

In her anger, Chloe has absentmindedly walked toward the glass door and leaned with her back against the door, facing Beca. She covers her face with her hands and sobs uncontrollably but still trying to speak between her ragged breaths.

"Did you even read the text I sent you? The emails? The voicemail?"

Beca closes her eyes and holds her breath for a second.

"Did you realize just how much you hurt me?"

This one is a hard jab, and Beca has to swallow the lump in her throat before it chokes her up.

"Did you know how miserable I was that I barely slept at all for months?"

Beca feels her lung is shrinking and suffocating her.

"Did you know how many nights I cried myself to sleep, waiting, hoping in vain, that you would reach out to me?"

It is as hard as it can be, and Beca has to flex her neck and blow out a ragged breath to hold herself up.

"Did you know that six months after we went our ways, Aubrey had to drag me into the bathtub and give me a very cold shower because I was too depressed to even remember how to take a good care of myself?"

Every word punches Beca right in her chest. To be able to hold herself, Beca has to shut her eyes and bend forward with her hands on her torso. She knows that she deserves this pain because she is a selfish coward, and Chloe must have felt a lot worse. So the least she can do is letting Chloe pours out her rage.

Upon seeing the stoic Beca, Chloe scoffs loudly and shakes her head as she says, "I mean, how could I? When the only person that had been my rock for the past 4 years just disappeared from my life."

Beca is biting her bottom lip so hard to hold her trembling lips. All she wants to do is taking all the pain away from Chloe. She wants to turn back time and change what she did. But how can she do that when she can't even take a step forward to give Chloe a proper hug, when she is barely hanging by a thread from all of this emotional swirl?

She can't help but wondering how did she hurt Chloe this bad.

_How could you do this to her?_

_How could you break_   _her into these shattered pieces?_

_She is your Chloe... Your kind, and sweet, and caring, and loving, and bubbly, and happy Chloe._

_Your Chloe... The one that became you rock when your mom died. The one that would've moved mountains, come hell and high water, she would've done anything to make everybody around her smile again. The one that you wanted to protect the most. The one that always stood by you, believed in you, no matter how hard you found it to believe in yourself. The one that found every single reason to accept you unconditionally, despite of tons and tons of the flaws you had. The first person that you ever loved._

_How could you ever justify what you did was the best for her when she ended up being the most broken one in this mess? In your mess._

Unaware of the thoughts that are flooding in the brunette's mind, Chloe keeps talking between sobs and lets out all of the misery that she has been keeping in her chest for way too long and has been eating her up for years.

"How did you live your life, Becs?" Chloe asks helplessly. "Tell me how did you live your life, knowing that you've left someone behind like your dad left you?"

"How did you sleep at night, being completely aware that you've hurt someone who truly care about you?" Chloe asks in barely a whisper.

Then her voice starts to raise again as every sentence flow out. "Were you even aware that it was me?! It was me, Becs! It was me that you hurt! It was me that you left behind! Your first best friend! The one person that once swore on her life that she would never ever leave you no matter what comes our way, by your mother's grave! Remember?!"

By the mention of her mother's death, Beca just can't take it anymore to see the devastating pain in Chloe. It has become too painful to hold the lump that is choking her up in her throat. Taking in the truth in Chloe's words has become too much. Listening to the agony in her voice is so much worse.

Beca sobs uncontrollably, she can't breathe, she's suffocated, her head is pounding, the tears are shielding her eyes from seeing clearly, and her legs are giving up on her. She feels overheated under her skin and like she will pass out in any second. Beca just want to be out of this misery, out of all the agony that she's feeling.

"Don't just stand there silently!" Chloe yells in tears. "Answer me Becs! Give me the explanation that I deserve! You at least owe me that much! I swore on your mother's grave, Beca! I swore that-"

"I was in love with you!"

The revelation stuns Chloe so hard. She is petrified. She doesn't dare to move, or to speak, or even to breathe. She just stands there, staring at Beca in shock, with her face as white as a paper and her mouth hung opened.

On the other hand, Beca is already on her knees. She just can hold it anymore. She's so furious, not with Chloe, but with herself. She punches the floor as hard as she might repeatedly, letting out all of the pain, hurt, guilt, shame, and anger.

It's hard, devastating, exhausting, and consuming her physically and emotionally. But after the punches become weaker and the tears start to subside, Beca feels relieved. She feels like all of the weight on her shoulder is lifted. She finally let go.

After a moment of sobbing, with tears running down her face, Beca says it again with her ragged breaths. "I... was so fucking in love with you, Chlo."

Minutes pass without any word from the two of them. Chloe is sitting on the cold ceramic floor of the balcony with her knees close to her chest. She doesn't dare to move closer to Beca and still stunned. She just looks at the woman that she has been in love with for God knows how long, that she thought would've never felt the same, that hurt her in the worst possible way, who are now kneeling before her, saying that she was in love with her.

Too afraid to scare the crying brunette, Chloe remains still. She's terrified if the walls that just crumble down will come back up as soon as it came down. She decides to wait in silent, even though she wants to hug Beca tightly with all she might and kiss her passionately until she is out of breath. Nevertheless, she chooses to put up her last energy to compose herself.

Instead of pushing the brunette even further, Chloe uses that moment to calm herself down with a few deep breaths. She knows that she needs to be completely alert for this moment; the moment where the infamous wall of Beca Mitchell has completely shattered. She's seen it before when Beca curled up to her, clinging her arms so tightly onto her shoulders, and sobbing uncontrollably on her chest by her mother's grave.

Watching Beca fell apart when her mother died was the most heart wrenching experience Chloe had ever had. She'd seen how the strongest person that she'd ever met, fell down helplessly, without a fight, without so much of self-defense after everybody else had left the grave but the two of them. That was the first time Chloe ever saw Beca so vulnerable, so broken. Until now.

Slowly, Beca straightens up, leaning her back on the railings, pulling her knees to her chest, putting her arms on her knees, and drops her head between her hands. After taking a few deep breaths, she looks up at the ceiling, sniffling softly and wiping the tears away.

"It's okay buddy... It's okay." Beca mutters under her breaths as she rubs her left chest gently.

Upon seeing the tiny brunette trying to gather herself, Chloe doesn't do anything to disturb her. Both of them are tired and drained. The only thing they can do is sitting in complete silence. They aren't even aware of how long they have been sitting there quietly.

Eventually, Beca takes a long steady breath and weakly says, "I was in love with you, Chlo... I completely realized it when we went on that first drive with Azure. You... are my first love."

Then Beca closes her eyes gently, takes another breath, and continues, "I didn't even know when it started. But suddenly, you became the first thing that came up into my mind after I woke up every morning, and the last thing I thought about every night. Honestly, you were the first thing that came up into my mind on everything."

Doesn't know what to say, Chloe just stares at Beca with blank expression. Even if she knows what to say, she won't say it anyway, because Beca hasn't done with her confession yet. She knows it.

Beca opens her eyes and stares at the ceiling again before saying, "I think I started falling in love with you since the first time we harmonized together in the shower." She lets out a light chuckle, and when Chloe says nothing, she adds, "I know it sounds creepy. But I think it was the first time I let someone took a brick out of my wall and peeked in. From that moment, I could feel myself starting to change. You... changed me. And the strangest thing about it was, I didn't mind at all."

As her mind brings her back to memory with Chloe, a smile starts to appear on Beca's face. "I know I didn't show or ever admitted it. But I craved for your blue eyes that always lightened up every time you looked at me. Your blinding smile every time you saw me. Your bone-breaking hugs every time we met. Your hands in mine every time we walked side by side. And your cheery voice every time we talked. I even craved for you cuddling up with me every time we watched movies or spent the night together. Mostly, I just wanted to feel your presence around me every single day."

After resting her elbows on her knees, Beca puts her knuckles under her chin, and lets out a sigh. "Brick by brick, you broke my wall so gently, sneaked yourself into my life. I didn't even realize that my wall was already down until you set your place in the dark corner of my heart, brightened it with your presence. Bit by bit, you got me to open up to you. And frankly, it felt... natural."

Beca rubs her face gently and lets out a long breath. "I was way too deep in love with you. Ready to jump off the bridge if you ask me to kind of love." She pauses and scoffs. "I've got to say Beale. You got me wrapped tightly around your little fingers and made me feel happy about it. It was crazy how easily you got me to do something. Even the things that I didn't like."

Upon hearing a light chuckle from Chloe, Beca dares herself to look at her. She is taken aback to see that Chloe is looking at her longingly with her baby blue eyes. But Beca diverts her eyes back to the ceiling quickly.

Then Beca sighs deeply and says, "And to answer your question earlier. No. I didn't read your texts or listened to your voicemail. I changed my number as soon as I got to L.A, and let Donna dealt with all of my emails. I asked her not to pass any emails from or to any of the Bellas."

Chloe keeps her eyes fixed on the brunette. After seeing that the brunette isn't going to say anything anymore, she asks softly, "Why didn't you tell me that you loved me?"

"I was going to." Beca says with a weak smile.

Chloe narrows her eyes but doesn't say anything, giving Beca time to explain.

"I was going to tell you on the night we gathered around the fire pit. But then Fat Amy got trapped into a bear trap, we got busy saving her, and by the end of the night, the courage I'd been building the whole trip was long gone." Beca explains without looking at Chloe. Well, her body is there but her mind is at the lodge, remembering the retreat.

"That doesn't explain why you left without saying anything at all." Chloe stubbornly pushes.

Beca closes her eyes tightly while she explains with ragged breath, "I... came out to my father before graduation. He was... furious." She scoffs and continues, "He had lost it and yelled out one hell of insults about me being gay is the most disgusting thing, and he wouldn't have me as his daughter anymore."

Although a single tear escapes from her eyes, Beca keeps talking with shaky breath, "So I got scared to tell you. All of you. I mean, I'm not trying to use that as an excuse, but if my own father disowned me for being gay, what would've made me think that the people who are not my family would?" She pauses before cautiously says, "And frankly, I just couldn't stand to see you walk away from me."

Chloe raises her eyebrow in confusion.

"We were going on our separate ways, Chloe." Beca says with a sad smile. "You were going to Boston and I was going to New York. Or I was supposed to be. But after I decided to disappear, I took the other job offer in L.A. The one that I didn't tell you all about."

"You thought I wouldn't have understood?" Chloe couldn't hide the judgement in her voice. She knows that Beca's reason makes sense, but her ego beats her logical thinking. "You thought The Bellas wouldn't be there for you? So you rather left and disappeared? We were practically family back then, Becs."

"I was scared, okay?!" Beca snaps.

Although Chloe is taken aback by Beca's reaction, she tries to calm the brunette by moving closer and sitting in front of Beca with her legs crossed. Gently, Chloe puts her hands on Beca's knees and when the brunette doesn't flinch, she softly says, "Hey, it's just me Becs. Now you can tell me. I promise I won't get angry."

When she sees Beca raises her eyebrows knowingly, Chloe hurriedly adds, "Well... I will try my best to not be angry if you explain everything to me."

Beca sighs tiredly and nods.

"Okay..." Chloe says cautiously. "You said that you had loved me since freshman year. Why didn't you tell me back then? I mean, you kind of had three years to tell me."

Beca massages her temple with her fingers then flexes her neck and shoulders. She blows out a long breath through her mouth before saying, "It wasn't that simple, Chlo. You were my best friend."

"So you were afraid if you'd told me then I would've stayed away from you? Be angry with you? Stopped being your friend?" Chloe asks with hurt expression.

"Well either that or..." Beca is hesitant to tell the truth, but if there is anything she learns from loving Ashley, telling the truth is always a better choice. So, with her face down, she says, "I know this might sound presumptuous. But I did think of so many possibilities if I ever told you how I felt."

A gentle squeeze on her knees gives Beca more courage. "Either all of the things you just said, or maybe you would've stayed out of pity and then resented me. Or maybe... miraculously, you would've given me a chance because I was your best friend. But then you would've tried too hard to keep your promise to me and ended up hurting yourself. Besides, I was so broken, I would've ended up making you unhappy, Chlo. All of the possibilities that I could think of ended up jeopardizing our friendship. I'd prefer to have you as a friend than nothing at all. Either way, it would've changed everything between us. And then after everything blew out with Warren, I just... I was so hurt. So I ran away. I was young, and apparently stupid."

Chloe grabs her hands and says with a weak smile, "I really don't want to say this. You are right about one thing. You are definitely stupid. Because our friendship is ruined in the end when you decided to walk away from us, from me. And I, well in fact, both of us ended up hurting anyway."

"See?" Beca shakes her head lightly. "There is no scenario where you wouldn't have ended up hurting."

Chloe puts her hand on Beca's chin and lifts it up. "I could think of one scenario that would've turned out better, Becs. The best scenario for all of us."

Beca rolls her eyes and refuses to look at Chloe directly, so she tilts her head slightly to the left.

After a couple of seconds stroking Beca's cheek gently, trying to gain some courage, Chloe finally says, "Look at me, Becs. Please..."

Beca sighs, moving her eyes slowly to look at Chloe.

With her eyes staring at Beca fondly, Chloe softly says, "I would've told you that I'm in love with you too."

Before Beca can think of anything out of shock, Chloe is already up on her knees and kisses her lips gently.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There it is folks, the 5th chapter. Just like the tittle of this chapter, it's finally out in the open. I know I leave it over the cliff, but uh... it's been too long for this chapter. So, I'll see you again in the next chapter.  
> Until then, as usual, sit tight and make good choices.  
> Thank you for reading. :)


	6. Between The First and The Second

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey there! :)  
> Did any or you do a little dance when Chloe finally kissed Beca? :D  
> Anyway, that's where we left off. In this chapter, we'll pick it up from there. I don't own Pitch Perfect, neither the song in this chapter. It's Not a Bad Thing by JT.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now, I know you all have been waiting. So... here we go. Chloe kissed Beca, and...

Beca freezes up for a couple of seconds before she closes her eyes and starts kissing Chloe back slowly. It feels like fireworks is blowing, erupting, blaring in her stomach up to her chest. Suddenly everything around them just disappear, her brain forgets its duties, and for a moment, it's just her and Chloe, kissing.

Everything happen all at once. Beca straightens her legs, pulls Chloe by her waist so the red head can sit closer on her lap, and cups her cheeks gently. While at the same time, Chloe tangles her hands on the back of Beca's neck and deepens the kiss.

Beca can feel the warmth of Chloe's shaky breath, her soft lips tasted salty from all the tears, and her cheeks are sticky as Beca caresses it gently with her thumb. But she doesn't mind at all.

They keep kissing, nipping, taking and giving as much as they can, trying to convey all of the feelings that words fail to say and left unsaid for more than 10 years.

Eventually, the need of oxygen become urgent. Slowly, Beca pulls away slowly by pressing a couple more pecks on Chloe's lips before resting their forehead together. She just keeps stroking Chloe's cheeks gently while they breathe with their eyes closed, trying to savor the moment to every last drip of it.

Neither of them want to talk or even move. They let comfortable silent wrap around them in a bubble where nothing else matters.

After some times, Beca breaks the silent and whispers softly, "I'm sorry for kissing you."

Chloe chuckles, beaming as she says, "Well, I'm not. Why would you feel sorry? That kiss was amazing."

"I hate to break it up to you Red." Beca smirks. "But you kind of have a fiancé waiting for you to co-" Her smirk falters immediately as Ashley's face crosses her mind.

"Ashley..." Beca blurts out.

It feels like the blood is drained out of her body, causing her shivering cold. Beca tries to stand up, but Chloe cages her and keeps sitting on her lap.

Beca looks at the red head questionably, but when she sees the fear in Chloe's eyes, she smiles weakly and says, "I'm not going anywhere, Chlo. I promise. Not this time."

After taking seconds to consider the truth in Beca's words, Chloe slowly moves herself reluctantly and sits next to Beca. She laces their fingers together because she needs to feel close to the brunette. When she feels Beca tense up for a little bit and tries to pull her hand away, Chloe hold on to it even tighter.

Guilty feeling is creeping up into Beca's chest as her mind is flashing between Ashley and the kiss.

_The fuck did you do, Mitchell?! You_   _just cheated on Ashley._   _Your loving girlfriend, who has been very caring and very understanding to you._

Try as hard as she might, she can't shake off the pain from betraying a woman who loves her unconditionally, stays with her in a long haul, puts up with all of her shit, and more importantly, a woman that she loves whole-heartily in a very long time. That woman is Ashley, her girlfriend, her lover, her life partner, her partner in crime, her everything.

"I can hear a gear is turning in your head, and it scares me. Don't shut me out, Becs. Talk to me, please." Chloe pleads with concern in her voice.

Although it feels like every single fiber of her being are telling her to run away, Beca stays because she's promised Chloe. She sighs deeply and runs her fingers through her hair before saying, "I don't know what to say, Chlo. I mean we both have partners, and we just deliberately cheating on them."

Contemplating her decision, Chloe shuts her eyes and exhales a long steady breath before she firmly says, "I loved you, Becs. I still do. I finally realize why I could never let go of my anger to you after all this time and why I'm still hurting. It's all because I still love you."

The guilt is showing all over Beca, and Chloe sees through her. So she kisses Beca's hand before she continues, "I've wanted this for a long time. And I still do. I want you, Becs. I want us. I feel bad about cheating on Kristen, and I love her, I do. But I also knew from a long time ago, that I would never love anybody as much as I love you. I'm settling with her. So for me, that kiss is not a mistake. If anything, that kiss just confirms my feelings to you."

Beca keeps her head down with her eyes closed. She honestly doesn't know what to say. For her, yes, that kiss was amazing. Who she's kidding anyway, she kissed Chloe Beale, her first love.

However, Beca isn't the same person she was more than ten years ago. A lot has changed in her life in that period, and the big best most wonderful part happened after she met Ashley. Beca loves Ashley so much that the pain of cheating on Ashley trumps the feeling she got when she kissed Chloe.

Beca groans and pulls her hair harshly out of frustration.

_Stupid, stupid Mitchell!_

Trying to calm the tiny brunette, Chloe pulls Beca's hand down and rubs her arm gently. "It's okay Becs. We'll figure this out. We'll tell them, and we will work things out from there."

Beca stares at Chloe in confusion and asks, "What do you mean we'll work things out? Wait... You said you wanted us?"

"Well, obviously Becs. I kissed you first remember? I didn't even hesitate, and then you kissed me back. And I don't regret it." Chloe says, smiling softly toward the brunette, but when she sees the remorse in Beca's face, her smile falters. "Do you?"

Upon hearing that Chloe sounds hurt more than angry, Beca sighs and flashes her an apologetic sad smile before she stutters, "I... It's not like that Chlo."

Chloe pulls her hand from Beca and folds her arms on her chest. "Then tell me what it's like."

Beca runs her fingers through her hair in frustration and rubs the back of her neck. "Look, I did kiss you back and I admit, the kiss... it was amazing. But... it doesn't mean that I don't feel guilty about it. It's just..." she huffs in frustration, "It's not that simple, Chlo. It's not just black and white, we kiss then we're together."

"What do you mean it's not that simple?" Chloe asks in upset. "I love you and you love me too. And we kissed. It's that simple."

The situation is nerve wrecking. Beca shuts her eyes and inhales deeply. The things she's going to say will certainly hurt Chloe, but Beca knows that she has to be honest. "I loved you, Chloe."

Chloe can feel her chest tighten, and she speaks with her ragged breaths, "Loved? As in past tense loved?"

When Chloe sees Beca nods hesitantly, she can't help but let her tears fall freely.

Beca reaches out her hand to wipe Chloe's tears away. When the red head leans into her embrace, Beca smiles weakly and says with teary eyes, "I am so sorry Chlo. Believe me, I am. I loved you. I still do in some way. But... I'm in love with Ashley."

Chloe's face cringes in pain but she doesn't pull away. She doesn't say anything either. She just lets her tears run down silently.

"Tonight has been so emotionally tiring and we both are in no condition to think or act clearly." Beca says apologetically.

Chloe pulls back abruptly and snaps, "Are you saying that it was a mistake? I thought you said that you don't regret it!"

"It's not what I'm saying, okay?!" Beca snaps back. "Stop putting words into my mouth!"

Beca is getting anxiouos. And being worried about Ashley doesn't help calming her nerves. However, she regrets it immediately when she sees anger in Chloe's eyes.

As Chloe stands up abruptly and turns to walk away, Beca jumps up immediately, grabs her arm, and turns Chloe back to face her before she says with softer tone, "Look, I am sorry Chlo. I didn't mean to snap at you. It's just... tonight has been a roller coaster to me. I'm emotionally drained and physically tired. More importantly, I'm very confused now. And I believe you feel the same."

Chloe clenches her jaw and shrugs Beca's hand before she firmly says, "Yes, Beca. I'm  _indeed_  emotionally drained and physically tired. But I'm not confused. Not at all. If anything, that kiss was eye opening for me."

With a helpless look, Beca weakly says, "Chloe, I'm so sor-"

"Save it Becs! You've said enough sorries already." Chloe cuts her off harshly. She wipes her tears away and scoffs. "God! I am so stupid. Why would I let you hurt me again?!"

"I'm not trying to hurt you, Chlo!" Beca feels anger start raising up in her. "I didn't plan for any of this to happen. Especially when I'm supposed to be celebrating my fucking 5th anniversary with my girlfriend. I planned to make love with her and sleep on my bed. Not kissing my first love on a balcony. So cut me some slack if I feel so confused about this situation."

As word after word flowing out from Beca's lips, Chloe's blood is boiling and Beca's voice becomes louder.

"I had a fight with Ashley last night, because I was so unsettled after seeing you."

Chloe is not even aware of what she's going to do. She lifts her hand back and she throws it as hard as she might, whipping it across Beca's face.

"I'm at lost about how I'm supposed to fe-"

The cracking sound of the slap echoes through her ears, and Chloe feels the heat on her palm as the vibrations of pain start to spread all the way to her fingers tip. Her jaw drops when she sees Beca lifts her hand to touch her own red cheek with her eyes widen in shock.

Chloe gasps and tries to reach Beca as she stutters, "I... I am so sorry Beca. I didn't mean to do that."

Unsure if she wants to be touched by the red head, Beca takes a step back automatically. The heat on her cheek still leave Beca in complete shock after Chloe slaps her hard. She'd never imagined that Chloe could've done something like this.

When Beca steps back and remains silent, Chloe pulls her hand back in fear and guilt as she stutters, "I'm sorry. I- I really am. I was so angry and I... please say something, Becs."

Beca is still rubbing her heated cheek, but she comes out of her shock upon hearing Chloe's pleading. After seeing Chloe's concerned and regretful face, Beca's eyes soften. She shakes her head slightly and weakly says, "It's... It's okay, Chlo. It hurts like hell. But uh, but it's okay. I know you didn't do it in purpose."

The fear in Chloe's eyes doesn't fade away, but she steps forward to replace Beca's hand on her cheek with her own hand, and this time Beca lets her.

"No, it's not okay, Becs." Chloe says with terrified look and tears running down her face. "I have no right to do what I did. I was out of my mind. I'm so sorry Beca. Please forgive me and don't leave again. Do- Don't leave me again Becs. I can't... I can't... If you lea-"

"Hey now." Beca quickly says softly. "Don't cry. Not again. I think we've used a whole life time's worth of tears tonight. So no more crying. I'm not going anywhere, Chloe. Promise"

After hearing the sincerity in Beca's voice, Chloe smiles weakly and nods lightly.

Beca flashes her a weak smile. "Don't worry about the slap. It's okay, I'm okay. I didn't see it coming, but I totally deserve it. I have it coming my way since 10 years ago. So, no hard feeling."

They remain silent for quiet some times. The dawn is breaking, the dark sky is starting to become lighter, and the sun is about to rise. Beca is beat and she has no energy left to think.

Something clearly comes up in Chloe's mind as her face brighten up and she asks, "You said that you are confused?"

"Wha... Oh, yeah. I said that." Beca says with furrowed eyebrows, unsure of where this was going.

Chloe holds Beca's hand, speaking with tears in her eyes, pleading, "This is so humiliating, but here I am, begging."

Finally realize where Chloe is heading, Beca shakes her head and says, "Chloe-"

"Shut up and listen, Beca." Chloe says sharply, and Beca shuts her mouth in an instant.

"Okay, here it is." After taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Chloe starts to talk slowly with cracked voice, "I love you Becs. In a way that I've never felt before. In a way... that I can't possibly take it back. And I'd do anything for you. I've done everything for you. Picking up fights with my best friend to defend you, letting you be the captain of The Bella, failing Russian Lit three times just so I can be with you, giving up everything I have to find you."

Beca swallows hard but can't bring herself to interrupt even though she wants to cut Chloe off.

_Oh God. Oh God. Please don't tell me that she's going to do what I think she will._

"I'm so in love with you. And it's in a so unfortunate way that makes me hate you, love you."

The only thing Beca can do is staring at Chloe with terrified look while her mind is screaming frantically.

_Oh please don't ask me to choose! Please don't ask me to choose!_

"Your choice, it's simple. Her or me."

_Damn it! Damn it, damn it, damn it!_

"And I'm sure Ashley... she's really great. You've been with her for five years. I get it. But I've been waiting and loving you for fourteen years, Becs." Chloe pauses a moment to clear her throat before she adds, "So pick me. Choose me. Love me."

Beca closes her eyes and swallows hard. The love declaration is wonderful and heart moving. It makes Beca become more uncertain about the whole thing. She loves Ashley, and it's undeniably true.

However, Chloe is also a person that she loved,  _and_  a first love. The situation just becomes more confusing right now. She has to choose between the woman she loves and the woman she loved.

With her face looking down to the floor, Beca sighs deeply before she lifts her chin up slightly to see Chloe, gives her an apologetic look, and says, "I don't... Chloe, I uh... honestly don't know what to say or what to do. I uhm... I think I might need some time. You know, to sort everything out."

"Of course. I understand." Chloe hurriedly says with expectant look. "But it means you will consider us, right?"

Beca rocks back and forth on feet while she talks cautiously without looking up to Chloe. "I uh... I can't promise anything, Chlo. I don't want to lead you on, or give you the wrong impression. But I uh... I believe both of us can use some space and time to think about what happened tonight. Obviously we can't think clearly because last night has been shaking us up and down emotionally."

After taking a deep breath, Chloe remains silent as she thinks about Beca's words. Although Chloe is afraid of losing Beca, she knows better than pushing the brunette to make any decision now. The more she push, the more chances Beca will run away again. So, she sighs in defeat and says, "How long?"

Beca presses her lips tightly and shakes her head slightly as she says, "I don't know... Maybe a couple of days?"

Sucking her teeth with her eyes closed, Chloe takes her time to consider. She knows that Beca needs this. Besides, she can use some times to tell Kristen about all of this too. She squeezes Beca's hands slowly and says, "Okay. Take your time. But I want you to know that I mean every single word I said before. I'm in love with you Becs." She pauses and then adds, "And I want you to promise that you will not disappear again."

Beca nods lightly, and since she's looking down, Chloe can't read her expression. Therefore, Chloe squeezes Beca's hand and firmly says, "Promise me, Becs. I need your word."

Beca looks up and smiles weakly before saying, "I promise, Chlo. I won't disappear on you, ever again."

Letting go of Beca's hands is the last thing Chloe wants to do now. So she swings it lightly side to side while saying, "Okay. Call me when you are ready." Then she feigns an angry look. "And if I don't hear anything from you in a week, I swear to God I will find you and kick your ass so hard this time, you're going to need a surgery to get my feet out."

After hours of crying and yelling, Beca finally barks out the first laughter and shoves Chloe playfully on her shoulder. "I believe you can do that. I mean, judging from that slap, you definitely can kick my ass hard."

Chloe smiles shyly. "Again, I'm sorry Becs."

"Don't sweat it, Chlo. Like I said before, I deserve it."

"No hard feeling then, huh?"

"Nope." Beca pops the P. Then she nervously says, "And don't worry, I'll call you as soon as I uh... sort things out."

The sun is rising behind them while they remain silent and just look into each other's eyes. Beca lost herself in those blue eyes that glimmer under the first light before she blinks her eyes and clears her throat. "I uh... I need to go."

Chloe is reluctant to let go. Her eyes flick down to Beca's lips and she leans closer, but her lips meet Beca's forehead instead because the brunette ducks her head down.

Upon seeing the hurt in Chloe's eyes, Beca stands on her toes and gives Chloe a peck on her forehead. That simple gesture brings a small tug on the corner of Chloe's lips.

"So uh... I'll see you soon?" Beca rubs the back of her neck nervously.

Chloe simply nods, turns around, and walks out of the balcony.

* * *

 

Beca gets out from her karaoke bar after making sure that Chloe is already long gone. She goes straight to home, to the house that she and Ashley have been living in together for almost 3 years.

When she arrives, she turns off her car but she doesn't get out of it. Instead, she sits in there quietly, looking at a huge house in front of her. A smile appears on her face, looking at the first place that she could call home simply because it's how it feels like wherever and whenever she's with Ashley.

Three years ago after they agreed to live together, Ashley and her bought this property. Beca have no problem with where she lives, as long as it is with Ashley. However, there was a huge distant between her dream house with the one on Ashley's mind.

Therefore, they bought a huge chunk of approximately 10.000 square meters land in Beverly Hills where they could build everything they wanted. It's the half way between Beca's super huge need of personal space, and Ashley's demands of having her friends at her house most of the time.

The land comes with several buildings and features that Beca can't be more care less as long as she gets her personal space and a build-in studio in the main residence. The land is certainly way too big just for the two of them, so they built a residence for their housekeepers, house maids, and some other people that help them to take care of everything in it.

The only building in their properties that Beca familiar with is the main residence, which is a four-story mansion. Ashley decorated it all with the help from Troian and Shay. The first floor consisted of a huge living room with a bar, a large dining room that could fit a village and a smaller one for family dinner, a huge kitchen, a room for gym and sauna, a couple of guest rooms, and more rooms.

The second floor has an entertainment room, much like the living room but more spacious with many equipment to play with when their friends and family come around and it has a huge balcony. There's also a library for Ashley's books and movies collection, and Beca's thousands of records collection. It also has a huge recording studio to fit one hell of musical instruments collection for Beca and a mini theater that can fit 50 people for Ashley. Then four luxurious bathrooms that projected all four seasons, and more rooms.

The master bedroom is on the third floor. It has a king size bed, a huge comfortable couch, two very large walk in closets for each of them, a luxurious bathroom, a room for a mini pantry where they usually eat, a balcony that provides one hell of a view of pacific ocean with a pool attached to it.

Next to each side of their bedroom are several connecting bedrooms that Ashley prepared for additional family member, if they plan to ever have any. Then there is a room full of variation of gaming consoles and gears, because apparently, Beca has gained a high level of interest in gaming since she's lived her isolated life. There is a room for Ashley's hobbies such as dancing and painting, and then a dark room for Ashley to develop her photo because she's into photography.

The fourth floor is solely for Beca's sanctuary that only she and Ashley can access. They allow a specific housemaid to clean it only when Beca or Ashley is there to supervise. It's basically a very large room with one king size bed attached to the wall in the middle of the room, a walk in closet, a spacious bathroom, a mini pantry, several musical instruments that Beca loves to play, and a very large desk for her mixing boards and laptop. It also has a balcony with a swing bed, a large comfortable couch, and several types of telescopes.

The sanctuary is a safe place for Beca. When they just started to live together, Beca spent a lot of time in there, more like on the couch on the balcony specifically, because she wasn't used to live in such a huge house with other person.

However, the longer they live together, the lessen Beca spend her time in it. She prefers to sleep with Ashley instead, claiming that she sleeps better with her girlfriend. Every once in a while, Beca still stays up there, especially when Ashley is away.

I can't really explain and give all of the details about the land and house. It certainly has jogging track, some sport fields, a huge garage for Beca's cars collection, a huge hangar for Beca's planes and chopper, a run way, several pools, a huge garden, tree houses, and etc, etc, etc. Too much. And don't matter.

So let's get back to Beca, who's still sitting in her car and staring at her mansion.

Suddenly, a knocking sound on her window startle her. Beca sees Tony, their housekeeper stood there out by her car.

"Do you want me to take the car into the garage, Miss Mitchell?" Tony asks politely.

"Yes, Tony, please." Beca says as she walked out of her car and hands the key to the man. "And by the way, enough with the last name already. I've told you to call me Beca."

Tony chuckles and said, "So sorry Miss Mitch..." he stops upon seeing Beca raising an eyebrow and he quickly says, "I mean Beca. I'll take care of the car now."

"Good safe. And please charge it. Thanks again, Tony."

"No need to. I'm only doing my job."

Beca simply puts on a tight smile and walks into the main house.

As she closes the door behind her, two puppies greet her.

Yep. Puppies. In Beca's mansion. So not her. But a year after they've lived together, Ashley demanded to have puppies around the house. Beca was reluctant at first, but Ashley was persistent. So now they have one Maltese Shih Tzu named Olive, and one Brussels Griffon named Walter.

After a while, Beca warmed up to them because turned out, they preferred to be pet by Beca than Ashley. Ashley still teases her for being a closeted animal softy and a dog whisperer. Much to Ashley's delight, Beca relents to be referred as Mama while Ashley is referred as Mommy, but Beca eventually got used to it.

"Okay. Okay. Enough already kids. Mama needs to get up." Beca says after letting those puppies jump and lick her face.

After petting the puppies, Beca stands up and goes to the bar to get water. The Pacific Ocean comes into her view through the huge glass wall in the living room while she stands there with a bottle of water. She sips her water slowly, trying to delay facing her girlfriend after the kiss.

As soon as the bottle is empty, Beca starts to climb upstairs to their bedroom on the third floor. She opens the door slowly, afraid of waking her girlfriend. She stands by the door, smiling fondly at her girlfriend who curl up under the blanket holding Beca's pillow in her arms on the left side of the bed.

Beca spends a couple of minutes silently watching the sleeping blonde before she decides to shower. She feels exhausted, sticky, dirty, and smell a little bit like cigarette.

After showering and putting on a shortpants, Beca feels freshen and more relax. She walks slowly toward the bed, lays gently beside her sleeping girlfriend, and slowly pulls the pillow away. She peeks up to the clock and sees that it's a little bit after eight in the morning on Saturday.

A familiar warmth creep into her chest and a soft smile appears on her face when Ashley automatically reaches out for her. Beca rests her head close in front of Ashley's face, staring at every features on her girlfriend face starting from the necklace on her neck.

It's the present Beca gave her last night for their anniversary; a white gold necklace with 18K white gold diamond initial B pendant. Her hand automatically reaches her own matching necklace on her neck with initial A.

Beca's smile grows fonder as she slowly trails her eyes up to Ashley's soft lips and then up to her pointy nose. After seeing Ashley's puffy eyes and trails of tears on her cheeks, Beca's smile falters because she realizes that Ashley must have cried herself to sleep.

Nevertheless, Ashley's beauty never cease to amaze her, even with her puffy eyes, messy blonde hair, no makeup, and sleepy face.

Smiling contently, Beca caresses her thumb gently on Ashley's cheek, thinking about how someone can be so beautiful so effortlessly. She finally relents to the urge and kisses Ashley gently on the lips.

Ashley stirs in her sleep and her eyelids flutter open as she feels the presence of her girlfriend.

"Babe?" Ashley whispers with hoarse voice.

"Hey beautiful." Beca says with a soft smile on her face.

Ashley smiles softly back at her and says, "Morning Owlie."

"I'm sorry I made you cry."

Ashley looks at her with a sad smile and says, "Let's talk about it when we're both more alert."

A sudden rush hit Beca in her chest and it makes her want to cry, moved by how understanding Ashley is. She kisses Ashley again, showing her gratitude and love toward the blonde. There's nothing erotic about it, but a loving passionate kiss between two people who have understood each other very well without so much words being said.

After they pull away, Ashley pinches Beca on the side of her stomach.

"Aw!" Beca yelps, rubbing her stomach.

"You smoked!"

"How did you know? I've showered and brushed my teeth twice."

"You underestimate my Beca super senses. I know you too well, Beca Stephanie Mitchell." Ashley narrows her eyes in upset. "How many?"

"It was only two cigarettes, Hon. Won't happen again. Promise."

Although she's still upset, Ashley sighs and her angry eyes soften, "Okay. You are forgiven this time, but I won't go easy on you next time."

"Yes ma'am. There won't be next time. Promise."

Ashley looks at Beca closer and softly asks, "Did you just get back?"

"U huh." Beca strokes Ashley's golden locks gently.

Suddenly Ashley's eyes widen in shock and her hand caresses Beca's cheek as she asks, "What happened to your cheek?"

Since the slap has been long forgotten, Beca looks at Ashley in confusion and asks, "What happened to my cheek?"

"It's red and has a handprint on it." Ashley says worriedly.

"Oh that. Uh... long story." Beca replies nervously, and then she pushes Ashley's hand away from her cheek and replaces it with her own.

Trying to look closer to Beca's cheek, Ashley rolls her eyes and slaps Beca's hand away lightly, causing Beca flinching in pain from her bruised hand.

Ashley's face drops, taking Beca's hand gently and asks with concern, "What happened to your hand, Babe? Did you get into a fight? What happened after I left last night?"

A fond smile creeps up on Beca's face when she realizes how much Ashley loves her, even after their fight last night. Beca shrugs and says, "Something like that. I will tell you, but I'm so exhausted and I haven't had any sleep at all yesterday. So, can we talk about it after I have some sleep?"

When Ashley is going to argue about it, Beca quickly asks with pleading eyes, "Please?"

Ashley narrows her eyes in concern, but she relents and nods instead. She kisses Beca chastely on the lips and snuggles into the crook in Beca's neck. Then Beca puts one of her arm under Ashley's head and wraps the other one carefully around Ashley's waist, pulling the blonde closer into her embrace.

It's so fascinating how peaceful and at ease Beca easily feels only by Ashley's presence, even after the emotional roller coaster that happened last night. She kisses the top of Ashley's head, inhaling the familiar scent of coconut vanilla shampoo, and smiles contently onto it as she mumbles, "I love you, Hon."

"I love you too Babe. Always." Ashley replies sleepily before she presses a kiss on Beca's shoulder blade. They both fall asleep almost immediately.

* * *

 

**This is a little part solely with Ashley POV.**

Ashley wakes up around 11 in Beca's protective arms, caving her in a warm embrace. She brushes her nose lightly under Beca's jaw, inhaling a mixture of her girlfriend's white musk perfume and her natural scent that smells like a newborn baby.

After enjoying the warmth of the brunette, Ashley pulls back just a little bit enough to see her lover's face. She loves watching the tiny DJ sleeping. It's one of the things that she will always be thankful for, a soundly asleep Beca.

Ashley knows that for years after graduated, Beca wasn't familiar with the term  _a good night sleep_. Instead, she was best friends with insomnia and passing out. Then her mind trails back to the nights they spent together in the beginning of their relationship.

On those nights, she rarely saw Beca sleep thoroughly and often found the brunette completely awake until the sun came up. In fact, most of the time, Ashley would find the brunette in the dead of night, standing on the balcony of her penthouse, looking like she was deep in thought.

Some other times, the blonde would find Beca in her gaming room, playing war games all night long, or if her mind were overflowed by inspiration, then she'd make music and mixes.

One time or two, Beca would just sit on the couch in the living room, staring at nothing on the ceiling, humming Hotel Ceiling by Rixton repeatedly.

Even when she finally fell asleep, it wouldn't be long before she was awaken by nightmares or night terrors. So yeah, seeing a soundly asleep Beca still brings such a relief to Ashley, even it has been years since Beca sleeps much better.

Here's a thing about sleeping that Ashley thought applied to most people. It's supposed to be relaxing and showing people's face in their most innocent expression. Well, news flash to her, and us, those rules apparently don't apply on Beca Effin Mitchell.

Ashley was fascinated when she found out that Beca's lips were slightly frowned and her forehead furrowed lightly when she was sleeping. The brunette always told her with a smug face that it's the way a badass looks like when they are asleep.

However, Ashley keeps something as a secret. Apparently, every time she kisses that light frown on the corner of Beca's lips, it will form into a light smile, followed with a light hum. After she found out about this enticing fact, she made a habit out of it; kissing away the frown from Beca's sleeping face.

It's not a surprise folks when Ashley almost always wakes up earlier than Beca. Beca is a deep sleeper, the kind that can sleep through thunderstorm, or earthquakes, or both.

When Ashley asks about it, Beca always insists that it's a payback for years lack of sleep. And Ashley has been taking an advantage by making a routine out of it.

Every time Ashley wakes up in Beca's arm, she always spends a couple of minutes doing a ritual that even the brunette doesn't know. And today is no different.

Ashley starts with kissing Beca's forehead and whispers, "Thank you for such a brilliant and intriguing mind that can create the most magnificent music."

Then she kisses Beca's eyelids and whispers, "Thank you for the eyes that have been brave enough to see things just the way they are."

Ashley's lips then trails it's way down to find Beca's, kissing it gently and then softly says, "Thank you for the love that flow in a form of melodies from this lips."

After that, Ashley pulls her head down a little bit to see Beca's chest. She starts with trailing her index finger on the scar from a surgery Beca had years ago. Then, she looks at the initial  _AVB,_  a permanent ink that's written with her own handwriting on Beca's left chest, on the skin where her heart constantly beating. Beca got that tattoo on their third anniversary.

Ashley kisses it gently and mumbles, "Thank you for this steady beating heart that can fit the whole universe in it. Please let it keep beating."

The act of love stays the same, but the prayers that follow have changed from time to time over the years.

Then she just stares at Beca fondly. A smile grows on her face as her mind wonders how she can ever feel this kind of love, the one that gives her strength yet also makes her vulnerable.

Ashley never thought that she'd find such an honest feeling and – _again, as cheesy as it sounds,_  a love so true from someone who has always been afraid of loving and being loved.

After years being together, she can't even imagine how she will manage to love again if she ever - _she crosses her fingers,_  have to experience life without Beca's love.

It's odd actually, because Beca is the first and only woman that Ashley's ever fallen in love with. For her, the most accurate term to describe Beca's meaning in her life comes from words of Spencer Hastings.

_You Are My Once Upon a Time._

Yep. It's the most suitable words. Call it cheesy or too much, but for Ashley, Beca  _is_ her once upon a time.

The red mark on Beca's cheek draws concern to Ashley. She can't help but think how the slap must have been so hard because it's still imprinted until now. She caresses it gently with her thumb, but Beca doesn't even twitch.

Then she slowly takes Beca's injured hand, looking at it intently, finding that the skin is bruised with scratches on it. Doesn't want to wake her girlfriend, Ashley slowly pulls away and goes to the bathroom to get some first aid kits.

When Ashley comes back to the bed, she gently takes the brunette's injured hand, cleans it carefully with alcohol, and then wraps it with some bandages. After making sure of no other injuries, Ashley kisses Beca again on the lips, and then decides to get something to eat.

While Ashley's mouth is chewing her pancakes, her mind is busy thinking about their fight last night. She realizes how wrong it was to leave Beca, especially after she promised that she'd never leave again. Ashley admits that she was beyond jealous to see Beca with Chloe, but it isn't an excuse at all, knowing how terrified the brunette about people leaving her.

Guilt starts to creep into her chest and Ashley glances at her sleeping girlfriend on the bed, making a note on her mind that she will apologize when the DJ wakes up.

After finishing brunch, Ashley takes a shower, and then read a book while waiting for the brunette to wake up. It's almost 4 PM when she realizes that her girlfriend will be waking up soon, and will be grumpy from being hungry.

So she gets up and walks to the pantry after putting on some music from the iPod. She makes tuna sandwiches and coffee while singing along with the song.

* * *

 

Beca wakes up hours later by the faint sound of her girlfriend singing along softly to the song that she recognizes as Justin Timberlake's Not a Bad Thing. After pushing herself up on her elbow, Beca looks around and finds Ashley is wearing her favorite oversize shirt that fall just a little bit under her waist, swaying lightly to the music in the mini pantry at the right side of their bedroom.

A huge grin appears on Beca's face as a ticklish sensation flutter in her stomach when she looks at Ashley, admiring her from behind. How Ashley still makes her giddy like a teenager in love after all this time is a mystery that she never wants to solve.

Then she hears Ashley sang the pre-chorus.

 

_I know people make promises all the time_

_Then they turn right around and break them_

_When someone cuts your heart open with a knife, now you're bleeding_

_Don't you know that I could be that girl to heal it over time_

_And I won't stop until you believe it_

_Cause baby you're worth it_

 

Ashley turns around with a tray of coffee and sandwiches on her hands. She grins from ear to ear when she sees her girlfriend's adoring goofy face is staring at her. She sings louder, serenading her girlfriend and walks slowly toward Beca.

 

_So don't act like it's a bad thing to fall in love with me_

_Cause you might look around to find your dreams come true, with me_

_Spent all your time and your money just to find out that my love was free_

_So don't act like it's a bad thing to fall in love with me, me_

_It's not a bad thing to fall in love with me, me_

_Not such a bad thing to fall in love with me_

 

_No I won't fill your mind_

_With broken promises and wasted time_

_And if you fall, you'll always land right in these arms_

_These arms of mine_

 

When Ashley reaches Beca's side of the bed, she puts the tray on the bedside table, cups Beca's cheek, and kisses her gently. They lost themselves in the kiss for a moment before Ashley pulls away, smiling and says, "Well, I see you are finally awake sleepyhead."

"Hmmm..." Smirking smugly, Beca kisses Ashley chastely one more time and says, "Food, serenade, and kisses. What a way to charm your girlfriend, Miss Benson."

"Well, get used to it." Ashley says in raspy voice, brushing her nose onto Beca's gently. "Because I intend to do it for a very long time."

"Oh really? Beca teases with a lower voice.

"Yep." Ashley pulls back and playfully says, "As long as you give me luxurious houses, diamond jewelries, expensive cars..."

"I knew it!" Beca barks out with a laughter.

Ashley laughs along, and then kisses her girlfriend again. As the kiss becomes more heated, Ashley moves her body and sits on Beca's laps with her hands tangled behind Beca's neck, pulling her closer.

Beca pulls Ashley closer and slips her hands under Ashley's shirt, then up to her back. She trails her kisses down to Ashley's neck, making the blonde moans softly.

"Uh... Babe..." Ashley breathes out with her eyes closed. "You need food in your system."

Beca hums and mumbles on Ashley's neck, "Later."

Ashley pushes Beca's shoulder gently and says, "Eat first, Babe."

When Beca flashes her a pleading eyes, Ashley wiggles her index finger. "Nu uh. You and I know well how grumpy you will be when you are hungry. You become hangry Beca."

Ashley chuckles upon seeing Beca presses her lips tightly like an upset child and she says, "Not gonna work, Mister."

Sighing in defeat, Beca lets Ashley moves to sit next to her and hands her a cup of coffee. She sips her coffee and hums with satisfaction on how perfect the coffee Ashley made her.

"What time is it, Hon?"

"A little after four." Ashley chimes in before she takes a bite of her tuna sandwich.

Beca's eyes widen in comic surprise. "I slept through the day?"

"Yep." Ashley pops the P. Then she swallows the food in her mouth and adds, "Like a log."

"Why didn't you wake me up when you did?" Beca asks before munching the sandwich in Ashley's hand.

Ashley wipes the sauce on the corner of Beca's lips with her fingers, pats Beca's left chest with the back of her hand as she says, "I woke up at 11, and you seemed like you needed it. So I let you."

"Huh." Beca smiles thankfully. "What did you do while I was asleep?"

"Well..." Mocking a serious face, Ashley replies, "After watching you sleep creepily..."

Beca laughs and mumbles, "Perve."

"I wrapped your bruised hand with a bandage, had lunch, showered, and then read a book by the pool." Ashley continues before licking her fingers chastely.

Beca doesn't even realize that her hand is already wrapped until Ashley mention it. With a smirk on her face, Beca says, "Whew... How am I so lucky to have a very efficient and productive girlfriend?"

"Well, I'm such a keeper so people said." Ashley says smugly.

Beca smiles and kisses the tip of Ashley's nose. "Thanks, Hon."

"No problemo, Bambino." Ashley pecks her lips.

"Bambino? Really?" With her eyebrows raised, Beca laughs and says, "I swear you could win the weirdest nick names for girlfriend competition."

Ashley rolls her eyes playfully and smugly says, "Oh please Babe. I am the judge in that competition."

Then they just eat in a comfortable silent. Ashley can't help but staring at Beca with adoring smile on her face, looking at how messy the way Beca eats. The tiny brunette got tuna and sauce spread across her cheeks with breadcrumbs on it, and the joy on her face can compete with five years old who has two ice creams in their hands. She chuckles softly, earning a puzzled look from her girlfriend.

"What?" Beca muffles with her mouth full of sandwich.

Ashley grins and shrugs before she says, "Nothing. I just completed my equation to solve the enigma of Beca Mitchell."

Then Ashley wipes Beca's cheeks with her fingers and licks them clean chastely.

"Care to share?" Beca asks, feigning curious look. "I can really use it. You know, since she is very hard to deal with."

"Hmmm..." Ashley mocks a thinking face. "Okay. If you have to beg that hard."

Beca laughs, thinking about how hilarious her girlfriend is.

"Listen close, okay?" Ashley feigned a dramatic serious face. "It's not easy to follow."

"Okay." Beca plays along with dramatic curios look.

"Here it is." With a smirk on her face, Ashley rubs her hands together and says, "Well-fed Beca equals happy Beca, while hungry Beca equals grumpy Beca."

"Wow..." Beca's eyes widen, mocking a fascinated face as she says, "What a complicated equation. No wonder it takes you five years to get it completed. Fascinating fact."

Upon seeing her girlfriend's childlike expression, Ashley throws her head back, laughing carefree-ly. After the laughter subsides, she notices that Beca is staring, gazing so tenderly at her with the softest smile on her face.

Although Beca do that a lot, it doesn't stop Ashley from flushing red from her neck to the tip of her ears every single time. It feels like she can burst out in happiness that erupts from her stomach up to her chest. She clears her throat and bites her bottom lip, smiling shyly before she softly asks, "What?"

Beca just shakes her head lightly, tucking a strain of hair on Ashley's face to the back of her ear, and rests her hand on Ashley's cheek. With the same loving gaze on her eyes, she simply says, "I love you."

Smiling with glimmering eyes, Ashley then kisses Beca's palm as she climbs onto Beca's laps. She looks Beca in her eyes, cupping her hands on the brunette's cheek gently, brushing their noses together, and then whispers, "I love you too Babe. Always."

Beca closes the gap between them, kissing Ashley ever so tenderly, and then pulls Ashley closer by her waist while Ashley's fingers find their way into Beca's brown hair. Nothing feels erotic about it, yet it raises a sense of being content and at ease, the feeling that Beca can only describe as home.

When air becomes a problem, they pull away slowly, smiling contently with their eyes closed and their foreheads press together.

After that, they resumed eating in comfortable silent with Ashley remains sitting on Beca's lap, feeding her girlfriend and making sure the brunette eats more than she would if she eats alone.

When they've done eating, Ashley reaches her hand to the bedside drawer, pulling out a little box, taking out some pills from it and hands them to Beca.

Without question, Beca takes and puts the into her mouth and swallows with the water Ashley hands her.

"All done, My Lady." Beca says with a smirk, earning a peck on her lips from her girlfriend.

"What do you want to do this afternoon, Babe?" Ashley asks as she gets up and walks to the pantry with the tray.

Suddenly Beca feels nervous because she just remembers about the kiss and that she has to tell Ashley about it. She takes a deep breath and cautiously asks, "I'm hoping that we can talk? Uh... you know, about last night?"

Ashley stops on her track for a second before hesitantly says, "Sure. Why don't you go wash up, and then we can talk."

"Okay." Beca complies gladly, thinking that she can use the time to find a way to tell Ashley about the kiss.

After finding something to change into, Beca heads to the bathroom, closes the door, and looks at her reflection on the mirror above the sink. Her eyes look tired and the bag under her eyes are dark despite of the fact that she has slept through the day.

Beca sighs deeply, thinking about how fast things change in one night. She shakes her head lightly, trying to grip some composure before she brushes her teeth and splashes her face with water carefully without wetting her injured hands.

After wiping her face dry and changing into her maroon red hoodie and a shortpants, Beca looks at her reflection once again and puts a determined face on before walking out the bathroom. She finds that Ashley is reading a magazine on the couch, and then she walks to sit next to her.

Ashley immediately puts her magazine down and snuggles herself onto Beca's chest comfortably as Beca wraps her arm around Ashley's back. Both of them remain silent, trying to compose themselves.

Listening to Beca's heartbeat has become Ashley's habit every time she snuggles up on her girlfriend. She rubs Beca's left upper chest absentmindedly until she makes up her mind. She kisses Beca under her jaw and softly says, "Before we talk about it, I'd like to say something first Babe."

Beca's heart is thumping hard in her chest. She feels sick in her stomach but she tries to act normal despite of the fact that Ashley can hear her spiking heartbeat.

"Sure. Go on, Hon." Beca says a little bit shaky, failing to sound nonchalant.

With determination, Ashley takes a deep breath and says, "I'm sorry I left last night. I shouldn't have done that. I promised you three years ago that I would never leave you, but last night I did."

Beca holds Ashley tighter, rubbing circle on Ashley's waist, and then kisses the top of her head. "It's okay, Hon. It was my fault."

Wanting to look at her girlfriend, Ashley pulls herself up, staring at Beca sadly and says, "It's not okay and unacceptable. All your life, you've been so afraid of losing the people you love because they keep leaving you."

The fact that Ashley has apologized while Beca is the one who did a mistake, raises such a guilty feeling in the brunette. It's eating her up and leaving her speechless for a moment. Then Beca clears her throat and stutters, "I uh... I did a mistake Hon. I love you, and you know it, but I-"

"I know Babe." Ashley cuts her off softly. "I know you love me. I shouldn't have felt jealous of her. I trust you."

When Ashley sees Beca's unsettling look, she thinks the brunette is upset, so she hurriedly reassures, "I don't want to lose you Babe, ever. I shouldn't have ran away when things like that happen. We've been through a lot. And I promise you whatever comes our way, we'll talk it out and work through it. I believe we can get through everything together, like we always have."

Beca's heart is pounding like crazy and it makes it harder for her to breath. Although she knows that she has to tell the truth, it doesn't make it easier to let her loving understanding girlfriend know that she cheated on her, especially when Ashley had been cheated on in the past.

Not knowing what is yet to come, Beca sighs deeply and says, "Babe, I have to tell you something. I uh-"

This time the ringing from Ashley's phone cuts her off. And she can't help the loud groan coming from her throat.

"Babe, I need to take this. It's Troian." Ashley says apologetically before getting up reluctantly.

"Hey Troian, what's up?" Ashley greets before listening to the other person to say something and replies, "Uhm... I'm actually in the middle of something important. Can't it wait?" She glances at Beca, sighs, and says, "Okay. I'll be there in twenty. See you."

Beca furrows her eyebrows in concern. "What is it, Hon? Did something happen to Troian and Patrick?"

"I don't know. She said that it's extremely urgent."

Before Beca can say anything else, Ashley is already putting on pants and jacket as she says, "Look Babe, I've got to go. I know we're in the middle of talking, but Troian needs me now. We'll finish this as soon as I got back. Love you Babe. Always."

Then Ashley kisses Beca on the lips before walking out of their room. Beca just stares at the door, dumfounded before she huffs in frustration, dropping back onto couch, and shuts her eyes tightly, trying to think of the way to tell Ashley about the kiss.

For a long while, Beca just sits quietly while her mind goes crazy with so many thoughts, jumping from her feelings toward Chloe and their kiss last night to the life she has with Ashley in the past five years and the day they just spent together.

It takes a while, but at some point, Chloe's voice echoes in her mind.  _"If anything, that kiss was eye opening."_

Ideas flood her mind all at the same time, and Beca hurriedly rushes to her sanctuary. Once she's in the sanctuary, she grabs her guitar and sits on the couch at the balcony. Then she starts to strum and jam absentmindedly while her mind slowly but sure unties the knot of thoughts about her decision.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright. That's it for this chapter. Feel free to take a guess about what Beca's going to decide. You'll get the answer maybe... in a couple of chapters. Until then, sit tight and make good choices.  
> Thank you for reading. :)


	7. How They Find Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hello there... :)  
> We were left off with Beca tried to tell Ashley about the kiss.   
> I hope you all enjoy. I don't own Pitch Perfect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We'll start with Ashley goes to Troian's place.

 

**Troian and Patrick's House**

Ashley just arrives at the house where Troian and Patrick live together. Before she even rings the bell, Troian already comes out to greet and pull her inside immediately.

"Slow down there, tiger. Your fiancé is here. I think we need to hold our horses." Ashley says jokingly. When she notices that Patrick and Shay are already in the living room, she smirks and teases, "Or are we trying to do a foursome here? I didn't know you have a Harlem fantasy, Patrick."

Shay stares at Ashley firmly and says, "Get your head out of the gutter, Ash. This is not a joke."

Starting to feel confused, Ashley looks back and forth between her best friends with her eyebrows furrowed, who are all avoiding looking her in the eye, except for Shay.

"Okay, you're scaring me." Ashley says worriedly. "What's wrong? Are any of you sick or something?"

After getting a nod from Shay, Troian sighs and says, "I think you should sit down for this."

"O...kay...?" Ashley complies, still with her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

Troian stares at Patrick and says, "Tell her, Babe."

Patrick groans. "Why me? You already know. Why don't you tell her? Or Shay."

"Because you are the one who witness it." Troian says matter-of-factly with her arms crossed on her chest.

"But Babe, Beca is my best friend. I can't do this to her." Patrick says almost in pleading.

"And Ashley is not?!" Shay takes a step forward closer to Patrick. "Do I need to remind you that you only become best friends with Beca in the first place because she is Ashley's girlfriend?!"

"I don't mean it like that." Patrick huffs tiredly. "They are both my best friends. And I am not taking side."

"You're not taking side Babe." Troian rubs his arms gently, and then stares at Shay firmly before saying, "And none of us are."

"Hell yeah we are!" Shay snaps impatiently.

Troian shots Shay a warning glare before she reassures Patrick. "You're just simply telling Ashley what you see. That's it. You don't have to say your opinion."

Patrick seems upset when he says, "But I-"

"Tell her Patrick." Shays cut him off harshly. "Tell her the truth. She deserves to kno-"

"Guys, guys, stop arguing." Ashley cuts them off anxiously when she realizes her friends are arguing about something that involves Beca. "Is this about Beca and Chloe?"

Her friend's eyes widen, and then Troian asks, "How did you know?"

"Well..." Ashley shrugs before saying, "They met for the first time after ten years last night, and this morning Beca came home with a red handprints printed probably eternally on her cheek, and now you are acting like this. I put two and two together."

Patrick seems to feel guilty somehow, Troian seems to be afraid, and Shay is obviously angry. Seeing her best friends like that raises Ashley's anxiety even more. Although she tries to look nonchalant, she fails miserably. She worriedly asks, "What happened with them? Did they have a fight? Should I be home, consoling my distraught girlfriend because her best friend is upset with her?"

Shay is going to say something, but Troian beats her to it by asking, "Last night you had a fight, didn't you?"

"Yeah. Just a little misunderstanding. You know how I act when I'm jealous. We were actually talking about it when you called me about this _extremely urgent_ thing." Ashley says, gesturing a quote mark on the word extremely urgent.

With her eyes narrows in disbelief, Shay asks, "You were? What did she tell you?"

At the same time, Patrick, who looks a little bit relieved, blurts out, "She told you? Oh thank goodness. I don't have to do that."

Troian slaps him hard on his arm and glares at him, causing Patrick to shut his mouth instantly, rubbing his arm silently.

"Tell me what?" Ashley is feeling more confused. "Like I said, we hadn't had a chance to talk much because you called me."

When her friends glance at each other without saying anything, Ashley becomes more impatient. So, she snaps, "Guys, just tell me already! You're killing me!"

Troian and Shay take a seat next to Ashley and hold her arms from each side.

After a moment of silent, Patrick finally sighs and sits down on the coffee table in front of Ashley. He takes a deep breath and looks at Ashley in concern before saying, "Look, I'm going to tell you something that might upset you. But I want you to promise me that you will let me finish before asking any question. Okay?"

Ashley crosses her arms and rubs them uncomfortably as she looks at Troian and Shay questionably. When they don't say anything, Ashley turns to Patrick and nods.

"Last night after you asked Troian to take you home, I stayed to keep an eye on Beca. You know, in case she needed a friend after your fight." Patrick says cautiously, and then he steals a glance at Troian before he continues, "I stayed there all night outside of the office at the karaoke bar, waiting for her to come out. And at some point, I fell asleep. A janitor woke me up around 05.00, I think, and then I went into the office to check if Beca was still in there."

Even though she wants to cut through the chase, Ashley remains quiet and nods lightly.

Patrick seems more nervous now, his fingers are fidgeting on his thigh, and he is speaking without looking up at Ashley. "I didn't see her in the office. So I thought she went home. But I could hear a mumbling sound of people talking from the balcony, so I went to check it."

"Babe, it's okay." Troian says to calm her fiancé.

It's so nerve wrecking, not only for Ashley, but also for Patrick. He swallows hard, bouncing his legs up and down while his fingers run through his blonde hair, and then he says with an almost inaudible voice, "I uhm... I saw Beca there. She was uh..."

The nerves and anxiety are eating Ashley up and pushing her over the edge. So, she puts her hands on Patrick's bouncing knees and says, "Just spit it out."

"I saw them kissing." Patrick blurts out.

"Saw who kissing?" Ashley intensifies her furrowed eyebrows.

Patrick blows out a long ragged breath from his mouth and says, "Beca... She and Chloe kissed."

The first thing Ashley feels is cold, like the blood is drained out of her body. Then one by one, the hurt starts to hit; a pang in her chest, a stung in her eyes, a punch in her gut, and a ringing in her ears.

"I am so sorry, Ash." Patrick says sympathetically upon seeing how shocked Ashley is.

"Are you okay, sweetie?" Troian asks as she wraps Ashley around her shoulders, while Shay kisses the blonde's temple and squeezes her hand gently.

It takes Ashley a while before she pulls out from her catatonic state, looks at Patrick in disbelief, and blurts out, "What do you mean they kissed?"

"They uh... they were kissing? With their mouth?" Patrick says with furrowed eyebrows.

Ashley shakes her head in disbelief, trying to stay calm when she says, "Te- tell me what exactly happened. Maybe she was... caught off guard. Maybe... Chloe took her by surprise."

"Maybe." Patrick says hesitantly.

"Don't lie to her, Patrick!" Shay snaps at him.

When Patrick shots her a warning glare, Shay says firmly, "If you won't tell her the truth, then I will."

Patrick quickly looks at Troian, asking for support.

"Shay..." Troian sighs. "I know you're in overprotective mode. But this is about our _two_ best friends." When she sees that Shay wants to debate her, she quickly adds, "Beca is also our best friend. She has been in more than five years. So calm your pits, okay?"

Shay huffs and decides to pull Ashley in a hug while she lets Troian talk.

After turning her attention toward Ashley, Troian says cautiously, "Based on what Patrick told me, I don't think she was caught off guard or taken by surprise, Ash."

Ashley glances at Troian with puzzled and hurtful look.

Taking her time to carefully choosing the words she's going to use, Troian purses her lips and sighs before saying, "I think she knew what she was doing, Ash."

"What do you mean?" Ashley asks with a cracked voice.

Troian and Patrick change frantic looks at each other because they don't know how to tell the blonde without actually telling her the detail about the situation.

Being the hotheaded, Shay blurts out, "Patrick heard Chloe said that she is in love with Beca too, and the next thing he saw was Chloe sitting on Beca's lap, kissing her, and Beca pulling her closer by her waist."

Ashley whips her head toward Patrick, and looks at him with obvious pain in her teary eyes. "Is that true?"

Patrick shuts his eyes and nods lightly.

Ashley is quick on her feet, pacing back and forth around the living room, biting her thumbnail, muttering, "This is not true. This can't be true."

"I really wished it wasn't." Patrick says apologetically.

"It couldn't be!" Ashley snaps at Patrick as tears streaming down her face. "Beca would never do that to me! She knew how cheating affected me!"

Troain hurriedly pulls Ashley to sit back on the couch, wrapping her in a comforting hug.

"I'm sorry Ash." Patrick says weakly. "I wished it wasn't true. I wished it wasn't my best friend on that balcony kissing another woman. But it was."

Ashley shuts her eyes close and drops her head into her palms, silently letting the tears stream down its way through her fingers. The lump in her throat is choking her and making it harder for her to breath.

Troian and Shay silently rub her back to calm her down.

Ashley doesn't know how long she stays like that. She can't think or do anything at all while her brain keeps telling her repeatedly to get a grip. After a while, her tears subside. She wipes the tears on her cheeks, takes a few deep breaths, and sits up straight before she weakly asks, "What should I do?"

Shay looks at Troian, and Troian looks at Patrick.

Patrick sighs, taking Ashley's hand into his and softly says, "Well, I'm saying this as a person who had been in her position." He steals a glance at his fiancé before he looks back to Ashley and continues, "Talk to her. Let her explain. After years being together, she at least deserves the benefit of the doubt."

"Talk to her?" Ashley asks helplessly. "Ask for an explanation?"

Her friends just stare at her sympathetically.

"Oh God..." Ashley chokes in tears. "She's going to leave me." 

"Don't jump into that conclusion, Ash." Troian softly says. "She is Beca. She loves you."

Ashley closes her eyes and says in between sobs, "She... she's going to choose Chloe. She is her first love after all."

"What?!" Troian and Shay exclaim in unison, earning a warning glare from Patrick.

"Chloe is Beca's first love?" Troian asks with a softer tone. "How did you know?"

Ashley sighs deeply and says with ragged breath, "Sh- she told me."

"She told you? When?" Shay exclaims.

"Three years ago." Ashley drops her back onto the couch and rests her head on top of it, trying to steady her breaths, looking so distraught. "Re- remember our huge fight th- that ended up with us separating for a month or so?"

Her friends nod to respond.

"That was the most miserable I've ever seen you." Troian says as she rubs Ashley's knee gently. "But you've never told us what happened."

Ashley nods. Contrary to popular belief, even though she's a very open person, she's actually really good at keeping secret. She didn't tell any of their friends before because she didn't want them to think that Beca wasn't serious with her. Because she was, but she was also afraid of being committed.

With her eyes fixated on the ceiling, Ashley starts to explain slowly. "I... was going to leave her. Because she didn't want to take our relationship to the next level. I wanted us to move in together, but she was afraid. We fought and I left."

Her friends seem to be shocked but they don't interrupt.

"One night, she came to my apartment and looked like a mess. She told me th- that she couldn't lose me, so she chose to tell me everything about her. Then we made up. She promised to get better at relationship, and I promised that I would never leave her."

"That was the moment she told you about Chloe." Troian says as the realization hit her.

Ashley nods.

"And now you're afraid that Beca has always been in love with Chloe, and will leave you for her." Troian says again without question mark.

Staring blankly to the ceiling with tears running down her face, Ashley nods again.

Her friends just look at each other, trying to find something to say. But nobody seem to have anything to say.

Eventually, Troian breaks the silence. "Ash, I don't know about Beca's feeling to Chloe. Frankly, I only know a number of things about Beca's life before she became our friend. And I can count them with one hand. All I know is that she loves you. She has done nothing but loving you the best way she could in the past five years. This amount of time spent to be in a very long committed relationship is a big deal. Especially when it comes from someone who had always been afraid of even think about it."

Ashley turns to look at Troian but says nothing. Then she massages her forehead absentmindedly while her mind thinking hard.

Nobody dare to break the silence until Ashley takes a deep breath and finally says, "I'm going home. You're right. I should talk to her."

Shay grabs her hand and gives it a little squeeze to show her support.

"We'll take you home, Ash." Troian says as she stands up.

"I drove here, Troian." Ashley shakes her head lightly. "I'll be fine driving on my own."

"Don't be silly." Patrick pushes calmly. "Troian and Shay will drive you with your car and I will drive mine so we can take you back together, okay?"

Ashley looks at them for a second and then nods. The drive back is silent. When they arrive, Ashley thank them and promise them a call after she talks to Beca.

Troian pulls her up and hugs her tightly. "We're here for you. Anything you need, just tell us."

Ashley hugs her back and says, "Thank you guys. I wouldn't know what to do without you."

While patting Ashley's back gently, Shay says firmly, "Don't trust her easily, Ash. Just tell me if I have to kick her ass."

Ashley chuckles sadly. "I might hold you onto that."

Patrick puts his hands on Ashley's shoulders and softly says, "Just give her a chance. I believe she has her reason."

Ashley simply nods before waves them goodbye. Then she walks into the house, straight to their bedroom and finds it empty. Although she knows where Beca is, she doesn't go there immediately, because now she finds it a little bit harder to face her girlfriend. So, she walks to the balcony and just sits there to calm her nerves.

For a long while, Ashley simply looks at the view of Pacific Ocean from the balcony while her mind slowly puts the pieces together. She realizes that she has only thought about the possibilities of Beca's decision, yet she hasn't thought about hers.

Through all the flaws to the remarkable things the brunette has, Ashley is completely sure that she loves Beca, and there is nothing that can stop her from loving Beca now. However, if there is one thing that Ashley couldn't stand is being in doubt.

Ashley knows how much Beca loved Chloe when she was still in college, and Chloe was a huge part in Beca's life back then even after Beca left. She can't help but worry if Beca ever move on from her feelings toward the red head.

It's a very hard question to answer and even harder to prove, especially when the red head has revealed that she also loves Beca. That thought sinks into her mind, affecting her head in making a decision.

After she finally make up her mind, she stands up and goes straight to Beca's sanctuary.

* * *

**Chloe's House, The Very Same Day.**

When Chloe arrives at her house, she's still in a haze of Beca Mitchell. The meeting and especially the kiss still leave her over the moon. It was an amazing kiss and nothing like she'd ever felt before. The possibility of finally be with Beca in a relationship put her in a bliss.

It takes her back to the times when she dated so many people and it never worked out. The longest she could stay in a relationship before Kristen was almost a year with her coworker who traveled with her for Peace Corps.

His name was Nicholas, and he was a good guy. But they mutually decided to end their relationship when Chloe decided to go back to Boston while Nic still wanted to travel. Strangely, she wasn't that broken-hearted over the break up.

Although Chloe wasn't interested in dating anyone after she got back to Boston, Kristen managed to impress her and they hit it off on the first meeting. Kristen was awkward and nervous at first but when they started to talk, Chloe was fascinated by Kristen's knowledge about literature and classical music. It turned out that she was also very funny and sweet. They started dating after that.

Kristen is actually a perfect girlfriend and fiancé. She is sweet, romantic, funny and she treats Chloe like nothing but a queen. They both are big on happily ever after. So naturally, it's easy for Chloe to fall in love with her.

However, like any other human being, Kristen indeed has some flaws. She is over protective and overly jealous toward everybody that is close to the red head. It was sweet and cute when they just started dating, but it's getting old now, especially when she even got jealous of Aubrey and Stacie.

She's never yelled or hit Chloe or even had a bad temper about it, but she always makes Chloe feels bad when she does something that Kristen doesn't approve of. That insecurity and controlling behavior are things that often cause them to fight.

Despite all of that, Chloe knows that Kristen truly loves her. She can always count on her fiancé about everything. And more than anything, she believes that Kristen will never leave her. Those are the reasons why Chloe said yes when Kristen proposed.

However, that happened before she met Beca again. Turns out, Chloe only needs one kiss, a true love kiss as she's always believed in, because she is a true believer of Disney princess' grand happy ending, to be sure.

Chloe didn't even hold her breath and it didn't take more than a minute for her to realize why her relationships never lasted before. It's because her ex's aren't Beca. Kristen, is not Beca.

That thought brings her back to reality. Chloe sighs and checks herself on the mirror under the sunshade of her car to make sure she looks presentable before walking into her house. She closes the door behind her quietly, thinking that her fiancé is still asleep. Turns out, she is wrong.

"Where have you been?" Kristen's voice startles the read head.

"You scare me." Chloe says while trying to compose herself upon seeing Kristen sits in the dark.

"Sorry." Kristen says with a hint upset. "So where have you been?"

"I was with Beca." Chloe says, trying to sound and look nonchalant.

Kristen raises an eyebrow, still with a hint of upset. "The whole night?"

Chloe takes off her heels and walks into their kitchen before she says, "Yeah. It's been ten years. So we have a lot of things to catch up on."

Although she isn't convince, Kristen follows Chloe from behind and replies, "Sure you do."

Chloe just keeps walking to the kitchen, straight to the fridge. After taking and drinking a bottle of water, she says, "You're early. It's only seven."

Kristen stares at her for a second before she shrugs and says, "I went for a jog. I just got in right before you."

"Huh."

"So... what did you and Beca talk about all night, Babe?" Kristen asks, trying not to sound like she's doing an interrogation.

Knowing that she isn't ready to talk about the kiss and the inevitable break up, Chloe shrugs and says, "You know, just stuff to catch up on. Life, work, stuff like that."

"Hmp." Kristen raises her eyebrows, pressing her lips tightly.

Before Kristen asks another question, Chloe quickly says, "I'm exhausted. I'm going to shower and sleep."

Just after Chloe turns on her heels, Kristen grabs her hand and pulls her close. She wraps her arms around Chloe's waist, smiling softly as she says, "I've missed you Babe."

Chloe is caught off guard, but she instantly takes a deep breath and kisses Kristen chastely. Without really looking at her fiancé, she says, "I miss you too, Babe."

Confused of how her fiancé is acting, Kristen stares at the red head intently and sighs before turning and walking back to the kitchen. "I'm having pancakes for breakfast. You want any?"

"I think I'll pass." Chloe says weakly. "I'm really tired."

Kristen turns to look at her, raising an eyebrow, staring at the red head with unreadable face before she skeptically says, "Chloe Beale turning down pancakes. Wow. Never heard of that before."

Although Chloe knows that refusing a breakfast is a normal thing to do, Kristen always manages to make her feel bad over the simplest thing. Chloe sighs tiredly and says, "I'm tired Kris. Can we have this uncomfortable talk later?"

"What uncomfortable talk?" Kristen asks nonchalantly. "I just want to have breakfast with my fiancé. As usual."

This is the passive aggressive manner of her fiancé, which Chloe has grown to be familiar with over the years. It usually ends up with a fight, but Chloe is exhausted and doesn't want any argument. So, she bites her tongue and says, "Okay. Let me shower, then we can have breakfast."

"Cool." Kristen smiles cheerfully.

Chloe turns on her heels and walks into their bedroom. After picking up a pair of sleeping wear, she takes a quick shower and walks back into the kitchen instantly.

Upon seeing Kristen making her favorite breakfast, Chloe can't help but smiling. It's just pancakes and sunny side up on two plates, but it shows how sweet Kristen has been even after years together.

Suddenly, Chloe feels guilty for how she has been treating the brunette. She puts a smile on her face, approaches her fiancé, and gives her a peck on the lips before saying, "My favorite. Thanks Babe."

Kristen grins and says, "Anything for my queen. Let's eat. You must be starving."

They eat in silent. After she finishes, Chloe looks up at Kristen and cautiously says, "I'm really tired Babe. Can I go to sleep?"

"Sure." Kristen gets up and kisses Chloe before picking up the plates. "I'll clean up, and then join you."

Not taking a chance of Kristen changing her mind, Chloe hurriedly rushes into their room, plops onto the bed and falls asleep immediately. Out of exhaustion, she doesn't even stir when Kristen joins her on the bed, hugs her from behind, and kisses the back of her shoulder gently.

Chloe wakes up hours later when she feels her fiancé kissing her neck from behind and whispers, "Wake up sunshine. The universe is not as bright without your blue eyes shining their way into my day."

Although it's so sweet, Chloe can't help but feeling disappointed because she wished it came from Beca. Yesterday, the very same gesture would've made Chloe beamed in joy and her stomach fluttered. Yesterday, but not today. Because the kiss she shared with Beca last night is still lingering in her mind.

Nevertheless, being loved always feel good no matter from whom it comes for. Chloe puts on her best smile, turns slowly to stare at her fiancé, while her mind gathering her courage to tell the brunette about her decision.

When Kristen tucks a strain of hair behind her ear, Chloe can see the love and adoration pouring out from her fiancé's green eyes that would've melted any woman into a giant puddle.

As Kristen leans in for a kiss, Chloe returns the kiss half-heartily, and then she pulls away the second Kristen tries to deepen the kiss. Confusion is written all over Kristen's face.

"We need to talk." Chloe says.

"Well, can we talk later?" Kristen says with bored sighing. "We haven't kissed properly since last night. And I've missed having you in my arms."

After untangling herself from Kristen, Chloe then sits up on the edge of the bed and sets her feet on the floor with her back facing Kristen. She sighs with her head down and her eyes closed as she says, "I need to tell you something."

Kristen groans in annoyance and says, "Okay. What is it that you want to talk about? It's clearly more important than kissing your fiancé, who had waited for you to come home the whole night, worried sick about you, while you had fun with your _best friend_."

This old trick of being passive aggressive still hit Chloe on her nerves. Trying to brush off the annoyance, she grits her teeth and then flatly says, "I can't do this anymore."

"I know." Kristen rolls her eyes, pulling herself up to lean her back against the headboard with her hands behind her head. "You shouldn't go out all night without me Babe. You should've come-"

"I mean us." Chloe cuts her off. "I can't do this relationship with you anymore."

For a second, Kristen freezes in shock, but she takes a deep breath and moves to sit next to Chloe before asking, "What do you mean Babe?"

Chloe turns her head to look at Kristen and mutters, "I don't think we should be together anymore."

Upon seeing the hurt on Kristen's face, she adds nervously, "I'm sorry. You've been good for me, Kris. Very good. But-"

"Isn't that a good thing?" Kristen cuts her off impatiently, reaching and holding Chloe's hands. "That I am good for you and you are good for me?"

Pulling her hands back slowly, Chloe sighs and says, "I'm so sorry Kris."

Kristen gets off the bed instantly, and walks down to the living room with a very confused Chloe follows close from behind.

When she sees Kristen grabs a framed picture from the table under the TV, her confusion is answered. Kristen is holding a picture of them staring at each other lovingly on their engagement party.

"Look at this Chloe." Kristen says, holding the picture in front of Chloe.

Chloe turns her head away, too ashamed to respond.

"Look at this." Kristen continues with her voice cracked from the knot in her throat. "Look at how in love we are. This couldn't be it."

Getting no sign that the red head will say anything, Kristen sits down on the couch, seems distressed and angry while Chloe is fidgeting on her feet, staring at the floor, unable to see the pain she caused on the person in front of her.

In the moment of silent, Chloe can't help but curious of how Kristen reacts toward the break up. After she told Kristen in their bedroom that she wanted to break up, not even once Kristen asked her why or demanded any reason, she just seemed like expecting it. Suddenly, Chloe feels cold as the realization hit her.

"You knew something happened last night." Chloe blurts out. "You knew we kissed."

Kristen scoffs and says with a tight smile, "Now we're talking."

"You spied on me?!" Chloe snaps.

"I didn't!" Kristen snaps back. "Well now I know I should have!"

"Don't lie to me Kris!" Chloe snaps loudly. "How did you know then?!"

With her face red in anger, Kristen furiously says, "I've suspected something would've happened. Especially after the dance. But I wasn't sure. Not until now!"

Chloe crosses her arms on her chest and harshly says, "This is why. This is the very reason I couldn't stand you. You are controlling and possessive! You don't trust me!"

"Oh no no no no Babe." Kristen says furiously. "You don't get to pin this on me. Not when you are the one who is cheating on me. And now you can't blame me for being controlling and possessive. Not after you proved that you can't be trusted."

The truth in Kristen's words hit Chloe right in the chest, taking away her ability to compose words. As much as she wants to deny everything that her fiancé just said, she can't. Despite of the fact that she indeed kissed Beca and it was wrong, Kristen always has her way to turn everything Chloe said right back at her.

Upon seeing that Chloe is at lost of words, Kristen takes a deep breath to calm herself, keeps sitting on the couch in silent.

After a while, with guilty feeling in her chest, Chloe decides to sit next to Kristen, wrapping her arm around Kristen's shoulder from the side and softly says, "Kris, I'm sorry for what I did. I love you, I do. But I don't think I will ever love you the way you want me to. The way you love me."

Kristen turns to look at her and speaks with her voice broken, "It's enough for me, Babe. It has always been enough after all this time. It will be enough."

"But it's not fair to you." Chloe smiles sadly. "You deserve to be loved by someone who can love you better than I do."

Kristen shrugs Chloe off and stands up tall in front of her before she firmly says, "You _do_ not get to do this to me, Chloe. I know what you're doing, and it's not going to work on me. I know what this is, and I've done this before. You don't get to sugarcoat and turn this into some kind of trying to be the bigger person thing, or acting like you are doing this for my sake."

Chloe's jaw drops with her eyes widen in shock before her anger flaring up and then she snaps, "What do you mean by that?! Are you saying that I'm faking good?!"

"Oh come on Chloe. Let's stop pretending." Kristen says with a loud mocking voice, waving her hands around her head and pointing her finger to Chloe's face. "This isn't about what's best for me. This is about _you_ getting together with your long lost lover, the person you call best friend. This is about _you_ finally getting your chance with Beca."

The revelation leaves Chloe speechless again. She has never told Kristen about her feelings toward Beca. The only people she told about it was Aubrey and Stacie.

Upon seeing Chloe's dumbfounded face, Kristen scoffs and sarcastically says, "What? Do you think that you can hide it from me forever? You don't think I'm that stupid right? I'm a writer, Chloe. One of the things I'm good at is to find out every necessary things to make a perfect book. In order to do that, I should have a very good ability to do investigation. And I do. You shouldn't be surprised at all."

"You pried information about my past from my best friends?" Chloe asks her in disbelief.

Kristen snorts and then harshly says, "It's not like you are trying hard to hide it anyway. You should've heard yourself when you're talking about her. Your beaming eyes, your cheerful tone. And I've endured it every fucking damn time!"

Every word that flows out from Kristen's mouth feels like a dagger, stabbing into Chloe's chest.

Kristen closes her eyes, trying to hold the pain and then weakly asks, "Do you know how it feels, to listen to the person you love the most talking about someone she loves, and it isn't you she's talking about?"

Again, Chloe is stunned. One second Kristen is yelling at her, and the next, Kristen says something that breaks Chloe's heart for treating her unfairly.

Kristen takes the silent as a chance to approach the red head, sitting next to her and holds her hand dearly before softly says, "Chloe, I love you. And I know you love me too. I know I'm not a perfect fiancé. But I'll do better. We'll do better."

When Chloe doesn't give any response, Kristen kisses Chloe's hand and continues, "We have a good thing, Babe. Amazing even. Don't throw it all away for a wistful thinking that you can have a chance with Beca. That she can love you the way I do."

The mention of Beca's name finally pulls Chloe out from her silent shock. It reminds her about the very reason she's doing this. She turns to look at Kristen, pulling her hand from the brunette's, then takes off her engagement ring and hands it back to the brunette. "I'm sorry Kris, but we're over."

"No!" Kristen slams her hand hard with the ring in it on the coffee table.

"I'm not asking you. I'm telling you. We're over." Chloe says with finality in her voice and then she stands up to walk away from Kristen, failing to notice that Kristen has stood up with the framed picture in her hand.

"I said no Chloe!" Kristen yells, smashing the framed picture on the floor near Chloe's feet.

Chloe screeches in fear, jumping away to the back of the couch.

Doesn't seem to care, Kristen keeps talking furiously, "I _do_ not be patient this long only to be stepped aside the minute she got back into your life."

The brunette takes a step closer to Chloe, who is still frozen in fear, and firmly says louder, "I _have_ not been wasting my time for loving you only to be left for a person who left you ten years ago."

Then Kristen takes another step closer to Chloe, inching to be as close as possible to emphasize her next words, punctuating every single word. " _She_ , doesn't love you Chloe. No one, and mark my word, _no one_ , will ever love you. Not the way I do."

Anger and hurt take over upon hearing the judgement, pulling Chloe out of her fear. She doesn't even take a step back when she asks with the strongest voice she can muster. "Are you saying that I'm not worth loving?"

Upon seeing the hurt and fear in Chloe's eyes, Kristen's eyes widen in fear. She just realizes what she has said and done in her anger. She steps back and says with a lower notch, "I- I'm sorry Chloe. I didn't mean to lash out on you and say those things."

When Kristen tries to cup her cheek, Chloe turns her face away from her now ex-fiancé.

Kristen drops her hand in defeat before she swallows hard and says, "We both know it's not true, Babe. You, from all of the people, are the person who deserve to be loved with... the best kind of love."

Chloe is confused of the sudden change of tone. She tilts her head toward Kristen slightly with furrowed eyebrows.

"Everybody loves you, Chloe." Kristen says with a weak smile. "Well, everybody with eyes and a beating heart."

Can't hold the tears anymore, Kristen continues with shaky voice and tears streaming down her face, saying "Don't you understand? Everybody wants to be with you. Everybody wants a chance to love you. To be loved by you. By some miracle, you chose me. And I'll be damned if I don't do everything in my power to keep you, to make you stay."

Although the hurt in Kristen eyes is undeniable, there is still a hint of tenderness in it when she says, "You are an amazing person, Chloe. And I'm just... me. I'm just this awkward writer who are helplessly in love with you."

Chloe just stands in silent, facing a dilemma because she wants to hug the brunette, yet she's also afraid Kristen will take it the wrong way.

After wiping the tears from under her nose, Kristen exhales harshly and explains, "I'm so afraid that one day you will find a person who can offer you everything, and then you will leave me. I know that there are so many things that I shouldn't have done or said to you. I also know that I have been controlling and possessive. And there's no amount of fear nor insecurities that can justify them."

Watching the brunette closely, Chloe can't help but moved by Kristen's honesty. There's pure sincerity and desperation in those words, especially since she knows that vulnerability isn't Kristen's strong suit. Kristen is a person who always stands strong. She hides her sadness and worry all for herself.

"But there is one thing that you can't deny, Chlo." Kristen says sternly, looking at Chloe with certainty beaming from her eyes. "I am the only person who can love you the best right now."

With that being said, Kristen turns and walks out of the house, leaving a very stunned and sad Chloe slides down to the floor and breaks down in tears.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that, would be the wrap up of the chapter How They Find Out.
> 
> About Kristen, I kind of like writing about her character. Really. I was going to make Chloe's SO a man, but I think it's essential to make a character that has quite the same trait with Beca, but also have a whole different attitude. They are both insecure and paranoid, but they have different ways of dealing with it. Besides, I need to build a character with emotional complexity that most people can relate to. I think.
> 
> Now, for the next chapter, you will see two other Bellas. Who are they? Du du dum... Not telling you now. But I think you can guess just right.
> 
> Until then, just sit tight and make good choices before the next chapter comes out.
> 
> Thank you for reading. :)


	8. The Posen-Conrad

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Olla... :)
> 
> In the previous chapter, I said that there would be two bellas. I believe you already know it from the chapter's tittle. Has any of you expected them after reading chapter 7? :P

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's dig in. I hope you all enjoy, and again, I don't own Pitch Perfect. :D

 

**Aubrey and Stacie's House: September 27th 2025**

If any of you ask, I still have no idea of how Aubrey could agree to marry and build a family in such a young age. She was very certain about her future, and that was working her way to the top in everything. However, falling in love indeed changed her from head to toe.

She and Stacie got closer after The Bellas spent an entire weekend for a retreat at The Lodge of Falling Leaves. On the night they won the world championship, Stacie asked Aubrey to be her girlfriend. As a naturally constantly worried person, Aubrey was hesitant, but thankfully, Stacie was persistent.

When Stacie was accepted into grad school at MIT, and Chloe got accepted into Harvard, Aubey didn't hesitate to apply to Business and Law Program at Harvard. Although it wasn't an easy decision to make because she had to leave her lodge to be managed by other people, it turned out to be the right decision.

Six months after graduated, Chloe's life was spiraling downward and Aubrey was thankful because she could be close enough to take care of her best friend.

On their third year living in Boston, after graduating grad school, Stacie proposed to Aubrey. They got married a year later, and then a year after being married, they both decided to start a family, and they succeeded on the first try.

Now they have been happily married for almost six years and have a very smart and beautiful four year old blonde in their little family, Isabelle Khloe Posen-Conrad. Named after her moms' beloved acapella group, and their best friend, who is also her godmother.

They just moved to L.A. around six months because Stacie got a job offer. For now, Aubrey can confidently say that she can't be happier. The happiness is now complete after Chloe decided to move to L.A. too a month ago.

For the present day, the Posen-Conrad family is having a quiet weekend. With the busy schedules Aubrey and Stacie have, spending a quality time with family become their favorite thing to do. Today is no different.

Aubrey is cleaning up after lunch, while her wife is watching a cartoon with their daughter. After she finishes the dishes, she walks toward the living room, and leans on her side by the arc that separates the kitchen from the living room, staring at Stacie and Bella fondly.

"Babe, have you informed all of The Bellas about our ten years reunion next month?" Stacie suddenly yells from the couch without realizing that her wife is already standing not too far behind her.

After taking a seat next to her daughter, Aubrey kisses the top of Bella's head and then turns to her wife before she says, "I have Babe. I emailed them a month ago."

"Will they all be able to come to L.A.?" Stacie asks without moving her eyes from the TV.

"Well..." Aubrey purses her lips, thinking before she answers, "Amy said that she will be here with Bumper and their boys. CR will come with her wife and kids. Emily is moving here in a week with Andre, so we can count on her to be in L.A. by then. Jessica and Ashley will be flying in from D.C. Flo said she has a meeting in San Diego that week, so she will drive here. Lily will be here even though I don't exactly know where she lives right now. Then the three of us, you, me, and Chloe are already here. Oh, I think some of the Trebles will be joining us too. You know, Jesse, Benji, and Donald. So, I think all of us will be here for the reunion."

Stacie turns to her wife, raising her eyebrows as she asks, "And Beca?"

Aubrey immediately rolls her eyes and asks in annoyance, "What about the hobbit?"

"Did you invite her?"

"Why would I?" Aubrey retorts in annoyance. "It's not like she'd come anyway."

Stacie sighs and says, "Babe, it's been three years since she's reached out. We know her reason now."

"Yeah. But she didn't come to the last two reunions either. What's different about it this time? And for the record, we-" Aubrey gestures her hand back and forth between her and her wife, "-don't know her reason. You do."

Stacie huffs frustratingly. It's been hard for her to be in the middle of her wife and Chloe's feud toward Beca. She was angry with Beca too, especially because other than Chloe, she was Beca's closest friend in college.

However, after the tiny brunette reached out to her three years ago and explained the reason why she had been hiding, even though it took a while, Stacie eventually understood and forgave her. Beca was her best friend after all.

"She feels guilty, Babe." Stacie explains patiently. "Never mind the fact that she's only told her reason to me and Emily. She doesn't even tell Fat Amy until now. It's still hard for her to meet all of us at once, especially Chloe."

"Exactly." Aubrey comments stubbornly. "Chloe will be there. And I don't want our 10th reunion turns out to be an awkward drama show. Or worse, screaming competition."

Stacie clenches her jaw, knowing where this is going to end every time they talk about Beca. "Look, I don't want to fight about this anymore. Just invite her, please." Stacie says tiredly and when she sees that Aubrey is going to debate her, she quickly adds, "And if she doesn't come again, it's gonna be her decision. I mean, you are the one who always said that once a Bella always a Bella."

Aubrey sighs and reluctantly says, "Okay."

Suddenly, Bella hushes them and says with her baby tongue, "Mama, stop talking and start watching."

Stacie smiles fondly to the little girl, ruffling her blonde hair and says, "Yes mini Conrad."

"Mini Posen-Conrad." Aubrey corrects her with a grin on her face, and then Bella and Stacie immediately look at her with toothy grin.

The three of them resume watching the cartoon silently until Aubrey's phone rings.

"It's Chloe." Aubrey says.

"Aunt Chowee!" Bella shrieks excitingly. "Put it on speaker Mommy, please..."

Her moms smile amusingly as Aubrey picks up the phone and puts it on speaker.

"Bree..." Chloe sobs from the other side of the line.

Stacie's eyes widen, but her wife answers faster, "I'm on my way."

Stacie quickly grabs the car key and Aubrey picks Bella up, and then the two of them rush to the car. It takes them 15 minutes to arrive at Chloe's place. Aubrey opens the door with the key Chloe gave her in case of emergency, like this one.

* * *

**Chloe's House: 03:38 PM**

"Chloe?" Aubrey calls out as soon as the door open.

"Living room, Bree." Chloe replies with hoarse voice.

When Aubrey comes in, Chloe is curling up on the couch, but it isn't the thing that shocks her. It's the shattered frame next to the couch. She immediately rushes to the read head and frantically exclaims, "Chloe! What happened? Are you okay?"

Chloe shakes her head and pulls Aubrey in a hug with tears streaming down her face.

After pulling the red head to sit up, Aubrey hugs her tightly and rubs her back soothingly. "Shush... it's gonna be okay sweetie."

"What happened to Aunt Chowee Mama?" Bella asks Stacie.

"Aunt Chloe is not feeling well, princess." Stacie says before hurriedly takes Bella to Chloe's guest room.

"Maybe I can sing to her, Ma." Bella says innocently.

Stacie smiles fondly at her daughter, "Sure. But this is your nap time. Why don't you sleep for a while, and then you can sing to her after you wake up."

Bella pouts the famous pout she masters from her godmother, the one and only Chloe Beale. Trying to persuade her daughter, Stacie ruffles her hair and kisses her forehead before she softly says, "Come on now munchkin. Mama needs to take care of Aunt Chloe. So you be good and take a nap, okay?"

The mini blonde nods and kisses her mom on the cheek before laying down on the bed. After making sure that her daughter is asleep, Stacie walks into the living room. When she sees that Chloe is still crying in Aubrey's arm, she goes to the kitchen and comes back to the living room bearing a tray of tea for the three of them.

"How's Bella?" Chloe asks in between sobs.

Stacie smiles weakly and says, "She wanted to sing to you, but I asked her to take a nap first."

Chloe chuckles, pulls herself out of Aubrey's arm, and wipes the tears away. She straightens up and takes a cup of tea as she says, "Thanks Stace."

Although she's confused to see Chloe's engagement ring on the coffee table, Stacie chooses to ignore it for now.

While her hand keep rubbing Chloe's back, Aubrey cautiously asks, "Do you want to tell us about what happen here, sweetie?"

Chloe takes a deep breath before she starts telling Aubrey and Stacie about her meeting with Beca last night. She tells them everything, about how she met the brunette, the dance, the fight they had the whole night, the revelation, and the kiss.

"You what?!" Aubrey exclaims.

"We kissed, Bree." Chloe says with a grin, beaming unbearably happy. "And it was amazing, and wonderful, and like nothing I've ever felt before."

"Chloe, what have you done?" Aubrey asked worriedly. "What about Kristen?"

Chloe's smile falters immediately. She slumps her shoulder and sighs. "We broke up. I think?"

"You think?!" Aubrey raises her voice and her eyebrows all at the same time.

"Bree-"

"Chloe Elizabeth Beale, are you out of your mind?!"

When Chloe's jaw drops in shock after Aubrey cut her off harshly, Stacie hurriedly grabs her wife's hand and says, "Babe, how about you let her finish?"

"Oh right. I'm sorry Chloe." Aubrey says apologetically. "Now proceed."

After taking another deep breath, Chloe continues her story about her fight with Kristen that afternoon. She tells them about everything Kristen did and said, how she threw the picture on the floor near her feet, and Kristen's speech before she left.

"I'm going to kill her!" Aubrey stands up angrily.

"Babe, it's not helping." Stacie pulls her wife back down. "Calm down."

Aubrey sits back down, taking a few deep breaths to calm her anger. On the other hand, Stacie glances at Chloe, taking her hand in hers and asks, "Did she hurt you? I mean physically."

Chloe shakes her head lightly. Then Stacie asks, "Do you know where Kristen is?"

Again, Chloe just shakes her head. Then Stacie sighs and says, "I know this is hard. But do you know what you're gonna do?"

Exhaling deeply with her eyes closed, Chloe takes her time to think before she says, "I honestly don't know, Stace. I broke up with Kristen. I guess that's a start?"

Concern is written all over Aubrey's face. She squeezes Chloe's hand gently and says, "I never really fond of the idea you marrying Kristen. And after hearing what she did this afternoon, let's just say that she's lucky there are no wolves in L.A. that I can summon to rip her vocal cords. But are you sure?"

"I'm sure." Chloe says, nodding to reassure the blonde. "I love Beca, Bree. I always have and always will. That's why it's just not fair for me to string Kristen along after realizing it last night."

Knowing how sensitive a topic about Beca for Chloe, Aubrey flashes her a weak smile and cautiously says, "I know that sweetie. You've been in love with Beca ever since you were in college. But how about her?"

"What do you mean how about her?" Chloe furrows her eyebrows in confusion. "I told you that she confessed to me last night. She told me that she's loved with me too since college."

Upon seeing doubt on Aubrey's face, Chloe chuckles lightly and continues, "I know it sounds crazy. The fact that we've been in love with each other since forever, but manage to keep it to ourselves for a very long time. I mean talk about true love always find their way."

Although Aubrey can see the happiness pouring out from every pores of Chloe's body, she can't help but saying with obvious concern, "I hate to break this up to you. But you said so yourself that she's confused."

Chloe rolls her eyes and says as if it isn't a big deal, "Of course she is going to be confused Bree."

When her friends don't respond but staring at her in confusion and concern, Chloe explains, "Who wouldn't be? She's been in love with me for a very long time even after she left. And now she is in a relationship with someone she found along the way. But last night we met again and we had our amazing first true love kiss. I would be confused too if I were her."

"But she said that she needs time?" Aubrey asks cautiously.

"Yeah. To think about what happened last night. She told me that she loves Ashley and don't want me to get my hopes up. But I'm sure she will sort it all out. She just needs time to realize that she and I are meant to be together." Chloe explained in confident.

There's no doubt at all in Aubrey's mind that Chloe is still in love with Beca even after ten years, but she's not so sure about Beca. Other than the little information Stacie has told her in the past two years about the tiny brunette, Aubrey hasn't seen the DJ in person. The optimism in Chloe's voice doesn't make Aubrey less worried. If anything, it makes her more worried.

Chloe has been more fragile after Beca left. Now that Beca has come back into Chloe's life with a grand true love kiss as Chloe said, Aubrey is worried that it will hurt her best friend more than anything if in the end everything don't turn out as she has hoped.

Aubrey sighs and kisses Chloe on the temple before she says, "Chloe, sweetie, you know that I love you. I'm not saying that Beca didn't love you back in college. But she has Ashley now. They have been together for years. For someone like Beca to stay in a relationship for that long... She must've loved Ashley very much."

Upon hearing Ashley's name, Chloe flinches, but she quickly shakes her head lightly and puts on a hopeful smile. "Yeah, I know. I wouldn't have expected her to be alone in this past ten years. I mean, I've dated several times too. But it doesn't matter Bree. Isn't it supposed to be like this? Two person who are best friend and secretly love each other from the beginning, but then being separated for some reasons. They have to at least try to move on before they find each other again, and realize that it has always been the person from the beginning that they have been in love with? You've watched One Day right?"

Doesn't want to upset the red head after what she's been through since last night and this morning, Aubrey sighs and only looks at her in concern.

Seeing the worried look on Aubrey's face, Chloe smiles to reassure her and says, "It's okay Bree. Everything will work out like it's supposed to be. I believe in Beca. I believe in our love. It's something that time can't change. I can feel it. Beca will feel it too, in time. Besides, Ashley hasn't always been faithful to her based on what I've read in the media. But I will, I'm the person who knows her best, and I can love her better than anyone. And Beca has promised me last night that she will never disappear on me again."

Aubrey sighs deeply again for the umpteenth times, worried about her best friend's bubbly optimism and fantasy about happily ever after. Yet she wouldn't be Chloe if she's not like that, would she?

Glancing toward her wife who hasn't said anything but staring at the floor and silently listening since they talk about Beca, Aubrey can't help but notice that Stacie seems nervous and somehow guilty.

"Babe." Aubrey grabs Stacie's hand gently. "You've been awfully quiet. What's on your mind?"

Stacie turns to her wife slowly with a weak smile, shaking her head lightly before saying, "Nothing. I'm... just listening to you." She pauses and glances to Chloe before muttering, "Don't believe everything you read or heard from the media, Chloe."

Confused of Stacie's statement, Chloe furrows her eyebrows.

"Babe, I think it's time for you to tell Chloe the truth." Aubrey softly says, earning a warning glare from her wife as she pulls her hand away.

"Tell me the truth about what?"

Stacie taps her hands on her knees repeatedly, looking frantically to anywhere but Chloe.

"Stace?" Chloe calls her.

"I uh... I've been in touch with Beca in the past three years." Stacie says nervously.

Chloe's jaw drops as the shocking revelation wash her off like cold water. In the past couple of years after Beca resurfaced, comparing to other Bellas, Stacie has always known more about Beca. Chloe knew that, but she thought Stacie found out about it from the media, and her super power with computer and internet.

"You what?!" Chloe yells after she finds her voice again.

"Chloe, calm down." Aubrey says sternly. "She will tell you everything, but you need to calm down."

"And you knew?!" Chloe turns to yell at her blonde friend.

"Stop yelling Chloe!" Aubrey snaps harshly at the red head.

Chloe is dumbfounded because it's been years since the last time Aubrey yelled at her, especially ever since Bella was born.

Shock of what she just did, Aubrey takes a deep breaths before she says, "I'm sorry I snapped at you. But you need to listen to Stacie. And to answer your question, yes. I knew."

Chloe can only manage a light nod.

"Babe, now tell us everything, okay?" Aubrey commands firmly at her wife. "No more secrets."

Choosing between telling the truth to her wife or protecting Beca have become Stacie's biggest dilemma for years. She huffs in frustration, rubbing her face harshly and grunts, "Beca is gonna kill me."

"Or I will kill you before she does if you don't tell us." Aubrey says with a warning look toward her wife.

Seeing no way out of it, Stacie closes her eyes and says, "Oh screw it!"

Aubrey and Chloe wait with their eyes boring to Stacie's face.

After blowing out one hell of a long breath through her mouth, Stacie says, "She told you almost everything last night. I can only tell you my side of the story, okay?"

Her wife and her best friend nod at the same time.

"Do not interrupt me, or else I will stop." Stacie says with a warning gaze.

Again, her wife and her best friend nod at the same time. Then Stacie takes a deep breath and begins to tell her side of the story.

"I believe you two remember when Beca disappeared," Stacie starts to explain, looking back and forth between her wife and Chloe. "We looked for her for months, and when we reported her to the police, someone named Donna contacted me and told me that Beca was fine and didn't want to be found."

Both her wife and best friend nod in unison.

Stacie tells the story slowly, taking her time pouring word after word so she doesn't have to do it again. "All of us decided to respect Beca's wish and was too hurt to do the otherwise. A couple of months later, this Donna sent me another email. Nothing emergency on it. Just a statement about Beca's wellbeing. She told me that if she was Beca's best friends from college, she'd want to at least know if Beca was alright. She promised that she would keep me informed, only if I promised to keep it to myself and not looking for Beca."

Upon seeing that Chloe is going to interrupt, Aubrey grabs her hand to stop her.

After shooting a thankful look to her wife, Stacie continues, "I admitted, I said yes. But only because I didn't want to lose one tiny string that connected us to Beca. It didn't mean I didn't try to find out who this Donna is. I started to look in social media and any other media. But I didn't know Donna's last name, her email didn't mention anything about her or her occupation, and there are millions of Donna all over the world."

Aware of how nervous she is, Stacie clenches her hands to stop them from fidgeting, and rests them on her knees. "After months and months of nothing, I started to accept the condition that Beca didn't want to be found. Every once in a couple of months, I always received an email saying that Beca is fine and healthy. And that was all I needed to know, all of us needed to know."

When she can't fight the urge anymore, Chloe asks with obvious doubt in her voice, "And you expect us to believe that you never found her?"

Stacie sighs tiredly. "I know that I studied computer science at MIT, and it should've been easy for me to track down her email. But this Donna really knew what she was doing. Beca must've told her that I'm a computer geek when she was asked to inform us to stop looking. I think Beca don't even know that Donna sent emails to me for years."

Knowing that Chloe is fuming in anger, Stacie takes a deep breath, glancing to her wife as she says, "And in my defense, we didn't even know that Beca was in L.A. all that time. We all thought she moved to New York and we were looking in the wrong place to start with. So I didn't find any Donna that would have had any connection to Beca in New York."

Angry tears start to stream down Chloe's face as she cries, "Ten years Stace... Ten years..."

"I'm sorry Chloe..." Stacie says with shaky voice. "But you were in such a bad place after Beca left. And I didn't want to get your hopes up for nothing. Because honestly, I didn't know any better. All I knew was that she was fine. All I had was an email once in a couple of months."

When Stacie sees that Aubrey is looking at her skeptically, her voice becomes louder in defense as she explains further. "I was as surprised as you all were when Beca resurfaced four years ago on a press conference, and revealed her identity as DJ M. I didn't reach out to her because I was hurt too. In fact, none of us tried to reach her because all of us were hurt. Then one day she called Emily and me, asked us to meet her in her apartment in New York. She told us everything, but she insisted that she should be the one to tell the rest of The Bellas, especially you Chloe."

Stacie breathes in relief when Aubrey's eyes soften. She turns to Chloe and softly says, "It's her story to tell, Chloe. I didn't even tell Aubrey everything. Only that she had reached out to me."

Chloe turns to Aubrey with painful look that makes Aubrey diverts her eyes from her best friend to her own hands.

"And you knew all this time?" Chloe asks with betrayed look and her voice broken.

Sighing deeply, Aubrey wipes the tears on Chloe's cheeks and says with her voice cracked, "I found out two years ago after I accidentally read her emails from Donna. I was so angry with her for keeping something from me for more than seven years. And she didn't even plan to tell me about Beca reaching out for her if I didn't threaten to take Bella, and leave her if she didn't tell me the truth."

The memory of Aubrey yelling at her, crying, and threatening to leave with their two years old daughter comes back into Stacie's mind. It was the worst time in her life, and she had no other choice but telling the truth about the emails.

Chloe sniffles, wiping the tears away as she weakly asks, "And Emily knew?"

Stacie nods and hesitantly says, "Beca wanted to work with Emily on her 3rd album. So she decided to tell Legacy too."

"How about the other Bellas?" Chloe demands.

Stacie sighs and explains, "After we met at New York, I called Fat Amy to visit Beca in L.A. because I knew that she was the only Bella that would've acceptep Beca's decision without too many questions. Beca started to email and text the other Bellas except the two of you in this past two years. She doesn't tell them much, but they start to warm up to her. All they know is that Beca still feels bad about leaving you Chloe. And Beca asked them, begged us not to meddle with it.

"You should've told me." Chloe says in upset.

With helpless look, Stacie says, "We don't want her to disappear again, Chloe. And we also know how depressed you were when Beca left. So none of us dares to mention Beca to the two of you. It's like unspoken agreement between us."

Chloe scoffs harshly before she says, raising her voice in anger, "So all of you knew. And none of you, _none of you_! Told me anything!"

"Why didn't you tell me any of this?" Aubrey asks furiously.

Stacie's eyes widen in fear and she hurriedly pleads, "Babe, I'm sorry, I really am. We didn't... I didn't tell you because I knew it would've killed you to keep something like this from Chloe. It's hard enough for you to hide about those emails and Beca reaching out."

Then Stacie turns to Chloe. "Like I said Chloe. Other than me and Legacy, none of the other Bellas know anything."

It's not surprising at all when Chloe shots her a doubtful look. Stacie sighs deeply, and then speaks with softened voice. "You are my dearest friend Chloe. And I wouldn't have kept these things from you if Beca isn't my best friend too. Emily and I were so furious. We were yelling at her the first time we met at her apartment in New York. But she didn't do anything. She just sat there silently being yelled at by me and Legacy."

In a split second, Stacie isn't sure if she should explain any further. However, the cat is already out of the bag. So she blows out a long breath, her face scrunches in pain as she says with broken voice, "You don't want to see her face. How miserable she was when she told us everything. She was crying and hurting. And the three of us were crying so hard by the time she ended her story. Never in my life I'd seen Beca like that. And to be honest, I don't ever want to see her like that anymore."

"Why would you all sided with her?!" Chloe yells in tears as she stands up abruptly. "She hurt me! She was the one who left!"

Aubrey pulls her down to sit on the couch again immediately, and hugs her before worriedly saying, "Chloe, breathe sweetie, please..."

As tears start running down her face, Stacie closes her eyes and says, "I'm so sorry, Chloe."

There is a long silent moment that's only being interrupted by sniffles and sobs that eventually subside. All of the sudden, Chloe speaks up again, muttering sadly, "All of you choose to protect her."

Stacie can see the pain in Chloe's eyes. She takes Chloe's hand in hers, and squeezes it gently as she softly says, "Chloe... this isn't about us choosing side with anyone. We _did_ not choose Beca over you. Or the other way around. We were all hurt when Beca left, and you were the one that was hurt the most. We all know that. You know why?"

Chloe shakes her head lightly with sad teary eyes.

Stacie smiles weakly as she explains, "Because all of us were there with you. We were there when you were frantically looking for Beca for months. We were there when you were spiraling downward, heartbroken after knowing that Beca left purposively. We were all there to help you picked the pieces up again. And we were all there when you tried your best to put the pieces back together. All of us were together, helping each other, mending each other, and healing together. Remember?"

Chloe just nods while biting her trembling bottom lip.

"Do you remember how hard it was?" Stacie asks, looking back and forth between Chloe and Aubrey with her teary eyes.

After seeing the two women in front of her nod lightly, Stacie swallows hard before she says with shaky voice, "I don't think we would've survived without each other back then. Don't you think so?"

Seems to get what her wife is trying to say, Aubrey chokes back in tears with her hand covering her mouth.

Thinking about how strong the connection they have when her wife already understood her even before she says anything, Stacie gives her wife a weak smile and nods before she says with her voice broken, "But Beca was alone, Chloe."

Upon hearing the last sentence, Chloe looks up at Stacie with her teary eyes widen while her mind lets Stacie's words sink in. She finally understands why Aubrey is crying. And now the tears are running down her face too. She hides her face in the crook of Aubrey's neck, sobbing again for the umpteenth times in less than 24 hours, wondering how her eyes can still produce this amount of tears without going blind.

Knowing that she should tell Chloe everything, Stacie holds back her tears and takes a deep ragged breaths before she says, "Beca... she was on her own, handling the hurt and pain in loneliness. Not only for months, but years."

Stacie swallows hard to push the lump down, and then lets out a long shaky breathe before she continues with restraint voice, "I, for one, couldn't even imagine how my life would've been without Aubrey, never mind all of The Bellas, who are practically my family."

Then tears start to escape from Stacie's eyes and Aubrey stretches out a hand to rub her wife's knee, consoling her as if saying that she will never let Stacie live her life alone.

Stacie keeps talking with her ragged breath, "Beca... she had no one, Chloe. Her father wrecked her so bad, and she chose to deal with the pain all on her own."

Sobbing hard, Chloe can only manage a light nod.

Relieved of the red head's understanding, Stacie says with a weak sad smile, "So no, Chloe. This isn't about us choosing Beca over you. It will never come down to that. This is about us finally getting our friend back, and trying to be there for her like we were there for you after she left. We chose our friend above the pain and hurt that she put us through. Because no one deserves to live alone, either if it's by choice or not. And I'll be damned if I didn't at least try to be there for her when she finally let me in to share her pain."

It's getting harder for her to talk, but she needs to let it all out. Stacie grabs her wife's hand, kissing it deeply before she pleads, "I am so, so sorry Babe. I know I hurt you and I almost wrecked our marriage because I wanted to be there for Beca. I love you so much. And if it comes down to it, I won't even blink in hesitation. I will choose you. It will always be you. But I need you to understand that she is my best friend too."

Stacie finally gives in to the tears and sobs uncontrollably. So Chloe immediately lets go of Aubrey and nudges her to her wife. Aubrey instantly moves in front of Stacie, gets down on her knees, hugs her sobbing wife so dearly, and kisses the side of her head, mumbling, "I'm sorry too, Babe... It's okay... We'll be okay. I promise."

Then Chloe joins them in a group hug. They are hugging and crying together for a while. As the tears subside, Chloe says, "I am sorry for yelling at you two. I love you, awesome nerds."

Aubrey and Stacie chuckle weakly as they heard Beca's words flowed out from Chloe's mouth.

"We love you too, awesome nerd." Aubrey says with hoarse voice. Then they untangle from each other, starting to wipe their tears and calm their breath.

"God, I bet we look terrible right now." Aubrey says with a weak laughter.

"You still look beautiful in my eyes, Babe." Stacie says softly, cupping her wife's cheek, making the blonde blushes.

Chloe rolls her eyes playfully and asks, "What time is it?"

Stacie checks her phone and gasps, "Oh God, it's almost six."

"And Belle is still asleep?" Chloe asks in comic surprise.

Aubrey groans and shots a playful glare toward her wife. "I swear she could've slept through the thunderstorm and earthquakes, Chloe. She got that gene from her Mama."

"And I'm so proud to know that at least she got that from me." Stacie says smugly.

Confused of what Stacie's said, Aubrey and Chloe furrow their eyebrows in puzzled look toward the tall brunette.

Stacie rolls her eyes in mock annoyance as she says, "Look at her. She is all Aubrey from inside and out. She's blonde, smart, beautiful, has green eyes. So basically, Aubrey's face is literally copied on her. It's like God or whoever is in charge was too lazy to create something different."

When she sees her wife is rolling her eyes, Stacie smiles and adds, "And honestly, I couldn't have been more thankful for that."

Chloe giggles at her two best friend and says, "Not to mention that she is really bossy, Bree. Definitely from you."

Aubrey glares at her best friend while Stacie laughs, nodding in approval. As if on cue, suddenly they hear a soft sleepy voice from behind.

"Mommy?" Bella calls out to her mom.

Aubrey is quick on her feet, walking to her daughter and picks her up. She kisses Bella's forehead and says, "Hey sweet pea. How's your nap?"

Bella cups her mother's cheeks and asks in concern, "Mommy, did you cry?"

Stacie instantly approaches her wife and daughter, kissing them both and says, "Hey princess. You're up just in time for dinner."

"Mama, why do your eyes sollen?" The mini blonde asks stubbornly.

Smiling fondly at her daughter, Aubrey explains patiently, "You meant to say swollen, sweetie. Mama and I are okay. We were just talking about sad things with your Aunt Chloe. But we're okay now."

Upon hearing her aunt's name, Bella's eyes light up and she shrieks, "Aunt Chowee!"

"Bella!" Chloe rushes to them, takes the little blonde in her arms, and tickles the little blonde until she's out of breath from laughing.

Stacie turns to her wife and says, "Let's order in Babe."

"Chinese?" Aubrey asks.

"Chinese!" Chloe and Bella squeale in unison.

Upon seeing the red head and her daughter's childlike behavior, Aubrey rolls her eyes playfully, while her wife chuckles lightly, thinking that at least one of them is literally a child.

After Aubrey ordering their dinner, the three of them sit in the living room, playing with the four year old blonde. Bella is sitting on Chloe's lap, while Aubrey sits next to Chloe, and Stacie sits on the floor in front of her daughter.

"Why did you all cry?" Bella asks curiously, because she is definitely Aubrey's kid.

Thinking of the way to explain the complicated matter in simple words, Stacie purses her lips with her index finger on her chin. She smiles as an idea comes up, pinching Bella's nose gently and asks, "Do you remember in Frozen when Anna cried after Elsa told her to go away?"

After Bella nods, Stacie explains softly, "Well, we cried because one of our best friend did the same thing to us."

When a frown forming in her daughter's face, Stacie quickly adds, "But don't worry pumpkin. She's back now."

Bella's frown turns into a smile instantly as she asks cheerfully, "Just like Anna and Elsa get back together after fighting the evil prince?"

Aubrey chuckles softly and answers, "Almost exactly like that."

With a wide grin, Bella asks another question, "Is she one of my aca-aunts?"

Chloe sighs before she answers patiently, "Yes, she is sweetie."

"Have I met her?" Bella pushes another question, unaware of the uncomfortable air around her, especially from her Mama.

Suddenly, Stacie becomes nervous and she blurts, "Uh... Bells, can we-"

"No, you haven't, sweet pea. But maybe you will meet your Aunt Beca someday." Aubrey cuts her off, explaining calmly, trying to be honest with Bella because it's one of the things she value the most.

"Bec-Bec? I've met her, Mommy. We had a lot of fun." The little blonde answers with toothy smile on her face, not knowing that she just causes a big trouble to her Mama.

When Stacie sees her wife is glaring at her, her eyes widen in fear and she swallows hard. On the other hand, Chloe clears her throat and asks, "When did you meet her, Bells?"

"Which time?" Bella asks innocently while Stacie is shaking in fear.

Aubrey turns her deathly glare from her wife, and smiles toward the little blonde before she sweetly says, "Bella, honey, tell Mommy when did you meet Aunt Beca for the first time please."

Unable to feel the tension between the adult, Bella grins and answers, "Just after we moved here, Mommy. Mama and I went to a park and suddenly two puppies ran up to me. They are Bec-Bec and Auntie Asheey's little puppies, Owiv and Walter."

Doesn't want to raise a misunderstanding, Stacie pats Bella's head gently and hurriedly says, "Wow, you have a very good memory pumpkin. But do you mind if Mama tells the rest of it?"

While Bella is nodding excitedly, Aubrey states sarcastically, failing to hide the sharp tone. "Now you want to tell me about how my daughter met _Bec-Bec_."

With her eyes narrowed in disbelief, Chloe chips in instantly. "And since when did my goddaughter call Ashley Auntie Ashley?"

Knowing that she is indeed in a big trouble, Stacie swallows hard again.

"Are you angry, Mommy?" Bella asks Aubrey with pouted lips and teary eyes.

Aubrey instantly changes her expression, kissing Bella's cheek before she softly says, "Of course not, sweetie. Mommy and Aunt Chloe just want to know how you met them."

"Okay." Bella smiles, turning her head to her Mama and exclaims excitedly, "Tell them Mama! Tell them!"

Stacie gives her daughter a broken smile as she says, "Okay princess."

With her eyes on her fuming wife, Stacie huffs nervously and says, "It was six months ago. We just moved here. It was Saturday and we were going to the park but you suddenly had to deal with work. Do you remember that day?"

Aubrey nods without smiling. Thankfully, Bella is looking at her Mama, listening closely.

"Well, this little munchkin and I decided to go anyway. Right pumpkin?" Stacie asks, looking at her daughter for support.

Bella nods and replies, "Yeah."

Stacie smiles at her daughter, tapping her little nose before she continues, "Turns out, that is the park where Beca and Ashley usually take their puppies to play every Saturday. It was a coincidence."

"Yes Mommy. Bec-Bec and Aunt Asheey are very nice." Bella comments cheerfully.

Can't help but smiling at her daughter's excitement, Aubrey asks softly, "You had fun with them, sweetie?"

Bella nods with a huge grin. "They let me play with their puppies. We had so much fun."

"Where else did you meet them, Bells?" Chloe asks impatiently.

"Hmmm..." Bella furrows her eyebrows, trying to remember before she answers, "Sometimes at Bec-Bec's office, or Mama's office. Then one time we also went to Bec-Bec and Auntie Asheey's big house."

Sighing in defeat, Stacie palms her face while Aubrey and Chloe have the same deathly glare on their eyes toward her. Aubrey clears her throat before asking her daughter with soften voice, "And what did you do at Bec-Bec and Auntie Ashley's house, sweetie?"

"I played with Owiv, Walter and Sceve." The little blonde explains while playing with her hair.

"Stace." Aubrey calls her wife firmly.

Stacie exhales deeply and answers all at once. "You meant Olive, Walter, and Steve, Baby Bells." She turns to her wife with a weak smile. "Bella likes them. They are her first friends in L.A. So every time I met Beca and coincidentally Bella was around, I took her with me. Sometimes we went to Beca's office for lunch with Steve and Ashley there, or the other way around. And one time, Beca invited Bella to play in her house with Steve. They have become best friends."

"Yes. Me, Sceve, Owiv, and Walter have become best friends, Mommy." Bella looks at her blonde mother, smiling so widely.

Aubrey ruffles her hair gently as she says, "Good for you, princess."

"Steve?" Chloe asks toward the tall brunette.

"Stephan. He is Beca's five year old godson." Stacie explains, and when she sees the red head's eyebrows knotted in confusion, she adds, "From Donna. You know Donna, Beca's PA."

Aubrey picks Bella up and puts her on her laps facing her before she asks, "How come you never tell Mommy about Bec-Bec before?"

"Mama said not to tell you unless you ask." Bella says innocently. "And you never did."

Although she knows that Stacie didn't ask their daughter to lie exactly, it doesn't stop her from being angry. Stacie knew that there's no way Aubrey would've asked anything about the tiny DJ. She remembers Bella mentioned Olive, Walter, and Steve a couple of times, but she thought that they were her new friends from the pre-school.

Aubrey looks at her wife, mouthing, "We'll talk later."

Shrinking in fear, Stacie simply looks at her wife apologetically and nods. In contrary, Chloe is going to say something, but the bell cuts her off. Taking it as a chance to escape, Stacie is quick on her feet and almost runs to the front door after she says, "I'll go get it."

After Stacie comes back in, the three adults prepare dinner silently while Bella sits on her high chair, playing with Stacie's phone. When they starts eating, Bella is too busy with her food, not paying attention to the adults' conversation.

"Why didn't you tell me that Bella has met Beca?" Aubrey whispers in upset.

Stacie sighs tiredly, chewing and swallowing her food before saying, "I wanted to, Babe. I did. But I didn't know how. Please, I've explained everything. Can we let it go? Please?"

Aubrey purses her lips, glaring at her wife, but when she sees how tired her wife is, she rolls her eyes and nods.

"Thanks Babe." Stacie sighs in relief. "I will be honest with you from now on. Promise."

Upon hearing her wife's sincerity, Aubrey's face changes. With a fond smile, she leans in to kiss her wife on the cheek before she says, "I understand why you did it Babe. I would've done the same thing for Chloe. Your loyalty to your friends is one of the things that I love about you. But no more secrets, okay?"

This time Stacie nods and kisses her wife on the lips chastely. "You are the best, I love you too."

They eat in silent for a couple of minutes before Chloe asks, "How come my goddaughter call Ashley Auntie Ashley again?"

Stacie shrugs nonchalantly and explains, "Bella likes her. Loves her even."

When she gets a deathly glare from her wife, Stacie hurriedly adds, "Not as much as she loves you Chlo, of course. Ashley is just... good with kids. Do you know Bella's favorite blue stuffed animal named Bibble that she always hugs in her sleep this past three months?"

Aubrey nods while Chloe furrows her eyebrows, asking, "Bibble from Mariposa? Bella's least favorite Barbie movie?"

"Yes, that one." Stacy says nonchalantly. "She loves it now after she watched the movie with Beca and Ashley at their house. So Ashley gave Bella a stuffed animal version of Bibble, and now she always asks for it before go to bed."

Chloe groans. "It's not enough that she stole the love of my life. Now my goddaughter loves her too."

Knowing how kind Ashley has been, Stacie puts her fork down, clears her throat, looking at Chloe as she says, "Be nice Chloe. Ashley is a good person. Beca wouldn't have fallen in love with her if she's not."

A pang strikes in Chloe's chest ,and her face scrunches up of hurting, causing Aubrey to glare at her wife.

Stacie closes her eyes, sucking her teeth before she says, "You two need to understand this. Both of you know that I don't really believe in God. But after I found out about Beca's life in the past ten years, I thank God that she has Donna and Harvey who have been there for her from the very beginning. They are practically her family."

Reconsidering whether it's wise or not to tell them about her opinion toward Beca's girlfriend, Stacie takes her time by sipping her water. She make up her mind, puts down her glass, and says with a steady voice, "And I couldn't be more thankful for Ashley. She is the only person who's able to pull Beca out of her self-destructive phase."

When Aubrey and Chloe say nothing but staring at her in confusion, Stacie clears her throat, and explains, "I couldn't even imagine how Beca's life would've been without Ashley there, loving her, saving her. That is, if Beca chose to keep living the way she did before Ashley came into her life."

The possibility of Beca taking her own life slips into their mind, making Aubrey and Chloe's eyes widen in shock.

Stacie smiles sadly and says, "You don't have to like her. But all of us should be thanking her. So, be nice. Because we owe her at least that much after she saved our best friend from herself."

With her face red of anger, Chloe grips her spoon tightly, and furiously says in whisper, "They were hiding her from us Stace. But yeah, they have kept Beca alive for ten years. I'll give them credit for that. I'll be sure to thank them the next time I see them. But Beca has us now, her first and true family. She also has me now. And I'll always be there to save her from now on. We all will."

Stunned from the fierce in Chloe's face and voice, Stacie's jaw drops. In fourteen years she has known and befriended Chloe Beale, this is the first time she feels this amount of anger and hatred from the bubbly Chloe. Judging by her wife's face, Stacie can tell that Aubrey is thinking the same thing as her.

After seeing her friend's reaction upon her anger speech, Chloe closes her eyes in regret. She looks like she's going to cry again.

Aubrey grabs Chloe's hand gently and says, "Chloe, it's okay. We know you didn't mean it that way. You're just tired from the emotional swirl you have since last night."

Chloe nods sadly and puts her attention on her food again, eating absentmindedly while Aubrey and Stacie change concern look to each other.

For a while, Stacie is deep in thought, thinking of the way to tell Chloe about Beca and Ashley without hurting her. She looks at her wife who is looking back at her questionably, and she just shakes her head lightly.

Moments later, Stacie sighs in defeat. She knows that this will hurt the red head, but she has to do it in order to spare the red head from another more hurting heart-break.

"Chloe." Stacie starts.

"Hmm?"

"You know that I love you right?" Stacie asks cautiously.

Chloe looks up, smiling at her and says, "Of course I do. And I love you too, Stace. You are my best friend."

"Hey!" Aubrey chips in mocking hurt. "I thought I was your best friend."

Chloe rolls her eyes playfully and says, "You're more like a sister to me Bree."

Aubrey smiles smugly and says, "Good safe Beale."

"Now, Stace. You did not tell me you love me for nothing. Spit it out." Chloe commands playfully before pushing a spoonful of chicken rice into her mouth.

Stacie gives her a weak smile, playing with her noodle before saying, "The things I'm going to say isn't something you want to hear. But I want you to know that I tell you this out of love. I just want you to see the reality from my point of view. Is that okay?"

Upon seeing how nervous her wife is, Aubrey grabs her hand quickly, squeezing it gently.

Although she is confused, Chloe nods as she says, "Okay. I'll try to be open minded."

To shake off the nerves, Stacie takes a deep breath and says, "I know you believe that we, The Bellas, are Beca's first and true family. And I couldn't be more agree with you. Because we are."

Chloe nods, grinning from ear to ear while Aubrey, who seems to get where this is going, takes the red head's hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"But in this past ten years," Stacie explains cautiously. "She also got a new family and best friends. The people that also care about her the way we do."

"Yeah. I know that, Stace." Chloe says nonchalantly. "Although I think, Donna could've told us sooner about Beca's whereabouts ten years ago instead of encouraging her to hide. But what's done is done. I guess we don't have another choice but to accept them in Beca's life now."

This is frustrating even for Stacie, but she keeps going anyway, cautiously saying, "Right. Because when I met Beca again almost three years ago, she wasn't the same Beca we knew in college."

Chloe rolls her eyes, swallowing her food before she replies, "Of course Stace. We've all changed. We've been through a lot of things in this ten years. And I've seen that change in Beca too last night."

"What kind of change did you see?" Stacie asks, trying to act nonchalant as she eats a forkful of noddle.

"Hmmm..." Chloe narrows her eyes, pursing her lips in thinking face. "Well, for one, she seems lighter. She looks more confident, and there's something in the way she moves and talks. More lively. No to mention the charming glow around her."

Aubrey and Stacie can see that Chloe is beaming as she talks about the brunette.

Realizing that it's getting harder to explain her point, Stacie sighs, and smiles weakly. "Yeah, I've seen it too in the past three years. She's been gradually changing since her and Ashley worked out their relationship issue. It's also been a huge progress for Beca to see a therapist and deal with her emotional problems. I've seen her become happier and happier each time we met."

"Beca is seeing a therapist?" Chloe asks in surprise.

Even though she's unsure of what she just revealed, Stacie nods nevertheless, because there's no going back now. She takes a deep breath and says, "Yes. She's been seeing a therapist since three years ago when her relationship with Ashley hit rock bottom. Although she doesn't see her therapist as frequently as three years ago, she still do every now and then when things got out of hands. In fact, it was because of the therapy Beca decided to reconnect with us."

"What rock bottom?" Chloe asks curiously.

"Hmmm..." Stacie presses her lips tightly, but continues, "Look, I'm sure she'll tell you eventually, but you cannot tell her that I told you first. Okay?"

Chloe nods hurriedly.

"Two years into their relationship, Ashley wanted to move in together, but Beca was still afraid of commitment. They had a huge fight and Ashley left her."

When she sees her wife and best friend gasp, Stacie holds up her hands as if telling them to calm down and then explains with reassuring smile. "But it's okay. It made Beca realize how much she loves Ashley. They made up with one of the agreements was for Beca to see a therapist to resolve her problems. And now she's never been better."

Fuming in anger from Stacie's story, Chloe can't help but snapping out, "That's Ashley's fault! Why would she force Beca to do things she wasn't comfortable with, then left her when she wasn't ready? And pushed her to see a therapist? That's low!"

"Chloe, calm down." Aubrey says firmly. "You are scaring my child."

Turning her head to her very stunned goddaughter, Chloe flashes her an apologetically smile and says, "Sorry sweetie. Aunt Chloe just got carried away."

The toddler nods, smiling back to the red head and then puts her attention back on her food. On the other hand, Stacie looks at her red headed friend in concern and says, "It's okay Chloe. Everything turned out well. And honestly, I think that's what Beca needed. A little push."

"I would never ever do that to Beca." Chloe mutters under her breath fiercely. "I will always wait for her, do everything in her pace, shielding her from the weight of the world, like I always did. I mean, how dare she?"

"Whoa, Beale." Stacie says with her eyes widen, holding her hands up to calm the red head. "Calm your pits. I'm not telling you this to make you hate Ashley. I'm trying to tell you that Beca has changed. For the better if I may add. And a huge part of that happened with and because of the new people in her life."

Chloe looks at Stacie angrily and spats out, "Are you saying she doesn't need us anymore?! That she doesn't have any reason to want me in her life?! Because she now has a new family and friends?!"

A complete shock is showing on Aubrey's and Stacie's face, and they are completely speechless. Upon seeing the shockwave on her friends face, Chloe is finally aware of the way she has been acting since she met the tiny DJ again last night.

Then she takes a deep breath, looking regretfully at her friends, and says with a very much lower tone. "I'm sorry guys for the way I've been acting. I don't know why, but since last night, I can feel a lot of anger pouring out from me. I haven't been myself lately since I moved to L.A. a month ago. I think the stress has taken the toll on me. I'm so sorry."

Aubrey and Stacie nod, giving her a tight awkward smile to show their understanding. Then Aubrey squeezes her best friend's hand and says, "It's okay Chloe. We understand. It must've been hard being in the same city as Beca after years. Never mind with Kristen's possessiveness."

Still shaken up from Chloe's spit of fire, Stacie tries to calm herself and shakes her head lightly before saying, "It's okay Chlo. You know it's not what I meant. I'm just saying that even though Beca has started to open up to The Bellas again, we can't expect her to just leave and forget about the life she has built in the past ten years." She pauses, stealing a glance toward her wife before she hesitantly adds, "Especially about her relationship with Ashley."

"What about her and Ashley?" Chloe asks cautiously.

Stacie shuts her eyes shortly, sighing before she weakly says, "Again, please remember that I'm saying this out of love."

Chloe nods lightly.

"I know that you're happy, and in love, and over the moon because of the kiss." Stacie says with a sympathetic smile. "But I've seen them together. And as much as I want to bet on you and Beca, I have to admit that they're good together. You can even see it in the way they move around each other, it's like..."

"Like they are pulling each other, rotating together." Chloe finishes her sentence.

"Exactly." Stacie says without hesitation. Then she narrows her eyes in confusion. "How did you know?"

Chloe sighs, and then says with undeniable sadness in her voice and face. "I saw it last night when I met them. I mean, I didn't really think about it until you told me now. I don't even think they realize that. The way they were adjusting their positions, the way they always touched each other in a non-sensual way, how their eyes always found another's, how grounded Beca was only with a look from Ashley, and the way Beca's eyes lit up every time Ashley was speaking or simply smiling. It all came out so natural from them."

Upon seeing the sympathetic smile from her friends, Chloe smiles weakly and continues, "I think... I hope it's what to be expected when you've been together for years. And I've seen it before. In my parents, my grandparents, and the two of you."

Aubrey turns her head to her wife, smiling ever so tenderly with her glassy eyes. Stacie mirrors the look on her wife's face before she clears her throat, and looks back at the red head before she sadly says, "I'm so sorry Chloe. But you've seen it yourself. I think you need to take Beca's words on this."

Chloe furrows her eyebrows, questioning in silent.

"Don't get your hopes up." Stacie says, smiling sympathetically toward the red head.

Stunned by Stacie's word, Chloe remains silent and lets the words sink into her mind. She can feel a lump starting to form in her throat, but she shakes her head, clears her throat, and puts on a reassuring smile. "I'll try to keep my hope in a realistic level. But it doesn't mean I can't have faith that Beca and I also can be good together. The only thing we need is a chance. Then time will tell the rest."

Stacie sighs, wanting to give the red head more reason not to get her hopes up. However, her wife beats her to it. "Okay then. You know that whatever happen, we will always be here for you. No matter what, we'll be by your side, Chloe."

Chloe smiles at her friends thankfully. Then they finish their dinner in complete silent. After dinner, Chloe puts the dishes away while Stacie watches Bella scrabbling unrecognized drawing, and Aubrey is sitting right next to her wife, busy checking her email.

"Oh shit!" Suddenly Aubrey slaps her forehead.

"Language!" Stacie, Chloe, and Bella say in unison.

Aubrey looks at them sheepishly and says, "Sorry."

Stacie looks at her wife in confusion because Aubrey rarely curse, especially in front of Bella, and then she asks, "What is it Babe?"

"I got this job interview on Monday and I almost forgot." Aubrey says in panic. "I haven't prepared anything yet."

"Relax Babe." Stacie says, squeezing her wife's hand reassuring. "I know you can do it in your sleep."

Aubrey takes a few deep breaths to calm her nerves.

"Interview in what company, Bree?" Chloe asks as she dries her hands.

"Lucifer Corps." Aubrey explains while reading her email. "It's a huge company that has a lot of branches and specialties. The head CEO is Harvard alumni that I really respect, Harvey Specter."

Stacie's jaw drops before she gathers herself and asks, "Lucifer Corps? Harvey Specter as in Stephan Specter's father Harvey Specter?"

Aubrey and Chloe whip their heads toward Stacie instantly.

"Are you telling me that my potential future boss is my daughter's best friend's father, who is also a best friend of your best friend?" Aubrey asks with her eyes so wide and eyebrows so high that it's going to surpass her hairline.

"Yep." Stacie pops the P. "But you need to get your fact straight Babe. Your potential future boss wouldn't be Harvey. It would be Beca."

"What?!" Chloe exclaims.

"Impossible Babe." Aubrey shakes her head in disbelief. "Harvey is Lucifer Corps' CEO. He's the boss."

"Not really." Stacie shakes her head to reassure her wife. "Harvey is the CEO. But Beca is the owner. She has been in more than eight years."

"Beca own a multi billions company?" Aubrey asks, still with dumbfounded look.

Enjoying the rare stunned face on her wife, Stacie grins from ear to ear and cheerfully says, "Well, yeah. A year after graduated, Beca's become one of the highest paid and demanded music producer/DJ. When Donna found out that she had no plan on using the money properly, she introduced Beca to Harvey, her boyfriend who's also her former classmate in Harvard. Harvey helped Beca to manage her money in many investments and real estates, then she started to buy a bunch of clubs all over Europe and America, and also built her own record companies. They are expanding and growing so fast in the past 9 years. In fact, the software company I'm managing right now is one of the companies under Lucifer Corps. Beca asked me eight months ago to take care of this company."

Aubrey and Chloe will need to pick their jaw up from the floor and wipe the floor dry from their shock. It's so satisfying and relieving for Stacie that Beca still manages to be one of the richest people alive even in a very hard situation. Stacie can't help but smirking smugly at how dumbfounded her wife's and Chloe's face.

"She named it after her mother." Chloe mutters when the realization hits her.

Stacie and Aubrey look at her in confusion.

"Her mother's name was Lucia." Chloe explains softly.

After gathering back her senses, Aubrey asks, "How could nobody know that? I mean, isn't she super famous?"

"Well, Beca is a very private person. She's very careful about her true identity, we've witnessed it first handedly. Besides, Harvey only hires the best lawyers and multimedia experts to cover everything. As far as I know, the only people that know that she owns Lucifer Corps is Ashley, their best friends Troian and Patrick, me, Legacy, her bodyguards/driver, and obviously Harvey and Donna. Now the two of you know too. But I believe I can count on your confidentiality right?" Stacie explains, ending the speech with a not so subtle warning glare.

The other two adults nod with _of course_ and _sure_.

"Besides..." Stacie continues. "Beca doesn't take care of the company. Harvey and Donna are the brain. Beca owns the company because they used her money to start the company in the first place. She has 60% share in it, but she trust Harvey and Donna to take care of everything. The media only know her as senior music producer in Lucifer Music Records' branch in L.A."

"And none of them ever slip their tongue?" Chloe asks suspiciously.

Stacie smiles softly, shaking her head lightly before she says, "That's why I told you that Beca has a very good support system, which is her new family and best friends. They all love her. And you know how Beca treats the people she loves. She gives them everything they need and then some."

Even though she wants to say something, Chloe stops herself. But Aubrey sees through her and asks, "What is it that you want to say, Chlo?"

Feeling embarrassed of her thoughts, Chloe smiles weakly with her face flushes in red when she asks, "I know that this is wrong to think this way. To doubt those people. But is there any chance that they only want to be with Beca for her money?"

Knowing that the thought is acceptable, Stacie smiles and softly answers, "It's okay Chlo. I know you only ask because you care about Beca."

"Thanks Stace." Chloe nods.

"Hmmm..." Stacie is thinking comprehensively before replying, "I don't think so. As far as I know, her bodyguards have been working for her since she was only a junior producer. Harvey and Donna love her and treat her like a little sister. Which is why they made her Stephan's godmother and named him after Beca's middle name. Ashley found out after two years into their relationship when Beca offered her to buy the huge chunk of land they live in Beverly Hills now, so Beca decided to tell her the truth. Troian and Patrick has been Beca's closest friends since she met Ashley, they are both successful actors and come from loaded family, so no reason to take advantage of Beca."

"Wow..." Aubrey presses her lips, nodding, feeling impressed. "Never thought I'd be saying this. The hobbit is really, real-"

The sound of the front door being closed cuts them off. The three adults are surprised to see Kristen walks into the dining room. Aubrey instantly approaches her, nearly slapping her, but her wife gets to her first. Stacie immediately pulls Aubrey away before the blonde cause emotional trauma to their child.

Seems to feel that she is out of place, Kristen puts her hands in her jeans pocket, looking down on to the floor and nervously asks, "Chloe, can we talk?"

Chloe looks at her friends, reassuring them before she answers, "Sure. Let's talk in the living room."

Kristen nods, turns on her heels, and walks into the living room with Chloe following her from behind.

Aubrey wants to follow her best friend, but Stacie holds her hand tightly. "Let them talk Babe. Besides, we can hear everything from here. If anything happen, we will be there in a heartbeat."

Aubrey relents and nods, sitting back on the dining chair, seeming angry more than anxious.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew... this is a very long chapter, but I don't want to split it halfway. Hopefully it's not too long. And about Aubrey and Stacie, they will become constant characters from now on. You can expect them every now and then. The rest of the bellas will follow with their different portion in this whole story. Some of them may have bigger roles than the others.
> 
> The next chapter will shows how the two relationship that are hanging by a thread resolve. Feel free to guess what will happen. And until then, sit tight and make good choices.
> 
> Thank you for reading. :)


	9. How It All Ends Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oey! :D
> 
> I hope you all enjoy. I don't own Pitch Perfect and the song in this chapter, It's You by Westlife. Btw, there's a little kissing part that I wrote a little bit more into the detail. (And I'm not sure... I have never written something like that, so if it's weird, I'm sorry in advance.) 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, let's get to the story.
> 
> By the end of the 8th chapter, Kristen came back to the house. Now, just like in the tittle, this chapter will tell how the two relationships end up. Is it gonna be well or not? Let's see. And we still have a long way ahead. So bear with me.

  **Chloe and Kristen in the living room.**

Kristen and Chloe sit on the opposite couch. At first, nobody dares to say anything, but eventually, Kristen breaks the silent. Without looking at Chloe, she rubs her hands nervously and says, "I uh... I've been thinking."

"About what?" Chloe asks almost in upset.

"About us?" Kristen peeks up, showing a sad smile on her face.

"There is no us anymore, Kris." Chloe says firmly. "We're over."

Kristen eyes become teary as she speaks with her voice broken, "I know. Uh... just let me finish, please."

With her arms crossed on her chest, Chloe simply huffs tiredly and nods reluctantly.

Kristen runs her fingers through her hair in frustration, and then clenches her hands to gather a bit of courage before saying, "I uh... I've been thinking about what you've said, and uh... the things I've said and done in this relationship."

Chloe doesn't do anything but staring at the brunette sharply.

Then Kristen lets out a shaky breath before she continues, "I've uh... made you unhappy all this time, and I'm sorry about that. I'm just... trying to love you the best I could. But it turns out, I'm hurting you. I have become... this person tha- that hurts the person she loves. And it's not healthy for us. I know that now."

When she sees that Chloe doesn't budge, Kristen closes her eyes, letting a single tear running down her face with her lips trembling. At that moment, she knows, Chloe won't change her mind. She swallows hard, and says with ragged breaths, "I... just want to ask you one question."

Chloe's eyes soften upon seeing the brunette is crying. She nods lightly, opening her crossed hands and rests them on her thigh.

"A-are you sure that breaking up with me will make you happy?" Kristen asks, looking at Chloe with her teary eyes, biting her bottom lip, holding in the sobs that's threatening to escape. "Please think about it again, Chlo. I- I mean, think about us in the last three years before answering my question."

Chloe shuts her eyes, letting out a shaky breath, thinking back to the past three years with Kristen. The fights, the screaming, the jealousy, the passive aggressive manners, the way Kristen made her feel bad, everything that show just how she has been staying for all the wrong reasons.

But she also knows that it wasn't always like that. Sure there were bumps every now and then, but it doesn't mean they were never happy. Kristen has always treated Chloe right. Other than being controlling and possessive, she is a loving girlfriend.

In fact, Kristen is the only person other than the Bellas, who has stood by her for the longest time in the past ten years. To be honest, Chloe loves her. Nevertheless, not as strong as she loves Beca, and it's not fair to take advantage of Kristen's love no matter how willing she is to do it. Chloe takes a deep breath and says without hesitation, "I'm sure Kris. Like I said, I can never love you the way you deserve to be loved. I mean it."

Kristen drops her head in her hands, letting out a few sobs before wiping away the tears on her face, trying to compose her shaking self. She leans forward, resting her elbows on her thigh, clasping her hands gently in front of her face with her thumb pressing gently on her mouth, and her eyes, teary and red, looking straight forward but unfocused. She stays on that thinking position for a long while.

Expecting another yelling competition, Chloe watches her nervously, doesn't dare to speak or move. She just looks at the brunette silently, tapping her fingers on her thigh impatiently.

Eventually, Kristen puts down her hands and clears her throat. Then she diverts her eyes to Chloe, sighing with a weak smile before she says, "Okay. I... I let you go."

Chloe's jaw drops open, didn't expect the brunette would let her go that easily. Upon seeing Chloe's reaction, Kristen smiles sadly and says, "Just promise me that no matter how it turns out with Beca, you will take a good care of yourself."

This is a so unexpected reaction from Kristen. Chloe is stunned, thinking if Kristen is being sincere or being her usual walking-around-as-the-martyr self to make Chloe feels guilty.

"I know what you're thinking." Kristen says with a seems to be understanding, yet sad smile. "I've been treating you unfairly. But this time, I mean it. I... let you go, Chlo."

Still, Chloe just stares at her with her lips slightly parted. Then one by one, the memory of them being together, of the things Kristen has done right to her, come into her mind.

The poetry Kristen wrote to ask her to be her girlfriend. 

The books Kristen dedicated for her.

The mornings Kristen woke her up with kisses and breakfast in bed.

The nights she felt so loved and safe because she had Kristen wrapping her from behind.

The surprises that came in no special occasions at all.

The support Kristen had shown every time Chloe was feeling down.

The countless times Kristen sang for her with her off tune voice just to make she laughed.

The proposal Kristen did by doing a flash mob with her students back in Boston, even though the brunette practically has two left legs.

The love they make.

Slowly but sure, tears are streaming down Chloe's face. She can't help but wondering how she can break a heart this kind, the imperfect heart that loves her the best it could, the heart that still cares about her even after getting broken. Then at some point, Chloe drops her head in her palm, crying so hard.

Kristen hurriedly rushes to her side and envelopes her in a hug, whispering, "It's okay, Chloe. It's okay."

Chloe pulls back, still crying as she asks, "Why?"

With a sad smile that still shows tenderness and teary eyes, Kristen wipes the tears on Chloe's cheeks and says, "Because I love you."

Then Chloe pulls Kristen back into her arms, sobs by her ear, "Thank you... for loving me."

Kristen rubs Chloe's back, comforting the red head. They pull away after a while, and Chloe breaks the silent first by asking, "What are you gonna do now?"

"Honestly," Kristen presses her lips and raises her eyebrows. "I don't know."

Then Kristen chuckles, surprised by her own answer, and Chloe follows suit. After the light laughter unwind, Chloe grabs the brunette's hands and says, "You can stay here until you figure out what you're gonna do. I'll be staying with Aubrey and Stacie in the meantime. We still have to talk about how to deal with this house since we bought it together. How about that?"

"Hmmm..." Kristen narrows her eyes, pursing her lips, considering her options, and then nods. "Sounds like a plan."

"I'll just grabbed some of my stuff. Stay." Chloe says before she hurriedly goes to their bedroom to get her stuff, while Kristen sits back down in the living room and plays with Chloe's engagement ring.

"I should be tearing you apart right now." Aubrey says coldly with her arms crossed on her chest and her eyes boring angrily toward Kristen.

Kristen looks at her, scoffs lightly, and says, "Then what's stopping you?"

With annoyed sigh, Aubrey takes a seat in front of the brunette and says, "I heard what you said."

Kristen raises her eyebrows and simply shrugs nonchalantly.

"Chloe might easily believes in you." Aubrey says coldly. "She's too kind for her own good. But I don't believe you. After every craps you've pulled all this time, I won't be surprised that you are not as sincere as you showed her a couple of minutes ago."

"I don't expect you to." Kristen replies as cold. "And you don't have to."

"Is this some kind of ploy you're doing?" Aubrey asks sharply. "You pretend to let her go, and then you come back and smash another frame at her? Or maybe you expect that Beca will break her heart, and then you will have your chance to be Chloe's savior?"

With her eyes boring into Aubrey's, Kristen calmly says, "Think whatever you want. I don't have to explain anything to you."

Then she just keeps her attention back on the ring, fiddling the diamond ring between her fingers. Aside from the harsh answer and the tough act, Aubrey can see that Kristen is actually sad.

"Thank you for not making it harder for her." Aubrey eventually says with a soften tone.

Kristen remains silent as her fingers still playing with the ring. After a while, she says, "I guess it's the right thing to do when you really love someone. You don't hold them back from the love they deserve, the life they want."

"You've been such an asshole and a pain in my ass for three years." Aubrey says in half-annoyance. "So excuse me if I don't take your word just the way you've said it."

"We accept the love we thought we deserve."

"Stephen Chbosky. The Perks of Being a Wallflower."

Kristen just gives her a tight smile.

"Care to explain?"

Kristen takes a deep breath and sighs deeply, pursing her lips before she says with a steady voice, "I've been holding Chloe back. Hoping that... she would eventually love me the way she loves Beca. The way I love her. So I accepted whatever's left from her love, thinking that it would be enough to keep us together."

"And?"

With a sad smile, Kristen inhales deeply and continues, "Turns out, it only made me insecure, and eventually made her resent me." She pauses and scoffs. "So much for accepting the love we deserve." Then she looks at Aubrey and says, "But the funny thing about loving someone is, you want them to be happy. And apparently, even if it's not with you."

Aubrey furrows her eyebrows even more, not getting what the writer meant.

Kristen scoffs weakly and says, "I know you won't believe me if I say I'd do anything for her."

"Yes."

"But the thing is, I do love her. And Chloe... she deserves to be loved with the best kind of love. To be happy in her own terms."

"I'm not so sure about the former, but yes. After everything she's been through, Chloe deserves to be loved and happy  in her own terms."

"Yeah." Kristen says with her eyes closed, trying to hide her pain from Aubrey. "The two things that she deserves, yet the two things she couldn't get from me. No matter how hard I've tried. But I can at least not stand in the way if there is a chance she can have them. So, that's what I'm doing. Giving her a chance of happiness and love that she thinks she deserves."

Aubrey nods with doubtful look before she asks, "How about you then?"

"How about me?"

"What about the love and happiness that you deserve? That you've planned with her."

With a long huff on her showing-annoyed face, Kristen scratches the back of her ear as she says, "Doesn't matter. Not to you at the very least."

After another moment of silent, Aubrey says, "I have to be honest. I'm never really fond of the idea of you marrying Chloe. I don't like the way you love her."

Again, Kristen scoffs and says, "I know."

"But hearing you said those things and do this to my best friend, I have to admit, maybe you're not as bad as I ever thought."

Kristen let out a weak smile, nodding her head lightly before mockingly says, "Wow, it takes a heart wrenching break up with Chloe to earn an almost compliment from _the_ Aubrey Posen-Conrad. I think I might have outdone myself."

"I did say maybe."

For the first time that day, Kristen laughs lightly, and then Aubrey laughs with her. They both just share a light laughter, unaware that Chloe has been listening the whole time as she descends from the stairs to the living room. She walks toward them and says, "I'm all set."

"I'll go get Stacie and Bella." Aubrey says, subtly giving the ex-lovers a chance to talk, and walks back to the dining room.

Chloe and Kristen fall into a moment of silent until Chloe says, "For the record, you did make me happy. And you were right."

Kristen raises an eyebrow questionably.

"You are the person who can love me the best." Chloe says sincerely. "I'm just not the person who deserves your kind love."

Naturally not a person that used to be praised, Kristen scoffs lightly, acting as nonchalant as possible when she says, "Maybe in another life. If you're lucky enough."

Chloe simply chuckles upon seeing how Kristen is trying to hide the tug of smile on the corner of her lips.

"Chloe."

"Hm?"

Kristen looks into her eyes, smiling fondly and says, "Promise me. No matter what happen, take a good care of yourself."

Chloe's eyes become teary again, but she is beaming at the brunette. She nods lightly before kissing Kristen on the cheek and softly says, "You too, Kris."

This time, Kristen simply nods lightly. Then the Posen-Conrad family appear in the living room. Upon seeing the ex-couple in an intimate situation, Stacie apologetically says, "Uh... sorry for interrupting."

Kristen puts on a tight smile and says, "You don't interrupt anything."

Then Aubrey turns to Chloe and asks, "Ready?"

Chloe nods. After saying goodbye to Kristen, they go back to Stacie and Aubrey's house.

* * *

**Beca and Ashley's Mansion: 10.14 PM, the very same day.**

After finally making up her mind, Ashley goes straight to Beca's sanctuary, and upon hearing a faint sound of guitar from the balcony, she heads there immediately. She stands by the glass door, leaning against it on her side with her arms crossed on her chest, smiling fondly, watching her girlfriend sitting on the couch with a black guitar on her laps, mumbling words.

"Eeerr... You are the only one who makes me feel this way." The brunette shakes her head and groans, "Urgh... It's way too long." Then she scratches the back of her head and says, "How about it's you and no one else?"

Then Beca hums lightly, strumming her guitar, singing an unfamiliar lyric. Seems like she got what she wanted, because then she shouts, "That's it! Haha! Gotcha!"

Ashley can't help herself from chuckling lightly and then she says, "I knew I'd find you here."

Beca whips her head in flash, turning to the source of the voice, beaming with a wide smile on her face before she jumps up and exclaims, "Honey! You're back!"

Then Beca rushes to her girlfriend and pulls her by her waist, kissing her passionately. They start with nipping each other's lips slowly, then Beca's tongue traced Ashley's bottom lip, giving it a gentle pressure, and the blonde parts her lips slightly, giving the brunette the entrance to deepen the kiss.

Ashley's hands grasp Beca's hair, pulling her closer, flushing their body together as Beca tightens her grip around Ashley's waist. A soft moan escapes from Ashley's lips as she tilts her head slightly, giving the DJ more access to explore her neck.

Beca's lips make their way, nipping, licking, biting gently from under Ashley's ear to her jaw and neck, sucking her pulse point gently, and giving it a little bite while her hands trail their way to the small on Ashley's back, rubbing it slowly in circle with her thumb.

" _Oh..._ " Ashley pants softly as she puts one hand on the back of Beca's head, letting her fingers lost in her girlfriend's brown hair. As the heat raises up, she presses her finger-tips a little bit harder on the scalp, while her other hand swiftly runs down to the end of Beca's hoodie, then slips up to Beca's back under her hoodie, knowing that it will drive the brunette crazy.

" _Damn it!_ " Beca grunts in pleasure as Ashley trails the tips of her finger nails gently and slowly on her back, from the crook on the back of her neck, running down through the spine and stops to rub the skin right on the tailbone before circling slowly to the spot under her belly button through the side of her stomach.

Beca tilts her head, starting to kiss Ashley's other side of the neck, trailing her lips up from her jaw then up to her ear. She brushes the tip of her nose lightly on the earlobe, nipping it gently with her lips, trails her tongue on the outer side, and then giving it a gentle bite, earning a loud moan and a sharp pressure by the fingernails on her back from the shuddering blonde, which makes the brunette hisses through her teeth.

Then Ashley pulls Beca's head to kiss her on the lips again, losing herself in the heated kiss until they have to pull back for air. Beca simply rests her forehead on Ashley's, panting yet smirking with her eyes closed.

Ashley tries to calm her breaths before giving a couple more pecks on Beca's lips and smugly says, "Wow, you must've been missing me so much since I left 4 hours ago."

With her forehead still pressing on the blonde's, Beca chuckles lightly and breathes out, "You have no idea."

Ashley grins smugly and says, "Oh, I think I've caught a glimpse."

With a louder chuckle, Beca looks into Ashley's blue eyes with a wide smile and fondly says, "I've missed you. Don't ever leave me again."

In that second, Ashley's smile falters as cold spread all over her heated body. Confused of the sudden change on Ashley's face, Beca pulls back and worriedly ask, "Hon, what's wrong?"

Ashley puts on a tight smile and shakes her head lightly. But Beca isn't convinced. She cups Ashley's cheeks gently, kisses the tip of her nose and softly says, "Hon, tell me. Is something wrong?"

"Nothing." Ashley says with a nonchalant shrug.

With concerned look, Beca says, "Honey, please. What's bothering you? Is it Troian and Patrick? Are they okay?"

"Nothing Babe." Ashley pulls Beca by the hand, guiding her to the couch to sit down. "It's work."

Beca pulls Ashley closer, and then tucks a strain of hair behind her ear before she asks, "What is it with work?"

Not quite ready to confront the brunette yet, Ashley sighs and says, "The show is ending. They said that the 7th season will be the last."

It isn't exactly a lie. Ashley found out that the show is ending a couple of days ago, and it did make her sad, but she was also excited to do other projects. She has never lied to the brunette before, and it certainly makes her feel uncomfortable.

Beca immediately envelopes her in a hug, kissing the side of her head and mumbles, "It's going to be okay, Hon. You said that you can't wait for another adventure."

While Beca is rubbing her back soothingly, Ashley nods, snuggling her head in the crook of Beca's neck, kissing her jaw gently, inhaling the scent of her girlfriend. Then Beca pulls back, cups her girlfriend's cheeks, and kisses her lips gently before saying, "You'll be fine. Trust me."

Doesn't know what to say, Ashley simply nods again while staring sadly at Beca.

"Maybe I can make you feel better. Hold on a second." Beca says with a huge grin before she pulls herself away, grabs her guitar, and starts strumming it slowly.

"I've been working on this old song." Beca says with a goofy grin "I think you might recognize it. I've been trying to give it a new touch for a week now, though nothing came up. But today, you, my love, gave me such an inspiration and I finally finished it."

Judging from a weak sad smile on Ashley's face, Beca can feel that something isn't quite in place, but she brushes it off. Instead, she picks the string and says, "Listen to this."

Ashley's smile grows fonder when she recognizes that the intro belongs to a song Beca serenaded on the night she asked her to be her girlfriend five years ago. Ashley's chest is filled with warmth that spread up to her cheeks because Beca is looking at her so, so tenderly like she is the only thing that matters in this whole universe.

_There's a laugh in my eyes_  
_There's a waltz in my walk_  
_And it's been such a long time_  
_Since there was hope in my talk_  
_If you never knew  
_ _What it is that's new, it's you_

The blonde's eyes are getting teary as every words flow out in a melody from her lover's lips, with her ever so deep alto voice. Ashley remembers closely how Beca described her meaning in her life.

" _You make me feel again."_ Beca said on the night in the hospital.

_Cause when your hands are in mine_  
_You set a fire that everyone can see_  
_And it's burning away_  
_Every bad memory_  
_To tell you the truth  
_ _If it's something new, baby it's you_

" _You are my silver lining. You shine through my dark clouds."_ Beca said a couple of months after they started dating.

_It's you in the morning_  
_It's you in the night_  
_A beautiful angel came down  
_ _To light up my life_

" _You are the splashing color on my grey canvas."_ Beca said after she agreed to come out to the public.

_The world's a different place_  
_Where nothing's too hard to say_  
_And nothing's too hard to do_  
_Never too much to go through_  
_To tell you the truth  
_ _Everything that's new, baby it's you_

" _You are the first breath of fresh air that I grasp after drowning for way too long under water. I won't survive without you."_ Beca said on the night she asked Ashley back three years ago.

_It's you in the morning_  
_It's you in the night_  
_A beautiful angel came down_  
_To light up my life_  
_My life  
_ _Oh_

All of those words are to say that Ashley makes her hope again. That memory makes Ashley chuckle.

Yeah, for a person who has always found it hard to say the literal word love, Beca sure has her way with metaphors. Though she did say it in a much awkward way, stumbling and stammering over the words with her cheeks flushing red.

Suddenly Ashley is pulled out from the haze of the memories by her girlfriend's talking. Beca is talking normally, yet her fingers keep on picking the strings to keep the melodies going.

"Hon, this is the part I told you about. The part that came into my mind from this day we spent together. Have I ever told you lately that you are my biggest inspiration? My ultimate muse?"

Ashley simply nods, because Beca has been telling her that every day since forever.

"So, the words are for you, but I got the inspiration from you. Here it goes." Beca smiles ever so tenderly, looking straight into Ashley's eyes before she continues singing.

_So if I get to grow old_  
_With many years behind me_  
_There's only one thing I want_  
_One thing I need beside me_  
_For all that you are_  
_For everything you do_  
_For all that you've done  
_ _Just for showing me the truth_

Ashley doesn't know how, but Beca always find a song to describe her feelings. When she can't find the right song, she makes one. Beca has the brilliant mind and the talent in the tip of her fingers, and she uses it to find, and make, and mold the right melody, the right tone, and the right words, all of them, into a perfect song for a perfect moment.

However, the most wonderful thing above all of those things is, she doesn't find it in big things, or extravagant moments, or extraordinary experiences. Instead, she finds it in the little things that life provides her every single day. And it feels as wonderful as it is.

_It's you  
_ _Baby it's you_

Beca ends the song with a huge grin on her face and her eyes is glimmering so brightly under the lights.

Without wasting anymore second, Ashley immediately puts the guitar away, pulling the brunette in a searing kiss, a desperately needed kiss as she think to herself, _God, I love her._

When they pull away, Beca cups her cheeks, brushing it gently with her thumb as she fondly whispers, "It's you, Hon. Always."

Instead of feeling happy, Ashley cringes her face, showing hurt, making the brunette furrows her eyebrows in confusion.

"Are you sure?" Ashley asks with obvious hurt in her broken voice.

Beca's eyes widen, frightened by the question, because not once Ashley's ever doubted that Beca loves her. She's always known that even when they are fighting or separated, it all happened because Beca is afraid, not because Beca doesn't love her.

"What do you mean?" Beca asks in fear. "Of course it's you, Hon. Who else?"

"What about Chloe?" Ashley asks in barely a whisper, trying to hold herself from choking in tears.

Beca swallows hard before she manage to ask back, "What about Chloe?"

"Babe, I know you kissed her last night." Ashley mutters with shaky breath, glancing her teary eyes away from Beca.

Beca freezes up for a second before she quickly grabs Ashley's hand and frantically says, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Hon. I was going to tell you. I tried to tell you this whole day. But things got in the way. You've got to believe me. That kiss, it didn't mean anything, I swear. I was caught in the moment. Last night was so emotional and I was a wreck. I didn't mean to kiss her back. I love you, Hon. I do. Please... please... You've got to believe me. I... uh... I... can't..."

In her rush to explain everything, Beca fails to catch her breath. Her chest is getting tight, and her face is turning blue.

Ashley can see panic is raising in Beca. She cups the brunette's cheeks instantly, pulling the brunette closer but not close enough to cause her to feel trapped. "Babe, breathe... breathe with me..."

Beca shuts her eyes, gripping the blonde's wrists tightly with her hands, panting, trying hard to take a deep breath.

"In through the nose... Out through the mouth..."

Although her whole body is still tensed, Beca tries to take a breath.

"Again... In through the nose... Out through the mouth..."

It's hard for Beca to breathe when her lung is shrinking.

"Deep breath Babe... In two three... Out two three four five..." Ashley whispers, getting calmer as the brunette is slowly catching her breath and the grip on her wrist is getting weaker.

After swallowing the lump in her throat, Beca takes in a ragged breath.

"Like that... Just like that Babe... In and out... In and out..." Ashley says as her thumb rubbing Beca's cheek gently.

Beca's breaths gradually become deeper.

"Good... Again... In and out... In and out..." Ashley says as Beca's grip on her wrist becomes merely a gentle tug and her breaths become steadier. Then Beca takes another few deep breaths before opening her eyes slowly.

After seeing that Beca has become calm, Ashley sighs deeply, rests their forehead together, letting out a long relieved breath, because she just notice that she's freaking out too from Beca's panic attack.

"You're okay Babe..." Ashley breathes out. "I got you... I got you..."

Beca starts to cry, muttering between sobs, "I'm sorry. I- I'm so, so, sorry."

"It's okay, Babe." Ashley pulls Beca in a hug, rubbing her back up and down, kissing the side of her head, trying to calm her down as she says, "I knew you'd tell me. I believe you."

Beca pulls away, her teary face is showing confusion as she asks, "You do?"

"Babe, we've been through this." Ashley chuckles weakly. "If you say that you'd tell me, then I believe you."

After sighing in relief and wiping her tears away, Beca looks at Ashley's face fondly, tucks a strain of hair to the back of her ear, and then softly says, "You are too good for me. What did I do right to deserve you?"

Ashley puts her hand on Beca's cheek, smiling sadly as she says, "You deserve more than good things Beca Mitchell."

Then Beca kisses her girlfriend's forehead, lingering her lips longer before she pulls away and straightens up. Meanwhile, Ashley takes a few deep breath, trying to compose herself before she calmly says, "I believe you promised to tell me about what happen last night, Beca."

Beca is taken aback by the way Ashley called her name. In five years they've been together, Ashley rarely calls her _Beca._ So rare that sometimes Beca thought her girlfriend has already forgotten her legal first name, unless it's playfully, with her full name.

Throughout the years, Ashley has called her with an enormous numbers of ridiculous nickname. Owlie for being a night owl, obviously. Panda boo because of her heavy eyeliner. Grumpy pants because she's as tiny as a dwarf and also grumpy. Klutzie mozzie because she's a clumsy music producer. Astro boy because she has a little too much interest in astronomy. Loony wolfie whenever she needed her space. Casanova for being a closeted romantics. Toughy goofie because she acts all tough while in fact she is a total dork. Pookie baby bear because she likes to be the big spoon even though she's smaller than her blonde girlfriend. Foxy master mixer because she's a hot talented DJ. And so many, many more pet names. Just name it, she's had it.

So yeah, after all of the cutesy nicknames, no one can blame Beca if she feels more than anxious when Ashley calls her by her first name. Beca becomes certain that something is definitely not right.

Beca looks at her lover worriedly, huffing out a nerve-wrecking air out from her lung as her hands rubbing her own thigh tensely. "Hon, I did promise to tell you about last night. And I want to. But you do realize that there are things that will hurt you, especially the kissing part. And right now, hurting you is the last thing I want to do. So, are you sure you want to know everything?"

With a tender smile, Ashley caresses Beca's forehead and says, "I'm always sure when it's about you."

Beca swallows hard. This isn't the reaction that she's expected after Ashley found out about the kiss. She has expected some kind of crying or screaming, breathless sobbing, top of the lungs yelling, air cracking slap, heartbroken hitting, or even massive throwing stuff.

However, it isn't case. Beca rakes her mind, trying to figure out this strange situation, trailing her mind back to every single significant fights they've had in the past five years. Involving a dam of tears, checked. Choking in heartbroken sobs, checked. Being ignored, checked. Being accused, checked. Getting confronted harshly, checked. Being yelled at, checked. Getting a slap, checked. Even the worst, being left, checked again.

Beca can check all of the things they've been through, and it all brings them here, still together, still in love with each other. In the end, she can't find any answer, so she nods hesitantly and says, "Please bear with me. This won't be easy. And I am so, so sorry."

Ashley simply takes her hand and squeezes it gently. Then Beca closes her eyes, taking a deep breath, telling herself to sack up, and digging her mind comprehensively before telling Ashley everything that happened last night.

Although she is stumbling her words, stammering out the painful words Chloe said and the revelation she did, muttering painfully in all honesty about the kiss, but Beca keeps on talking. Never once she stops because she knows if she did, then she won't gain back the nerve to continue.

Ashley listens to her closely, squeezing her hand to encourage her, rubbing her arm to comfort her, and not even once interrupts her. Then when Beca has finished, Ashley kisses her forehead and softly says, "Thank you."

Beca's stomach is churning uneasily.  _This isn't right._

"Wait." With her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, Beca says, "I don't really get this, Hon." She pauses, trying to find the right words to ask, "You are thanking me, kissing my forehead after I told you that I kissed her back. Why?"

With a fond yet sad smile on her face, Ashley says, "Well, thank you for telling me and being honest with me. I know it must've been hard for you to repeat that experience. Even only in words."

Beca is not only confused now. She's stunned, unsure about her girlfriend's reaction because the way she talk feels too formal.

"Hon, I'd never cheated on you before this. But as far as I knew and experienced from my parents' divorce, this is not supposed to be the way you react." Beca says anxiously. She tilts her head slightly to the side, raising an eyebrow before she continues worriedly, "I'm not sure where this is going."

Ashley pulls her hand back from Beca's, resting them on her thigh, focusing her eyes on them before she nervously says, "I know you're not."

"You do?" Beca asks in almost inaudible voice, afraid of the answer.

"Yes." Ashley answers without hesitation.

Beca closes her eyes, taking a deep breath, trying not to let panic take over her again before she mutters, "How?"

After a long heavy sigh, Ashley says, "Because I know what I know."

Then Beca opens her eyes, exhaling a really long breath, swallowing hard before she asks, "And what is it that you know?"

"You."

Beca becomes speechless. If she didn't know where this was going before, now she's totally lost. Her eyebrows can't be closer to each other, they're probably glued together by now in the middle of her forehead out of confusion. She looks at Ashley, holding her breath for a second as she stutters, "Uh... Me?"

Ashley nods without looking at her girlfriend. "You."

"Err... Me." Beca says, this time without a question mark.

Ashley simply lifts up her chin, looking straight into the brunette's eyes. Nobody does or says anything after that. They just stare at each other in silent.

Beca shakes her head lightly, still with furrowed eyebrows.  _Is she supposed to be this calm?_

Every time they were in the lowest point of their relationship, Ashley had always been the one who fought in the front line, while Beca would be the one who needed a little push, a little time to realize what she wanted.

Beca is getting antsy, bouncing her legs up and down.  _She's not supposed to be this calm._

For those reasons, Ashley being strangely calm and doesn't put up any kind of fight feels so much worse for Beca. Scratch that, this is the worst reaction that has never crossed Beca's mind at all. It seems like Ashley has admitted defeat even before the war even start.

Beca feels terrified as her mind slowly putting the pieces together.  _The whole situation isn't supposed to be like this._

The worst part is, Beca doesn't see the same thing in her girlfriend's eyes. Ashley looks sad for sure, but she doesn't even look angry, or dissapointed, or showing any emotion or reaction that's suitable in this kind of situation. A situation where she was cheated on. Instead, Beca sees - _and she prays real hard that she's wrong_ , determination?

_Oh God. No, no, no. Don't tell me-_

As that realization hit her, Beca's eyes become teary, a lump starts to form in her throat, but she clears it out and croaks, "No."

Ashley closes her eyes and a single tear running down her face effortlessly, without sniffles, or sobs, or weeps, or whimpers, or screams.

From the peak moments in her therapy, Beca knows these tears so closely. This is the silent crying, the one that shows acceptance. When Beca finally realizes what that tears mean, she feels like her heart skips a beat. Or is it still beating? Beca isn't sure, because all of the sudden, just for a moment, she can't feel anything but cold.

Nevertheless, it doesn't last long as a second later she can feel every single fiber of her being is aching and throbbing in pain. It hurts so bad that she wished she could go back to not feeling anything.

Beca jolts down and knelt in front of Ashley, grabbing her hands, resting them on the blonde's laps, and then kisses them desperately.

"Hon, please don't." Beca pleads.

Ashley kisses Beca's crown and says with restraint voice, "I'm sorry Beca."

"No... No... No..." Beca begs her desperately. "Don't do this to me. Don't do this to us."

Ashley lifts Beca's head, bringing her cheeks in her hands as she cracks, "I don't want to. But..."

Beca grabs Ashley's wrist, kissing her palm dearly before she speaks with the best sound her broken voice can muster. "Th-this afternoon, you- you said that we'll make it through... whatever comes our way." She catches her breath before saying with barely a whisper, "You promised me."

Ashley strokes Beca's hair gently, biting her trembling bottom lip, trying hard to prevent herself from sobbing, but says nothing.

"That kiss... it meant nothing but convinced me ab-about how much I love you." Beca pleads, failing miserably to keep her voice intact.

Ashley pulls her hand from Beca's hair, wipes away her own tears, and clears her throat before saying in despair, "This isn't about that kiss, Beca. It wouldn't be this hard if it's only about a kiss."

Beca looks up at Ashley, shakes her head and pleads brokenly, "Th-then tell me what this is all about. And- and I promise I will fix it."

Can't bring herself to look at her girlfriend, Ashley turns her head aside as she says, "You can't fix this. We, can't fix this."

"Yes we can Hon." Beca swallows the lump in her throat. "We always have. This time is no different. Tell me what it is, and I'll fix it. We'll fix it."

It's so hard for Beca to keep herself together when Ashley won't even look at her. She takes a deep breath, swallowing all of the fear before she starts stuttering with her shaky breath, "Re-remember when we went to that Balloon Fiesta a-at Albuquerque a little after I asked you to be my girlfriend?"

"Beca, please..." Ashley pleads, knowing that she's losing her self-control to hold herself together.

"Ju-just bear with me... please..." Beca says in between sobs before kissing Ashley's hand repeatedly. Then Ashley closes her eyes, and tears start running down her face effortlessly.

"Yo-you wanted it so bad to ride the balloon." Beca says, and a sad smile appears on her face as the memory slips back into her mind. "A-and you almost threw a tantrum i- in the middle of the field."

Ashley lets out a teary chuckle as she recalls the moment where she stood firmly with her hands crossed on her chest, pouting with her best puppy eyes in the middle of the field, threatening the brunette that she won't move even for an inch if they don't ride that air balloon.

With shaky voice, Ashley says, "And you didn't want to. It wasn't like any other day where you would just comply with anything I asked simply with a light pout. You were so extremely stubborn that day."

Beca lets out a damp chuckle before she says, "Yeah. I was. But we did it anyway in the end."

"Yeah." Ashley turns her head toward the brunette, smiling tenderly to her girlfriend. "I didn't know that you were afraid of the heights back then, but eventually you relented."

"I wasn't afraid of heights, Hon." Beca explains, rolling her teary eyes in the process. "I was terrified. And I'd rather sing in a concert with a massive numbers of audience openly."

Ashley chuckles with shaky breath, knowing how terrifying it is for the brunette to sing alone in front of a lot of people. That's why their 5th anniversary is so special for her, because Beca was willing to sing to her in front of other people.

"Then why did you relent in the end?" Ashley asks, expecting a cheesy cliché answer like _because I love you_ or _because_ _it would make you happy_.

With sad pleading eyes, Beca says, "Because you deserve more than just the terrified of the heights Beca from me."

Upon seeing her girlfriend just closes her eyes and swallows hard, Beca takes that chance to sit next to her and holds her hands in hers tightly. "Be-before you came into my life, I'd always believed that... I was damaged goods. At the very best. And there was nothing that I, or anybody could've done to fix it. But that night at the hospital... I finally realized how wrong I had been. And it changed me. Since then, as hard as it would be, I always wanted to be better. I- I knew I could do better. And I'd fight my old self to get better. You know why?"

Ashley can't say anything. The lump in her throat is suffocating her. So she nods, though again, she thinks it will be another cliché answer such as _because of you,_ or _because you're worth it_.

"Because you bring the best out of me." Beca answers with certainty. "Every single day." 

Ashley pulls her hand back, covering her mouth to hold back the sobs. This time, she give in to the tears, shaking her head lightly, trying to prevent her heart taking over her brain. "Beca, please... I can't do this."

Beca feels like the air is knocked out of her lungs, and the pain in her chest is unbearable. With her voice cracked, she says, "What is it that you can't do? That you can't love me anymore?"

Trying to fight the pain that's denying her ability to talk, Ashley swallows hard and brokenly says, "I can't stay with you... Not when your heart is not entirely in it for us."

Beca exhales harshly with tears silently running down her face. "Ever since the night at the hospital, my heart has become yours. It's not mine anymore Hon. Please..."

When Ashley doesn't say anything but shaking her head, Beca adds, "For more than 4 years, I had lived in a daze. Li-life flew by without me knowing, a-and the time just passed in a blur. Then you came into my life, and the time started ticking again. I, I could feel my heartbeat again. It was like the 4 years after Barden didn't matter. That everything was just a lie. Whe-when I woke up at that hospital and saw you there, I knew that if anyone can help me on my feet and make me fall in love again, it's you."

Ashley cries, sobbing uncontrollably, and her shoulders are shaking hard.

"Please..." Beca pleads. "Please don't do this to me... I can't... You are my anchor. I- I need you in my life. It was just a kiss. Just a kiss... It means nothing more to me."

The pain in Beca's voice is so obvious and unbearable. But Ashley herself can't hold the pain in her own chest anymore. So she stands up and yells in frustration, "Don't you see it Becs?! Last night, it wasn't just a kiss! A kiss we can fix! Hell, maybe even sex we can fix!"

Without waiting for Beca's response, Ashley takes a deep breath, closes her eyes, shielding the hurt in it before she says desperately, "It's the person you kiss, Beca. She is the first person you've ever loved. And only God knows whether you have moved on from that feeling after all this time. We can't fix love, Beca. We can't stop ourselves from loving who we love."

Beca is taken aback. Those are the same what if's she has been asking herself. However, she has already figured it all out today. So she pulls Ashley down on the couch again, hugging her dearly and kissing her temple gently. Then she wipes the tears away from Ashley's face and says, "Hon... I admit. I did have the same thought, that maybe I haven't moved on from loving Chloe yet. But today..." Beca pauses, staring at Ashley's hurting eyes. "Today has been amazing. In fact, every day with you is amazing. That's why I sing that song for you. Because I finally found the answer. And I'm completely sure that it's you."

However, Ashley shakes her head stubbornly, pulling away and asks, "Are you sure? Because we've been together for five years, yet the second she's back, it's like these past five years never happened. No, scratch that. It's like these past ten years never happened to you. I've seen it, and I believe you feel it too. What if you found the inspiration for your song from kissing her? What if you got your feelings all mixed up?"

Beca lets out a damp heavy sigh. She bends down her neck, closes her eyes, and rubs her left hand up from her forehead to her crown repeatedly. Then she clasps her hands together behind her neck, thinking harder to find a way to convince her girlfriend. However, she finds nothing. She's out of energy and she doesn't want to fight anymore.

On the other hand, Ashley takes Beca's silent as a confirmation, and she says with shaky voice, "I've told you before... I know you. And for now, I know that you're not sure Becs. All these years, I've fought for us. I've always waited for you to be ready. No matter how unclear the future of our relationship was. I had, when it took you almost six months to finally ask me to be your girlfriend. I had, when you were afraid of coming out from your solitude life and being open in public about us. I had, when you weren't ready to live together. I had, when you had doubt about my honesty. Time and time again, I've fought for us and waited for you. Because I knew you love me too, that you also wanted the same thing, and that you were just too afraid to have it. But this time, it's different."

Ashley can see how tired Beca is. So she tells the brunette the bottom of the ice berg in this problem dejectedly. "You and I know well that the one thing I couldn't stand is being in doubt. Beca... I- I can't keep wondering, living in fear that one day you're going to realize that it's always been her. Especially now after she comes back into your life. I can't face the uncertainty in our future, not when I'm sure of how I feel about us but you aren't. I just can't."

Beca listens to every single word that flows out from Ashley's lips without interrupting. She doesn't even think about how to reason with Ashley. She honestly has done and said everything she can to show how she feels about her girlfriend.

Clearly, this isn't something that can be fixed in one night, never mind the fact that Beca can see Ashley's point. As per usual, Ashley is always right. Maybe Ashley is right to think that she is still confused.

Beca just sits on the couch, leaning forward with her elbows resting on her thigh, her eyes closed, and her hands folded together forming a hollowed triangle in front of her lips, pressing it gently.

"I- I love you too much, Becs..." Ashley says again in barely a whisper. "And I- I just... You said that that kiss convinced you about how much you love me. But if you need to kiss another person to be sure, then you're not sure at all. If you're completely sure, then there wouldn't be any kiss at all."

After Ashley's done talking, both of them remain silent. Ashley just stares at her fingers on her laps, while Beca remains in her thinking position. The silence goes for a while until finally, Beca tilts her head slightly toward her girlfriend and tiredly asks, "What can I do to convince you that it's you?"

Ashley sighs deeply, lifting her head to look at the brunette with a sad smile before she brokenly says, "Maybe you can start with convincing yourself."

Too tired to fight and to debate, Beca doesn't say anything immediately. She leans her back on the couch, staring at the star in the clear sky. After a while, she finally finds a bit of courage to weakly asks, "So, this is it?"

Ashley looks at her, swallowing hard before she says, "I think it is."

As tears streaming down her face, Beca closes her eyes, covering the pain in her eyes that tears fail to hide.

Ashley reaches her hand, wanting to wipe Beca's tears away, but she stops halfway, knowing that it will only make it harder for the two of them. Instead, she stands up and says, "I'll be staying with Troian and Patrick for a while until we uh... I mean, until I figure things out."

Then Ashley turns on her heels, starting to walk back into the house. But before she reaches the glass door, she hears Beca says faintly, "I love you Hon. Always."

Ashley chokes in tears upon hearing the pain in Beca's voice. She wants nothing but running back to her girlfriend, telling her that she's wrong. Yet she doesn't. Instead, she clears her throat, taking a deep breath before she says, "Don't forget your meds, Becs. Please take a good care of yourself."

By that, Ashley hurriedly rushes to their bedroom, and starts packing her stuff, afraid that if she stays longer, her emotion will give in and she will run back upstairs.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huff... 
> 
> Okay. And that would be the 9th chapter. As the tittle, it all ends. But this is not the end. In the next chapter, you will know how Beca faces the first two days being broken-hearted.
> 
> Until then, sit tight and make good choices.
> 
> Thank you for reading. :)


	10. Without Her

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hi there :D
> 
> The last time we read, Chloe and Kristen broke up; Beca and Ashley also broke up. In this short chapter, we'll see how Chloe, Beca, and Ashley take it in the first two days. Mostly about Beca, you know, because she has her name on the tittle. So... let's dig in.
> 
> I don't own Pitch Perfect.

 

**Beca and Ashley's Mansion : Sunday**

Beca doesn't how long she has been up on the balcony, and suddenly, the sun is already rising yet she doesn't get some sleep again last night. She sighs, standing up, and slowly dragging her feet to the bed in her sanctuary.

She looks at the bed, biting her trembling bottom lip, not feeling to be up there on her own. So she heads downstairs to the bedroom she shares with Ashley instead. Well, the room they used to share together.

When Beca walks into the room, she is hit with this certain scent, the mixture of hers and Ashley's soft scent in their room. Suddenly, she feels like crying again as a lump forming in her throat. But she swallows it down and shakes her head lightly.

Then she heads to bed to lay down, taking Ashley's pillow into her arms, inhaling the soft scent of her girlfriend's soft vanilla scent and falls into a restless sleep.

She wakes up by noon, peeking up to see the time and finds that it's 01.23 PM on Sunday. Weird. It's only been two days since she met Chloe, but it feels like weeks have already passed judging by everything that happened.

Funny how everything in her life has changed only in two nights. Beca groans loudly and decides to sleep again, too tired to do anything else, hoping that this is all just a nightmare.

Then Beca wakes up again at 05.16 PM, feeling so hungry, thirsty, and strangely more tired than before she fell asleep. She gets up from the bed, heads to the pantry, and then makes a simple peanut butter sandwich and a glass of hot milk.

She eats in silent on the balcony, thinking about what she wants to do. After she's done, her mind reminds her of the last thing Ashley said to her. _Don't forget your meds, Beca. Please take care of yourself_.

With a heavy sigh, she walks to the bedside drawer and takes the pills before jumping into the shower. Beca feels slightly better after showering.

She looks for her forgotten phone, and finds it with dead battery on the table under the TV. She charges the phone, activates it, and the wallpaper comes into her view. It's a picture of her and Ashley on their 5th anniversary dinner.

The picture was taken right after Beca put the B necklace on Ashley. She was standing behind the blonde, leaning forward with their head side to side, smiling goofily toward the camera while Ashley was kissing her cheek. Right after the picture was taken, Ashley immediately set it as the wallpaper on their phones.

Her eyes become teary again, but she shakes it off, opts to check a couple of messages, emails, and missed calls, mostly from Donna reminding her about the works she has to do tomorrow.

She also finds a couple of messages from Stacie, asking her to call her back immediately. Then Patrick also sent a couple of texts and missed calls. However, she is disappointed that there is nothing from Ashley.

Beca hovers her thumb absentmindedly over the contact _Honey_ , wanting it so badly to call Ashley, but she decides against it. Ashley needs time, and Beca will give it to her. She calls Donna instead. After a couple of rings, Donna finally pick up.

" _Hey Bec. Fancy for you to call me on Sunday evening. Thought you're still in your lovey dovey bubble after your 5_ _th_ _anniversary."_

Beca clears her throat before she says with her hoarse voice, "Hey Donna."

" _Is everything okay monkey?"_

Beca chuckles weakly for the pet name Donna and Harvey gave her. She swears they treat her more like their child than a friend, though they are only 5 years older than her.

"I uh..." Beca sighs deeply before continues, "I need a favor Donna."

" _Anything."_

"Please clear my schedule for the next few weeks, I need a break. Can you do it?"

" _Sure thing. No problem. I'll take care of everything. But is something wrong?"_

"It's me and Ashley." Beca answers, trying so hard to keep her voice intact. "We uh... we're taking a break from our relationship."

Beca hears Donna gasp on the other side.

" _Are you okay?"_

Beca exhales in relief, glad that Donna knows her so well that she doesn't ask about the problem right away. "No, I'm certainly not. That's why I need a break."

" _Do you want me to go there? I can be there in 15."_

With a weak smile, Beca says, "It's okay Donna. You don't need to come here. I'll manage."

" _Okay. But if you need anything, just call me or Harvey immediately. Have you eaten and taken your meds yet, kid?"_

"Yes _mom_. I will call you if I need anything." Beca rolls her eyes. "And yes, I already ate and had my meds."

" _Do not use that tone with me, young lady. And I know you just rolled your eyes."_

Beca chuckles lightly, rolling her eyes again.

" _What are you going to do on your break?"_

"Actually I'm thinking of going to Atlanta. It's been a while since I visited mom."

Then Beca hears Donna sigh again. " _Don't forget to bring your meds. Just take care of yourself, okay? No funny business Beca."_

"Yeah, I will." Beca replies, knowing what no funny business meant. "And no funny business. Promise."

" _Are you taking Pascal and Rico with you to Atlanta?"_

Knowing that Donna wants to make sure if her bodyguards, who always follow her wherever she go, will be taking care of her, Beca answers with bored tone, "No. Let them have a vacation with their family. I'll be fine on my own Donna. In case you forget, I'm 32 year old now. I don't need a baby sitter."

" _Are you sure?"_

"Yep."

" _Okay. But your phone have to be reachable all the time."_

"Yes _mom_."

" _And you have to call me at least once a day."_

"Deal." Beca rolls her eyes.

" _Okay. If you need anything or anyone, you know you can always count on Harvey and me. We'll always be there for you."_

Beca smiles and says, "Thanks Donna. I know I can count on you. Tell Harvey I say hi, and give little Stevie a hug from me."

" _I will. Love you monkey."_

"Yeah. I uh..." Beca stutters, still finding it hard to say the word _Love_ other than to Ashley. Then she hears Donna chuckle lightly.

" _I know you love us too, monkey."_

"Um... yeah, that. Thanks Donna." Then Beca ends the call.

After that, Beca calls Patrick. It takes a while until he pick up.

" _Hey bud."_

"Uh... hi dude." Beca suddenly doesn't know what to say.

She hears him sigh on the other side. _"You okay there? I can be there in 20 if you want."_

"I appreciate it." Beca replies instantly. "But it's okay. I uh... you don't need to come."

" _I was there earlier. But your maid said that you've been in the sanctuary the whole day. So I didn't come in."_

"Thanks man." Beca takes a second to consider her next question before she asks, "How is she?"

" _She's uh... holding on. She's been crying the whole night and day. But don't worry, Troian and Shay haven't left her side at all."_

Beca remains silent for a second before she says, "Thank you all for this."

" _No need to thank us, bud. Both of you are our best friends. You'd do the same for us. In fact, you had."_

Beca remembers almost 2 years ago Patrick was caught kissing a stranger in a club while he was already engaged to Troian. It was a hard time for them. Troian lived with Beca and Ashley for quite some times. It also caused some fights between Beca and Ashley, because Beca stood by Patrick that the drunken kiss was unintentional and Patrick was really sorry about that, while Ashley stood by Troian that drunk or not, it was inappropriate. Thankfully, the couple made up and still going strong.

"Still, thanks."

" _How are you feeling?"_

Beca swallows hard before she answers with cracked voice, "It feels like someone just ripped my heart out of my chest and left it open."

It takes a couple of seconds before Patrick replies, _"It's going to be okay dude. You two love each other. She just needs some times."_

Beca clears her throat. "I hope so."

" _You sure you don't want me to come?"_

"Yeah. I need to pack my stuff anyway."

" _Going somewhere?"_

Beca purses her lips before she answers honestly, "Yeah, I'm going to visit my mom's grave."

" _Oh. It's been a while right?"_

"Yeah, it has."

" _I can come with you if you want."_

"Thanks dude. But I need you to make sure that Ashley will be fine. I need all of you to stay with her. She needs you."

" _Don't be silly dude. She has Troian and Shay 24/7. Besides, you need a friend too."_

"I'll be fine man. Just please make sure that she take a good care of herself." Beca says firmly, earning a sigh from her best friend.

" _Okay, if you say so."_

"Uh... I'm gonna start packing now." Beca takes a deep breath before she nervously asks, "Can you uh... do something for me?"

" _Anything bud."_

"Uh... please tell her I already take my meds. And uh..." She takes another deep breath, making up her mind, clearing her throat before she sadly says, "Please tell her that... I miss her. And I love her so much."

There is a silent moment before Patrick replies, _"I will dude."_

"Oh, and more thing."

" _Hm?"_

"Tell Troian to make her a cup of hot ginger milk. It uh... helps her sleep better."

" _Will do bud."_

"Thanks man." Beca says before she ends the call. Tears are starting to run down her face again, and she lets the hurt sink in, stop fighting it, and just let it be.

* * *

**Patrick and Troian's Place : Sunday Evening**

Troian, Shay, and Patrick are all in the living room, consoling their broken-hearted blonde friend.

On the other hand, Ashley is inconsolable, sitting on the couch with her knees pulled up to her chest, her arms hugging her legs closely, and her chin resting on her knees.

"You need to eat something, Ash." Troain tries to push the blonde to eat.

"I'm not hungry." Ashley replies without looking at her friends. Instead, her eyes are glued blankly to the coffee table in front of her.

"Come on Ash." Shay is getting impatient. "You haven't eaten anything since last night. Just tell us what you want to eat, and we'll get it for you."

Ashley sighs deeply and tiredly says, "I don't want to eat, Shay. I want Beca."

Being the hotheaded one, Shay fires up, "She cheated on you, and you broke up with her, remember?"

"Shay!" Troian scolds her tall brunette friend when she sees tears are welling up on Ashley's eyes again.

Suddenly Patrick's phone rings, and he stands up, walking away as he says, "It's Beca."

"Pick it up here, Patrick." Shay commands in upset. "And put her on speaker. I want to know if she's going to dish Ashley. Or trying to get you on her side."

Patrick rolls his eyes in annoyance and says, "Come on Shay. She's not gonna do that. I'm her best friend. I'm always on her side. And Ashley's. Besides, I don't think Ashley needs this now."

"I want to hear her voice." Ashley says weakly, tilting her head up slightly toward Patrick's direction without looking at him.

After getting a nod from Troian, Patrick sighs and says, "Okay. But you all need to be quiet."

Then he picks up the phone and puts it on speaker before greeting Beca. When Beca asks about Ashley, he becomes nervous, doesn't know what to say at first, but then he decides to tell the truth anyway, earning a deathly glare from Shay.

Troian is quick to sit next to Ashley, hugging the crying blonde when Beca says how she feels like her heart is being ripped out of her chest. Ashley cries even harder when Beca asks Patrick to tell her that she misses and loves her.

After the phone call ends, the four of them stay quiet until Ashley finally wipes the tears from her face, sniffling and weakly says, "I want to eat."

Her friends whip their heads toward her, raising their eyebrows, confused by the sudden change of mind.

"I told Beca to take care of herself. And she did." Ashley explains shyly. "So I need to do the same."

"And you're hungry." Shay comments in half-annoyance.

Ignoring Shay's comment, Troian smiles lightly and asks, "How about lasagna?"

"Sounds good." Ashley smiles back weakly.

"And a cup of hot ginger milk?" Troian asks teasingly. "What are you? 89 years old?"

"Hey." Ashley glares weakly at Troian. "It tastes good. And it helps me sleep better when I don't feel well."

Troian raises an eyebrow, smirking knowingly.

"And Beca used to make it for me every time I'm stressed out of my mind or having a bad day." Ashley reveals shyly.

Patrick and Troian chuckle lightly, but Shay rolls her eyes in annoyance. While Troian and Shay get the food, Patrick uses that chance to talk to the blonde.

"I know right now it doesn't seem that way." Patrick softly says, patting Ashley on her shoulder. "But I mean what I said on the phone."

Ashley simply stares at him with puzzled look.

"You two love each other. You'll work it out."

"She loves her, Pat." Ashley croaks with teary eyes.

Patrick looks her in the eye before he says firmly, "She loved her over 10 years ago."

"But what if she still does?" Ashley says harshly. "No offense, but you don't know her like I do."

Patrick scoffs and replies, "No offense Benzo. You might be her girlfriend. But I'm her best friend. And I know her well. Besides, if you can't see pass your fear of losing her and your insecurity over Chloe, then you'll never realize that that tiny grumpy loves you to the moon and back. And she has been for more than 5 years."

"How are you so sure?"

"Because I told her the exact same thing 3 years ago when you left her." Patrick explains with reassuring smile. "Now look how far the two of you have come."

Ashley's breath hitches and she blurts out, "You knew?"

"Told you." Patrick smirks and says, "I am her best friend. She told me bits and pieces. Who do you think was there for her?"

Ashley simply sighs heavily, thinking about what Patrick just said to her. Even though Beca has always said that she's always right, maybe this time she's wrong. Maybe this time, the table has turned and she's the one who's scared.

* * *

**Beca and Ashley's Mansion : Sunday Evening**

By the time Beca stops crying, she decides to pack her stuff. When she grabs her travelling bag, she remembers that it's been a while since she did the packing by herself. Ever since they've moved in together, Ashley has always been the one who did the packing for Beca.

Beca sighs deeply, starting to put a couple of shirts and pants in the suitcase. The odd thing when she's packing is, she can't find her navy hoodie, her most favorite one. She brushes it off, thinking that maybe the maid puts it into the laundry. Then she goes to Ashley's walk-in closet, grabs two of Ashley's favorite shirts, and puts them in the suitcase too.

After the packing's done, she calls Tony, her housekeeper to prepare her jet for tomorrow, and asks him to tell Bastian, her favorite pilot to take her to Atlanta.

When she ends the call with Tony, Beca swirls her phone between her thumb and index finger, considering calling her tall brunette friend. She knows that Chloe must have told Stacie about what happened between them the other night, and she is in no shape to get any lecture. She knows how protective Stacie and Aubrey are toward Chloe.

However, she also knows that she shouldn't hide from her friends anymore. She sighs tiredly, pressing Stacie's contact on her phone reluctantly. Stacie picks up right away.

" _Where have you been Beca? I've been trying to reach you the whole day. I went to your place and your maids won't let me in, saying that you were in a sanctuary or something."_

"Hey legs." Beca says weakly, and then she hears Stacie sigh.

" _You okay there shorty?"_

"I uh..." Beca can't finish her sentence because the lump has blocked her airway.

" _I'll be there in 15."_

Beca clears her throat immediately and quickly replies, "Don't Stace. I want to be alone now."

" _You need a friend right now, Beca."_

"It's okay, Stace. I'll manage. If you come, I don't think I can hold myself up. I just need some space. Please."

" _Okay. But tell me what happen."_

Beca closes her eyes, trying to gain some composure, but she fails miserably as she chokes out, "Sh- she broke up with me."

" _That's it. I'm coming over whether you like it or not."_

After the phone call ends, Beca relents to the tears for the umpteenth times, dropping herself to sit on the edge of her bed with her face in her hands.

* * *

**Posen-Conrad's House: Sunday Evening**

Stacie hurriedly rushes to the kitchen after the phone call ends.

"Right on time for dinner. Your food radar is working way too well Babe." Aubrey teases before kissing her wife.

"Sorry Babe, I've got to go." Stacie says as she pulls away from her wife.

Aubrey grabs her arm right before she turns on her heels. "Where are you going?"

"I uh... it's emergency Babe." Stacie mutters.

Aubrey holds her grip on her wife's arm. "And what emergency is it?"

"It's uh... Beca." Stacie says without looking at her wife.

"What happened with Beca?" Stacie hears Chloe ask from behind. She must have overheard the couple's conversation as she walks into the kitchen.

"Shit." Stacie curses under her breath.

Aubrey furrows her eyebrows and asks, "Yeah, what happen with the hobbit?"

Stacie glances to Chloe, looking back and forth between her wife and her red headed best friend, and then nervously says, "She uh... needs me now."

"I believe we agreed on no more secrets, Stace." Aubrey firmly says.

Stacie glances her eyes away from her wife to Chloe again, and then looks back to her wife, sighing deeply before she weakly says, "She and Ashley broke up."

Aubrey eyes widen in shock, while Chloe gasps, covering her mouth with her hand.

"They did?" Chloe finally asks, failing to hide a slight hint of hope in her voice and her face.

Stacie nods to respond.

"How did you know?" Aubrey asks.

"She told me over the phone. I don't know anything more. That's why I need to be there with her. She sounded... devastated." Stacie explains in hurry.

"I'll go with you." Chloe says firmly.

Stacie looks at her wife, giving her a hint to stop her best friend.

Aubrey gets the cue, pulling Chloe's hand immediately before she says, "I don't think it's a good idea Chloe."

"But she's sad and she needs her best friend right now, Bree." Chloe says stubbornly.

"That's why Stacie is going to her place right now." Aubrey reasons.

"But-" Chloe tries to debate.

"No but Chloe." Aubrey cuts her off firmly. "She told you to give her some space. And I think you are the least person she wants to see right now after she broke up."

Chloe flashes her best friend an angry glare. So Stacie interrupts before the situation become worse. "Look Chloe. I understand you want to be there for her as a friend. But Aubrey is right. She didn't even want me to come if I didn't insist."

Chloe looks at Stacie intently, considering her best friend's suggestion before she sighs in defeat. "Okay. But let me know."

"I will." Stacie replies before kissing her wife chastely and rushes to the front door.

"Drive safe Babe." She hears Aubrey shout from behind.

* * *

**Beca and Ashley's Mansion: After Calling Stacie**

Beca is curling up on her bed, crying silently, holding Ashley's pillow closely in her arms when Stacie finds her in the bedroom. Stacie immediately feels a pang in her chest, seeing her tiny best friend looks so broken.

Then Stacie walks into the room, sitting quietly on the edge of the bed, putting her hand on Beca's shoulder gently. Beca turns to see her best friend, failing to hide the tears.

"Stace, you're here." Beca mutters as she hurriedly wipes away the tears.

"Hey shorty." Stacie says softly.

Beca straightens up and gets up from the bed, signaling Stacie to follow her to the balcony. Stacie follows her without question. Once they've sat down on the couch facing each other, Stacie asks softly, "How are you holding up Becs?"

Beca opens her mouth to say something, but nothing comes out because her throat is blocked. She takes a few deep breaths to calm herself before she speaks barely audible. "Everything hurts... Stace. It hurts when I speak. It hurts when I walk. It hurts when I sleep. It even hurts when I breathe. This thing in my chest won't stop beating even though every thump hurts."

Stacie wants to hug the tiny brunette, but she knows Beca will become more uncomfortable by physical contact. So she decides to take Beca's hand in hers, squeezing it gently and asks, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Beca shakes her head lightly.

"Okay. I won't push you." Stacie smirks, trying to cheer the tiny DJ. "But I come bearing a gift."

Beca smiles weakly, rolling her eyes and says, "You know I'm not allowed to get drunk, Legs."

"Who said that I bring alcohol?" Stacie gasps, mocking hurt. "Do you think I would do that to you?"

Beca looks at her, narrowing her eyes in disbelief. "What then?"

"I bring you tacos. Your most favorite food." Stacie takes out the said food from the paper bag. "I know you're not allowed junk food either. But I think you can manage one taco tonight."

Upon seeing a weak chuckle coming from the tiny brunette, Stacie smiles and mocks playfully, "What's that on your face? Is that a smile? Wow, I've achieved the impossible."

"Shut up." Beca rolls her eyes in mock annoyance. "And give me my taco."

Stacie laughs lightly, handing the taco to Beca. They eat in silent for a while. Then eventually, Stacie breaks the silent by asking, "What are you gonna do shorty? About uh... your situation."

"Honestly?" Beca sighs and munches her taco before muffling, "I don't know yet. But tomorrow I'm going to Atlanta. To visit my mom's grave."

"Hmmm..." Stacie purses her lips. "Do you want me to come with you?"

Beca shakes her head lightly, swallowing before she answers, "I'll be fine on my own Stace."

Stacie purses her lips, trying to find a way to convince the tiny brunette, but she knows how stubborn her tiny friend is. So she sighs in defeat before saying, "Okay. But you will let me stay with you tonight. I'll sleep on the couch."

With her eyebrows furrowed, Beca simply stares at Stacie, wanting to debate her, but Stacie looks back at her with the same stubborn face. So Beca relents and says, "Fair enough. But you can stay in the guest room, Stace. We have enough guest rooms than the amount of guests we'll ever invited to stay here."

"I'm sleeping on the couch in your bedroom." Stacie replies firmly. "It's not up to negotiation."

Beca rolls her eyes, but nods lightly.

The two of them don't talk so much. They just sit there at the balcony, Stacie quietly sipping the beer she found in the bar, while Beca drinks a cup of hot ginger milk. Hours later, Stacie wakes the seems-like-having-a-nightmare tiny brunette up, and they move into the bedroom.

When the morning comes, Stacie send Beca off on the runway. That's right. One of the properties on that huge chunk of land is a runway for a private jet. It also has its own helipad for the private helicopter.

Damn Beca Mitchell and her company and her money. Donna and Ashley definitely know how to spend some on the tiny brunette's hobbies, and Beca gladly approves since she likes her toys; jet, plane, chopper, cars, bikes.

"You take a good care of yourself, okay?" Stacie says as she puts her hands on Beca's shoulders.

Beca simply nods.

"You make sure to come back in a much better condition." Stacie scolds her half-heartily. "I haven't had a chance to yell at you for what you did to Chloe the other night. And I believe Aubrey would love to have that chance too."

This time, Beca gives her a weak smile and says, "I know."

"Okay then." Stacie pats her shoulder gently. "Have a safe flight."

"Thanks." Beca says before turning on her heels and gets on the jet.

* * *

**The Posen-Conrad House**

Stacie just steps into the dining room when Chloe immediately asks, "How is she, Stace? Is she okay? What happened to them? Why did they break up?"

Upon seeing how tired her wife is, Aubrey says, "Calm down, Chloe. Let her sit and have breakfast first."

Thankfully, Chloe complies, and Stacie gives her wife an appreciative smile before kissing her. After drinking a glass of water, Stacie asks, "Why aren't the two of you at work?"

"I will have the interview at Lucifer Corps. at three." Aubrey says as she prepares t meal for her wife. "And I have dropped Bella at pre-school."

Upon seeing Stacie is waiting for her response, Chloe says, "I'm taking a day off."

Stacie simply nods absentmindedly while Aubrey puts a plate of pancakes in front of her, and she smiles softly as she says, "Thanks Babe."

Aubrey simply kisses her chastely and then sits down to have her own breakfast too.

After a couple of minutes, Stacie just can't ignore the expectant look from Chloe again. So she softly says, "She's broken-hearted, Chloe."

"Is she okay?" Chloe asks worriedly. "Is it fine to leave her alone?"

"She uh..." Stacie starts. "She's on her way to Atlanta now to visit her mother's grave. And I can't tell you more than that because she didn't tell me anything else."

However, Chloe gives her a doubtful look, and Stacie understands why, considering her track record of hiding things from the red head for years. "I'm telling you the truth. Last night, we just sat at the balcony. That's all. You know how she is when it comes to talking about her feeling."

Then Chloe nods and mutters, "Sorry."

"It's okay." Stacie says. After swallowing a piece of pancake, Stacie asks, "How are you holding up, Chloe? You just broke up too."

"Hmmm..." Chloe purses her lips. "I think I'm quite fine, Stace. I mean, I'm sad over breaking up with Kristen. But is it wrong that I feel slightly relieved?"

"Nope." Aubrey comments immediately. "Nothing wrong with that at all. I too, feel so much relieved."

Chloe can't help but chuckle lightly, knowing how much Aubrey doesn't like Kristen. Then she teases, "Well, you _almost_ complimented her yesterday."

" _Almost_." Aubrey says matter-of-factly. "It makes a major difference."

With a soft smile, Stacie says, "I'm glad you're fine. Just know that we're here for you."

After swallowing her food, Chloe says, "I know, Stace. Thanks. And about Beca. What should I do? Should I call her? Text her?"

Stacie takes her time to think by shoving another piece of pancake into her mouth, chewing slowly and swallows before she says, "I think we better let her have her space for now."

"But she needs her friends Stace." Chloe says stubbornly. "Now more than ever."

"I know." Stacie sighs deeply. "I'll uh... I'll call a cavalry. And in the meantime, I think we better focus on you."

"Focus on me?" Chloe furrows her eyebrows in confusion. "Why? I'm not broken-hearted."

"Sweetie..." Aubrey says softly. "There are things that I'm concerned about you. You still have to deal with the house you share with Kristen. Besides... instead of worrying about Beca, you should be taking care of yourself. You should be taking your time too to think about... what you will do next."

"I don't understand." Chloe says in confusion.

Stacie smiles softly toward her and says, "We have a village of sisters. Some of us will focus on Beca, and the two of us here, will focus on you. You don't worry about Beca. You just broke up from a long-term relationship too. Sooner or later, it will hit you."

Chloe sighs deeply and says, "Okay. But you make sure Beca has someone."

"Scout honor." Stacie holds up two fingers.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a short one, I know. But the next chapter will be twice longer. At first, I wanted to put it together with chapter 11, but it would be too long. So... this is it, chapter 10.
> 
> In chapter 11, there will be another bella coming up. You can take your guess. She is my second favorite Bella after Beca. Until then, sit tight and make good choices.
> 
> Thank you for reading. :)


	11. Meeting Mother and Child

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey folks!
> 
> In the end of the last chapter, I said that there will be another Bella, so... here she is, the one and only Emily Junk. Just like in the tittle, Beca will meet her mother and her aca-child in this chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoy. I don't own Pitch Perfect. Let's dig in.

 

**Atlanta: Monday 05.23 PM, September 29th 2025**

Beca goes straight to hotel after arriving at Atlanta. She's exhausted, so she orders room service, eats in her room, takes her meds, showers, and calls Donna to tell her that she's alive before going to sleep after fighting the urge to call her... ex-girlfriend.

Around midnight, she wakes up abruptly, sweating and panting because of another nightmare. The very same nightmare she has been having since Ashley left. Then she shakes her head lightly, knowing that she won't be able to sleep again, she decides to mix and write down some ideas for a song.

What inspires a better song than a heart wrenching break up, right?

* * *

**Atlanta: Tuesday, September 30th 2025**

The dawn is already breaking when she finally runs out of ideas, but the zzz hasn't come back yet. So she changes, getting into her grey hoodie, wearing her black jeans with a pair of converse, and then heads out to the cemetery after buying a bouquet of daisies for her mother. It's been a couple of months since she came to her mother's grave.

Once she arrives, she takes a deep breath, walking slowly to her mom's grave. It's chilly in the morning, the sun hasn't come up fully yet, and the sky is still pale blue. So there aren't so many people there.

Then she stands silently in front of her mom's head stone, putting down the flowers bouquet under it, tracing the words on it with her eyes.

_Lucia Marie Anderson_

_Beloved Mother._

After sniffling softly and wiping the tears in the corner of her eyes, Beca presses her hand on her lips before pressing it on the head stone. Then she sits down on the grass, cross-legged and remains silent, walking down the memory lane she has with her mother.

When Beca was still a kid, her mother was the one who taught her to sing and play piano. She was the one who sparked the musical talent in Beca. After Warren bailed on them by cheating with his student that became his wife not long after the divorce, she worked several jobs to make sure that Beca had everything she needed to nourish her talent.

For all of the right reasons, Beca loves her mother with every fiber of her being. But just as everything she'd loved, her mother had gone way too soon. She didn't have a chance to see that her daughter had held the world in her hand, all because of her mother's love and faith in her.

After a long moment of silent, Beca eventually says, "Hi mom. It's been a while." She inhales deeply before saying with broken voice, "I miss you."

Trying to hold in the tears, Beca takes a few ragged breaths and shakes her hands before she says with shaky breath, "Remember a couple of months ago I told you that my life was perfect? You know, the job is great, I have a lot of money in my hand now, I have a couple of best friends, and I got the most wonderful girlfriend in the whole world."

The pain under her chest is unbearable. So she pulls her knees close to her chest, hugging her legs with her arms, and locks her hands together. "Well, I still have the most of them mom. But I recently lost the most important one." She takes a deep breath before she adds, "I did a stupid thing, and it cost me the love of my life."

Then she lets out a damp chuckle before she continues, "Ashley, remember? Blonde, beautiful, hilarious, smart, kind, has the brightest bluest eyes I've ever seen? That one. I'm sure you remember. I've come here with her so many times in the past five years. I bet you'd like her if you had a chance to meet her in person. You both are the only two who could call me up on my shit." Then she let out a sad smile. "Yeah, she's wonderful that way."

She can't help a single track of tears running down her face, but she wipes it with the back of her hand quickly, brushes the knuckle of her index finger under her nose, and clears her throat. "I uh... I was planning to propose you know. I've shown you the ring a year ago. But now... after what happened the other night..."

It takes her a while, rocking her body back and forth, trying to ease the pain under her diaphragm before she says, "Do you remember Chloe? It must be hard to remember her since you haven't seen her in the past ten years. She is the one with red hair, sweet, cheerful, happy and bubbly all the time, and has a pair of mesmerizing blue eyes. You know, the one who held me tight on your funeral, right here when I broke down in tears. I guess you remember, because you'd met her several times when you were still alive."

With a long heavy sigh, she says, "I did tell you that she is my first love. I remember you pushed me to tell her how I feel." Beca smiles sadly, wiping a single tear from her cheek before she says, "I left her 10 years ago. You already knew the story, I've told you before. Well, guess what? I finally told her. We met again 3 days ago on my 5th anniversary night with Ashley. You would've thought that meeting the person you left years ago for the first time must've been the most awkward situation right? Can't blame you.I felt the same. I did. Until we had a fight but ended up with me telling her that she is my first love, and then we kissed. Awkward is an understatement, Mom."

Beca scoffs. "Surprise, surprise! Guess you'd be so disappointed by me now, because I'm no different than the infamous Dr. Mitchell."

After another moment of silent, she chuckles as a thought comes into her mind. Beca sniffles and says, "No offense Mom. But I'm a little bit, just a tiny bit relieved by the fact that you're gone. Because if you're still here, I bet you'd be kicking up my ass by now. You know, for being such an asshole. And I wouldn't be able to blame you because even you become so terrifying when you're mad, I _am_ really an asshole right now."

With a long sigh, Beca drops her head between her arms before whispering with her voice broken, "I messed up Mom. Again. And I'm not sure if I can or should fix it this time."

Then she lays down on the grass next to her mother's grave, trying to keep her eyes open, wanting to see the blue sky even though it's too bright. Eventually, she gives up and closes her eyes, enjoying the ticklish sensation from the grass under her palm, feeling the chilly wind blowing in her face, smelling the autumn air.

For a moment, she forgets her problems. For a split second, she can feel a serenity. And damn! If it doesn't feel so good. Suddenly, a memory strikes into her mind, and serene smile appears on her face.

"You told me once. And I quote." Beca clears her throat, trying to mimic her mother's voice. " _You should be afraid when it comes to love, Beca. Because you wouldn't love better if you are not afraid enough. If you're not afraid, it means you haven't love enough."_

Beca chuckles over the bittersweet memory, and then she blows out a long steady breath calmly before she continues, "I believed you Mom. I did. When I was in love with Chloe, I was scared out of my mind. That's how I knew that I loved her so much. Because I was so afraid. So, so terrified. And after Warren disowned me, I just... ran away."

Then she turns her body to face her mother's grave beside her, putting one hand under her ear to support her head, and the other hand on the cement of the grave before she softly says, "Don't get me wrong Mom. I love you. I always have and always will. But I think you were partly wrong. Or maybe it was simply the half lesson you had learnt in your short meaningful life."

"But me?" She lets out a heavy sigh. "I've learnt different lessons on my own in the past 10 years. I've learnt that, yeah, loving could be terrifying. In fact, it should be terrifying, especially when you love too much. But you know what Mom? I also found out that it's not being terrified that shows you've loved enough. It's overcoming the fear that shows you've loved enough."

"I know right?" Beca laughs lightly. "Who would've thought that your snarky skeptic daughter could've learnt that kind of shit?" Her laughter turns into a loving smile as she says, "I learnt that from loving and being loved by Ashley, Mom. Told you, she's wonderful that way."

Then Chloe's smile flashes on her mind, and she says, "And Chloe... she's also wonderful. You know it. And now your stupid useless daughter has hurt the two most wonderful women in her life. Three actually, to count you in. I know how much you hated cheating."

She sighs deeply and asks, "What should I do, Mom? I don't know what to do. Can you tell me what to do? Who should I choose between the two of them?" Then she scoffs. "Sorry. Sounds so cocky. Like they'll want the damaged me anyway. I think I've caused enough damages, Mom. Maybe they'll be better left without me. I'm the toxic. Only I can wreck the kindest and most amazing human in the whole world. Not only one. But two. Maybe I should just pack my back and walk away."

With a harsh huff, she sits up, messes with her hair, and stays quietly, thinking about what to do. After a while, she sighs deeply and gets up, brushing the grass off her clothes. Strangely, she feels a lot lighter and calmer.

Beca stands up straight, looking at her mother's head stone and says, "Thank you for listening Mom. I feel so much better. I promise I'll come visit again soon. And don't worry too much. Though I'm still as clumsy as ever, still forget my keys and phone all the time, and leave the tooth paste uncapped, but I'm doing better with my life. I am. So... You just rest in peace, okay? No need to come back and kick my ass."

With that being said, Beca puts her hand on her lips, and then presses it on her mother's head stone gently before she turns and walks away.

* * *

It's a little after eight in the morning when Beca walks out from the cemetery, and she's hungry. So she decides to go to a diner near the hotel and have a breakfast. After placing her order, she holds her phone, hovering her thumb on Ashley's contact, considering calling the blonde. But before she can decide, her phone rings, and it shows Emily's face on the screen.

"What's up Legacy?"

" _Captain! You're up early! How strange!"_

"Yeah, yeah." Beca rolls her eyes. "We might be expecting an apocalypse soon."

A soft smile appears on Beca's face when she hears Legacy giggling. _"Stacie told me that you're in Atlanta. Since you're already up, how about breakfast?"_

Beca rolls her eyes again with a hint of fondness, knowing how much her friends care about her. "Actually, I'm having one. Come and join me."

" _On my way Capt. 10 minutes."_ Legacy says after Beca told her where she is.

10 minutes later, Emily arrives, skipping happily toward her former captain, hugging her tightly as she shrieks loudly, "I've missed you Pop!"

"Uh... Legacy... I need my ears in a perfect condition to listen and make good music."

"Oops... sorry." Emily says with a wide grin, releasing the tiny brunette, and then takes a seat in front of her.

Time hasn't seemed to change the bubbly childlike Emily, and Beca is so glad about it. She smiles fondly toward the not so baby Bella anymore and stutters, "I uh... I kinda miss you too, Em." When she sees happy tears are pooling in the younger Bella's eyes, she quickly adds, "But let's not make a big deal out of it."

Emily chuckles softly, nodding excitedly as she wipes the tears from the corner of her eyes. She orders pancakes and coffee, and then starts a conversation with the older bella.

"What brings you here Pop?"

Beca narrows her eyes, pursing her lips before she asks, "Well, I guess Stacie must've filled you in?"

"Nu uh." Emily shakes her head. "Just bits and pieces. She said you're having a down time, and might need a friend. So... here I am."

Beca pushes a bite of pancake into her mouth, nodding absentmindedly before she muffles, "I visited my mom this morning."

"Oh. How was it?" Emily asks while thanking the waiter for bringing her order.

"Hmmm..." Beca purses her lips. "It was... relieving."

"Everything alright back home?" Emily asks before taking a sip of her coffee.

With a heavy sigh, Beca shakes her head lightly and says, "Nope. Not really."

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Emily asks casually.

Beca simply shakes her head lightly while keeps eating her breakfast.

"Just know that I'm here to listen if you change your mind, Pop." Emily says before shoving a huge chunk of pancake into her mouth.

Upon seeing the way Emily eat, Beca can't help the fond smile appears on her face. The other Bellas used to tease the youngest Bella about how she is a perfect combination of Chloe and her.

Emily is cheerful, bubbly, and overly enthusiastic, much like Chloe. But she's also a music freak, a little bit grumpy, extremely clumsy, and a messy eater, which are totally Beca's traits.

That's why Emily got the honor to be called the first aca-child. Most of the times, the tall brunette even calls Chloe mom, because the red read is the loving, caring, and obviously in charge of the scolding one.

On the other hand, she calls Beca Pop, because the tiny brunette is the shoulder to cry on, the spoiling one, and she's way too overprotective toward the aca-child. Benji was the first victim of the so called Pop.

Beca snorts in her effort to hold her laughter, remembering the one time Benji take Emily out on their first date. Beca had drilled the half-confused half-frightened Benji with questions like, _"What is your intention with our Emily?"_ Then, _"At what time are we expecting legacy to be home tonight?_ " And threats like, _"Hurt her and you'll live to regret it."_ And the most terrifying one, _"If you do so much as scratching her finger nails, I'll break your fingers."_

It was all said with a fiercely face. Chloe even had to dragged her to the kitchen before the poor young man peed himself on the couch in the living room.

"Pop!" Emily waves her hand in front of the tiny DJ. "Hey Pop!"

"Err... what?" Beca shakes her head with furrowed eyebrows. "Oh, sorry Em. Got caught up in my thought. What did you say again?"

Emily laughs lightly and says, "You're getting old Pop."

"Hey! Do not mock your Pop, Kid." Beca scolds with a playful glare.

With a mock scared face, Emily teases, "Aye aye Captain."

Beca puffs her nose and asks, "What did you say again?"

"I said, I'm here to listen if you want to talk."

"Actually..." Beca purses her lips, considering the question she wants to ask. "I'd like to ask you something if you don't mind."

"Shoot."

"What happen between you and Benji?" Beca asks cautiously.

Upon seeing that Emily is looking at her with narrowed eyes, Beca instantly blurts out, "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I just thought that... I've never asked you before."

Emily smiles at her, nodding lightly before saying, "It's okay Beca." Then she purses her lips, playing with her eyebrows, thinking before she answers, "Life happened. I guess."

Beca simply gives her a puzzled look while sipping her decaffeinate coffee.

"Well," Emily shoves another chunk of pancake. "After world championship, Benji was supposed to move to New York with Jesse. But since we just started our relationship, he decided to stay and spent 3 more years for grad school in Barden. We were together until I graduated. And then, Benji had expected that we could've finally moved to New York together. However, Residual Heat prolonged my contract with them in Atlanta, which was a very good offer that I couldn't refuse."

Emily stops for a second to drink before continues nonchalantly. "We fought on that. Benji said that it was my turn to sacrifice because he had stayed three more years at Barden for me. I told him I didn't ask him to do that. Long story short, we broke up. End of story."

"Hmmm..." Beca nods absentmindedly with sympathetic smile.

"It was hard and nasty." Emily shrugs casually. "Thankfully, Jessica and Ashley were still here in Atlanta, and all of the other Bellas kept checking on me every day. Aubrey and Stacie even visited me."

Beca sighs deeply as guilty feeling creeps up into her chest. "I'm sorry Em. I should've been there for you."

"It's okay Pop." Emily shakes her head lightly, waving her fork, swallowing before she says nonchalantly, "You were dealing with your problems too. Besides, I'm over it years ago. So, no hard feeling."

"Still," Beca says dejectedly. "I should've been there, Em. I missed out on everything in your life and all of The Bellas."

Emily puts her hand on Beca's, smiling when she says, "Don't sweat it Pop. Really. I also wished that I could've been there for you in all those years you were struggling. But, the most important thing is that we make it out alive. And we've been better ever since."

Beca smiles fondly toward the younger brunette, realizing how mature the clumsy spoiled kid has become. But the baby bella doesn't see the look, too busy shoving another huge piece of pancake into her mouth.

"Since when did you turn into a fine wise ass, young lady?" Beca smirks, and Emily bursts into a laughter, spitting pieces of pancakes out of her mouth.

"Ew... I take it back." Beca says, scrunching her face over-dramatically before she follows, barking out a loud laughter.

After the laughter unwind, they fall into a comfortable silent, busy dealing with the plates in front of them. When they finish, Emily immediately orders a glass of water, handing it to Beca as she firmly says, "Pop your pills, Pop." Then her eyes widen with a huge grin. "Hey, it rhymes."

Beca rolls her eyes playfully, taking out her meds from her pocket, putting them into her mouth before swallowing them with the water Emily handed her. "All done Kid."

"Good."

Then Beca orders another cup of tea, while Emily orders another cup of cappuccino.

"You need to go easy on those caffeine, Em."

"I can't function without at least 2 cups of coffee in the morning." Emily shrugs. "What can I say? I learnt from the best."

Beca chuckles, remembering how addicted she herself was to coffee back in college. She had at least 4 cups a day. Chloe used to say that she bleed caffeine all over her body.

"I met him again, you know." Emily says, and it pulls Beca out of her memory lane.

"Hm?"

"Benji." Emily says. "I met him again around three years ago. Remember the time you reached out to me and Stacie then we met in New York?"

Beca nods lightly, smelling the jasmine tea before taking a sip.

"I bumped into him with Jesse in the city." Emily says casually.

"Oh. Jesse. Haven't heard that name in a very long time." Beca comments distastefully, never really like her former coworker at the radio station because he kept pushing her to watch movies and go out with him. "How was it? The meeting. Or the bumping."

"It was okay, I think?"

Sensing something more about it, Beca raises an eyebrow and asks, "How were they?

"Well... Let's just say that it didn't work out really well with them."

"What do you mean?"

Emily looks at her, pursing her lips before hesitantly says, "They were having a bad time. In fact, I think they still are. Based on what I've heard about Jesse around the label."

"Huh." Beca responds curiously. "I've never really paid attention. But if I remember correctly, didn't Jesse get a really good job as a music producer in a movie production company in New York after graduated?"

"He did." Emily sips her coffee. "But you know what people said. Money and fame are the root of the evil. Apparently, Jesse let the money and fame drowned him into a mess."

"What happened?"

"After his career took off, he got involved with the wrong woman who made him do a lot of gambling."

"Oooo."

"I know." Emily says convincingly. "And you know what gambling brings along. More women, alcohol, drugs, tons of debts, and massive troubles. Needless to say, he lost everything in a blink of an eye. He got fired for being irresponsible, and he went bankrupt because of the debts. He sold everything he had, but it still couldn't cover half of the debts. He still hasn't gotten up on his feet yet."

"Whew... and I thought my life was hard." Beca says with wide eyes, then she cautiously asks, "And Benji?"

Emily puffs her cheeks before answering, "He uh... he wasn't the sweet kind Benji I had known in college. Turned out, breaking up with me was too hard on him. And because of his unique quirks, it wasn't easy for him to find a job or stay in a job."

Beca takes Emily's hand into hers, squeezing it gently before she says, "It's not you fault Em."

"I know." Emily replies without hesitation.

Beca is stunned for a second, but she quickly turns her attention by sipping her tea.

After taking a sip of her coffee, Emily explains with a soft smile, "We made our own choices Pop. It was hard for me too after I broke up with him. But life must go on. I had my fair share of crazy broken-hearted phase. For 3 months, I was sulking, broken-hearted, but then I decided that I've had enough of it and moved on. Unfortunately, Benji used that moment to wreck his life and pin it on me."

Beca nods absentmindedly, thinking about the things Emily just said. _We made our own choices._

It might seems harsh for some people, but those words carry a huge weight of truth. We do make our own choices. She's still amazed by how grown up the younger Bella has become. Eventually, she decides to tell Emily the truth, hoping that she can get another perspective.

"Em, I'm going to tell you the true reason I'm here. But let me finish, okay?" Beca says with soft warning look, knowing how the tall brunette can't help herself to interrupt.

"Aye aye Captain." Emily says, giving Beca a mock salute with a huge grin before sipping her coffee.

Beca rolls her eyes playfully and takes a deep breath before telling the event from her 5th anniversary with Ashley, the fight and kiss with Chloe, then about the day after that she spent with Ashley, and eventually, the break up. It surprises her more than anything when she can tell the story without sobbing uncontrollably. Well she still cries a little bit, and it still hurts like hell when she talk about the break up, but it's a lot easier than yesterday.

Guess talking with her mother's grave do help a lot more than she has expected. The better news is, she feels even lighter after telling her problem to Emily.

"I'm so sorry about what happened, Pop." Emily says sympathetically while squeezing Beca's hand gently.

"Yeah, me too." Beca says with a sad smile.

"What makes you change your mind and tell me about it?"

Beca shrugs and says, "You said that we make our own choices. And it got me thinking."

"About?" Emily asks with furrowed eyebrows.

"About me leaving 10 years ago." Beca sighs heavily. "You know, if I never had let my father's word affected me and then left, what do you think would've happened?"

"Hmmm..." Emily purses her lips, rubbing her hand on her chin with her eyebrows furrowed. Then she looks at Beca before she asks, "Does it matter now? I mean, it's already done. You got through it. You've become better than before."

"But I did hurt all of you." Beca says dejectedly. "Especially Chloe. I've told you about what she said the other night. If I hadn't had left, maybe things would've been different for her. For us. All of us."

Emily chuckles lightly and says, "There is no way to find out, Pop. Like I said, we all got through it. In our own ways definitely. So it doesn't matter anymore. We've made our own choices too."

Still confused, Beca takes her time by sipping her tea before saying, "I don't get it. You know I'm as good as a stone when it comes to stuff like this."

Emily rolls her eyes playfully. Sometimes she forgets that Beca needs a comprehensive walk-through to understand things like this. So she takes a deep breath and starts with a simple question, "Are you happy with your life Pop?"

"Well yeah." Beca answers without hesitation before she adds, "Until I kissed Chloe and all hell broke loose. Not that I'm not happy having her back into my life, but under this circumstances..."

"Do you think you'd become who you are today if these past ten years didn't happen?" Emily cuts her off.

"Huh." That question sure needs more time to answer. Beca takes a deep breath and hesitantly says, "Well... Sure, if I could've, I would've chose not to leave Chloe and all of you. Maybe I should've chose not to leave."

"U huh. And..." Emily simply raises her eyebrows with a tight smile, knowing that Beca isn't done yet.

Then Beca sighs and continues, "But it means that... I would never have met Donna and Harvey. Then I wouldn't have become Stephan's godmother. And uh... I would never have met Ashley. There have been so many wonderful things happened in my life since I've met her. So it means I would never have become the person I've become today."

"U huh. Then..."

Beca raises her left shoulder and says, "And... Patrick and Troian. I would never have met them. And let's say that I could've met all of them in other circumstances because of fate or something like that, but uh... my life wouldn't have been the same. I, wouldn't have been the same."

"So?"

After blowing out a long steady breath from her mouth, Beca says, "So... most definitely not? I mean, I don't know for sure. But I don't think I would be telling you about my feelings if I haven't had the past 10 years. You know how closed off I was in college. The people I have today... they have their fair share in changing my life. In helping me become who I am today."

"I take it you don't regret it then." Emily says with a soft smile.

Beca closes her eyes, sighing before answering, "I guess."

"Let's say you have a chance." Emily says with narrowed eyes. "Is there anything you want to change in the past 10 years? I mean, judging by your condition before you kissed Chloe?"

"I... don't think so?" Beca replies hesitantly, and then her mind is flooded with the memory of her life with Ashley. She smiles lightly in relief, shaking her head as she says, "I mean, judging by how my life have turned out, there's nothing I would've changed, Em."

"Hm." Emily says with victory smile. "Then the decision you made 10 years ago doesn't matter anymore. What matters now is the decision you're gonna make after you kissed Chloe."

Beca nods absentmindedly, finally understand Legacy's explanation. But then something comes up again. "But like I said, Em. I did hurt Chloe, you, and all the other bellas."

"And like I said, we make our own choices." Emily says with a light smile. "We got over it eventually. Besides, I don't think we would've had such a strong bond if you hadn't left. I'm not saying that you should've left. But everything turned out to be okay eventually. Things do happen for a reason. For many reasons even. Some of them are good, some of them are not. It all depends on how we react on it."

Trying to let the words sink into her mind so she can really believe it, Beca simply nods absentmindedly.

"Please don't take too much credit from the hurt Pop." Emily smiles compassionately. "Let's say that you hadn't left, the universe would've found another way to screw us up. It's wicked that way. In a sole purpose, to make us a better person. That is, if we choose to be one. Fortunately, I can say in full confident that we, The Bellas, all chose to be better."

Beca is taken aback. _How could I never see this one coming?_

With a relieved smile, Beca shakes her head lightly and teases, "For someone who didn't have her Pop in her life for more than seven years, you sure have grown up more than expectation, Kid."

Emily laughs lightly and says, "Well, what can I say. It's the perks of having a village of wonderful sisters. Plus, I didn't take psychology for 2 semesters back in Barden all for nothing."

Beca barks out a laughter, and Emily follows suit. After the laughter subside, Beca clears her throat and says, "One more question, Legacy."

"Shoot." Emily replies before sipping her coffee.

With an intense look, Beca asks, "How do you feel about me and Chloe after you heard about the kiss? Do you think uh... we should be together?"

After letting out a long sigh, Emily puts down her cup, biting her bottom lip with her eyebrows furrowed before she says, "Well... I'll be glad if you can be as close as you were in college. And honestly, I'll be happier if you can become more than friends since... you know, you were in love with each other in college. You were my Mom and Pop. Of course I want the two of you end up together. But how I feel and what I want don't matter Pop."

Upon seeing the confused look on Beca, Emily smiles and says, "What matters is how you feel and what you want. Because you'll be the one who live with it. Not me. So you need to ask yourself. Can you live with... whatever decision you're going to make?"

The words certainly catch Beca's attention more. Beca rests her elbow on the table, putting her hands in front of her mouth in a hollowed triangle position, thinking hard for a long while.

Eventually, she reveals, "I thought I knew what I feel, Em. But look where I end up. I've hurt not only Chloe. I've also hurt Ashley. I love them. Both of them. They are... they have significant roles in my life. But all I've done is hurting them. And right now, I just... I don't want to hurt them more than I already have. I can't."

"What do you mean?" Emily asks in confusion.

Beca simply stares at her with her eyebrows raised and her lips pressed tightly as if saying _Isn't it obvious?_

Instantly, Emily's eyes widen in shock and fear. "No. You can't leave again. You can't disappear on us again!"

With a loud huff, Beca drops her head and closes her eyes.

"Who do you love more?" Emily asked bluntly.

Beca looks up at her, frowning and scrunching her face in total confusion. Then she asks in disbelief, "Who do I love more?" She scoffs. "What kind of question is that? Is this some kind of joke? A reality show?"

"Just answer the question." Emily says in upset. "Pick one."

Again, Beca scoffs harshly in disbelief before she says in upset, "I'm not picking one, Em. Are you out of your mind? I hurt them! I have no right to pick any of them! They are better left off without me!"

Since it's not so breakfast time anymore, there are not so many people in the diner. But still, the sound of Beca snapping in desperation draws the attention toward them. So Beca takes a deep breath to calm herself before saying, "Sorry Em."

"I'm sorry too." Emily sighs heavily while shaking her head. Then Beca simply nods and sips her now cold tea.

"The question," Emily says again cautiously, and Beca just looks at her tiredly. "It's inappropriate. I know. But it's necessary. Before you make any decision ahead, especially stupid decision like leaving again, just try. Try to think about your feelings to them, and just pick one. And then you can start from there."

"It's..." Beca huffs in frustration. "I can't just pick one, Em. They are too good, too kind to be just... handpicked by me as if I'm good enough for them."

"Just try." Emily insists. "It's not about how good they are, or how not good you are for them. This is simply about how you feel. Start by telling me how you feel about them."

Beca rolls her eyes tiredly and relents. After taking another deep breath, she says, "I... love them. And the truth is, this isn't about loving someone more than the other. I love them both. Just... in different ways. I guess."

"Okay." Emily says with a reassuring smile. "Go on."

"Chloe..." Beca sighs heavily. "She's my first love Em. And she will always be my first love. She's kind, and sweet, and-" she lets out a light smile. "She's wonderful. And when I was in love with her, even though I was scared out of my mind, I was also so, so happy for having her in my life. She made me happy."

"But..."

"No but Em."

"Then why I'm sensing one?" Emily retorts matter-of-factly. "Just spit it out. It's just me. I won't tell any of them."

Beca glances away from her, blowing out a long steady breath before she says in remorse, "But... I uh... I've grown out of that feeling, Em. I still love her. I do. And I'm happy to have her back in my life. But... just not as a lover."

"And why is that?" Emily asks casually.

"I..." Beca shakes her head very lightly with somehow sad yet fond smile and sighs. "I'm in love with Ashley, Em. She's everything that I didn't even know that I wanted. Or better yet, needed. She, is a surprise." She chuckles softly. "A good kind of surprise that I'd never known I'd been waiting for a freaking long time."

"Hmmm..." Emily smiles. She can see how tender the way Beca talk about Ashley.

"After 5 years together," Beca smiles lightly while her eyes is unfocused, thinking back to the time she's shared with Ashley. "I couldn't even imagine how my life would've been without Ashley in it. She is my constant, you know. The only thing that reminds me that my heart is beating, and I better make a good count of it. I remember exactly how it felt when I realized that I'm falling in love with her."

Emily knows that Beca's mind is totally not with where she is, and she simply smiles, letting Beca telling her about her feelings toward Ashley.

"It's like... the time in my life started ticking again. And I could feel my heartbeat again." Beca chuckles lightly and shakes her head subtly. "She is the center of my universe. My life revolves around her. She keeps me in my orbit, so I don't wander around without... a sense of direction. And she's the gravity that pulls and keeps me grounded."

After that, Beca remains silent, letting the warm feeling creeping up into her chest.

With a relieved sigh, Emily smiles so widely upon seeing the happiness spreading out from every single fiber of her former captain. It isn't unusual to see that Beca seems not only incredibly happy, but somehow peaceful when she's talking about Ashley. Never mind that she just poured out one hell of sappy cheesy stuff about love and feelings in a normal conversation that didn't involve melody or music.

Then Emily clears her throat lightly, earning the DJ's attention, and says, "I've heard your works in the past 10 years you know. Even when you were still DJ M, and I had no idea that it was you."

Beca raises an eyebrow, not so sure where this is going, but she remains silent, letting the tall brunette explain.

"I don't know if you notice Pop," Emily says with a light smile. "But I could feel your music has changed. And I think it started after you met Ashley. It has gradually changed from dark, and heart-broken, and depressed, into something... lighter, more hopeful, and surprisingly, even in my taste, full of happy ending cliché. That if I remember correctly, wasn't something that you were fond of back in college."

Upon seeing the teasing smile on Emily's face, Beca simply rolls her eyes and chuckles lightly.

"And those sappy cheesy dorky stuff you just said?" Emily smiles mockingly. "I never even knew you had it in you. For a split second, I thought you were having a fever."

Beca rolls her eyes again, glaring at Legacy playfully as she says in mock anger, "Shut up. Don't you dare telling anyone about this."

Then Emily laughs before she playfully says, "Easy there Pop. Your secret is safe with me. But I might add some of the words in my new song."

With a light smile, Beca pulls out her phone and looks at the picture of her and Ashley on her screen. Upon seeing the goofy grin on Beca's face, Emily snatches her phone, and looks at the screen. She can't hold the teasing grin on her face.

On the other hand, Beca is blushing red while rubbing the back of her neck nervously as she says, "I don't know why Em. But with Ashley, I feel that any kind of pain is somehow... bearable. I would take any pain if it's to be with her."

"I guess you've made your decision there Pop." Emily says cheerfully before giving back Beca's phone.

"I guess I have." Beca nods lightly, smiling so fondly as she stares at her phone's screen again. "Thanks Em."

"No probemo. Glad I can help." Emily says with a wide grin. But suddenly, Emily's face turns into worried look as the thought of Chloe slips into her mind. "Can I ask you something, Pop?"

"Sure."

"What will you do with uh... Chloe?" Emily asks cautiously.

Beca's face drops instantly, and uneasy feeling is creeping back up into her chest.

"I just..." Emily smiles sheepishly while patting Beca's hand. "Well... you know that Ashley is my best friend. But Chloe is practically my sister. In fact, she's practically my mom." She tries to joke, earning a little tug of smile on the corner of Beca's lips. Then she takes a deep breath before continues, "I want you to be happy, Pop. But the thing with Chloe is... I think you need to tell her. The sooner the better. And... please handle it cautiously."

"I know." Beca sighs heavily. "I did promise her that I will call her. And she gave me a week until next Friday."

Emily just waits in silent, knowing not to push further.

After a while, Beca shakes her head lightly, flexing her neck before she says, "I'll talk to her once I get back to L.A."

Trying to encourage Beca, Emily smiles and says, "It's okay Pop. Just try to make it less hard for her. She had it very hard when uh... when you left."

"Oh God." Beca breathes out in frustration. "Chloe is going to be hurt again. I'm gonna hurt her again."

"It's gonna be fine, Pop." Emily smiles calmly. "We've got your back. Both of you."

"We?" Beca asks in half-confusion half-tiredly.

"The Bellas."

"No, you're not." Beca says dejectedly. "You shouldn't. I'm gonna hurt the most lovable person in the group."

"Pop... All we want is you to be happy." Emily says with a reassuring smile. When Beca gives her a doubtful look, she adds, "Sure, it won't be easy at first. But we'll get over it. That's what family do. Be happy for one another."

"Even when another one is hurt and not happy?" Beca asks skeptically.

"This isn't about choosing between yours or Chloe's happiness." Emily says, remembering Stacie's words when they had an emergency meeting after Beca reconnected with them. "We'll all be there for the two of you. No matter what happen in this situation. Aubrey, Stacie, Fat Amy, Jessica and our Ashley, Flo, Lily, CR, then me. We'll all be there for the two of you."

Suddenly Beca's jaw drops opened, and her face is full of fear. "Aubrey's gonna kill me for hurting her best friend again."

"She probably would." Emily mutters worriedly. But when she sees the fear in Beca's face, she adds, "But Stacie and I will stop her. Don't worry."

Beca huffs in frustration and asks, "What do I do Em?"

"Tell her the truth Beca." Emily grabs her hand and squeezes it gently. "Don't run away. Don't hide from her. Be there for her as a friend."

"What if she doesn't want to see me anymore?"

"I highly doubt it. She'd had enough time of her life without you. Trust me. As hard as it would be, Chloe would want to have her best friend back."

"I won't be so optimistic if I were you Em. She was so furious the other night and... now I'm gonna tell her that I choose Ashley." Beca says frantically before dropping her head in her hands, while Emily can only rub her hand sympathetically.

"How am I gonna tell her?" Beca whines in frustration. Then she mocks a high note voice, talking to the imaginary Chloe, _"Hey Chlo. Remember I kissed you after telling you that you are my first love while I still had a girlfriend? Well... turns out I was caught up in the moment from the feelings I left behind. I love my girlfriend. But can we still be friends?"_

Torn between amused and worried about Beca's frantic rambling, Emily smiles sheepishly and says, "Like that. But uh... with your normal voice and uh... Maybe a little bit more elaborated. And less blunt. So much less."

Beca holds her head up with her hands on her temple and her elbows on the table before dejectedly saying, "I can't hurt her again Em. I refuse to be the person who cause another pain to Chloe Beale."

Emily sighs sympathetically and says, "I know Pop. But looking at the situation now, everybody's already been hurting. So it's better to hurt her with honesty than to comfort her with a lie."

What Emily just said was true, but Beca remains silent, drowning in the thought of hurting her best friend again.

"It will take time for sure." Emily tries to assure her. "But Chloe will accept the situation. Eventually."

With a weak smile, Beca looks up at her and asks, "Are you sure?"

"She will still have you as a friend, right?"

"Absolutely." Beca says in determination. "Best friend, sister, co-captain. As long as she'll have me, Em."

Emily smiles and says with more confident, "Then we'll be fine Pop. As long as we're together. So, don't ever leave again. Don't even think about leaving again, no matter how hard the situation is. Okay?"

"Okay." Beca replies with a defeated sigh.

"Speaking of not leaving, are you coming to Bella's 10th reunion?" Emily asks, trying to change the subject.

"What reunion?"

Emily is taken aback by the fact that the older bella doesn't know about the reunion, and then she cautiously asks, "You do get the email about our reunion from Aubrey right?"

"Hm?" Beca furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "I'm not sure. Donna is the one who deal with this stuff. Let me ask her."

"Okay."

Then Beca dials Donna's number right away.

" _Hey monkey. How's Atlanta so far?"_

"It's fine. I went to see mom this morning, and I'm with Emily now." Beca replies, and hurriedly adds, "Donna, did I get any email from Aubrey Posen-Conrad?"

" _Actually yeah. Yesterday you got an invitation for The Bella's 10_ _th_ _reunion. I forgot to tell you yesterday."_

"Huh." Beca responds unsurely. "Okay. Hey, how did the interview go?"

" _Just like you said, she's very good at what she's doing. She made quite an impression in front of the managing boards. Besides, Harvey kind of like how tenacious she is."_

Beca smiles and says, "Told you. She's the best at bending people's will. But it's yours and Harvey's decision to make."

" _Sure Kid. By the way, how are you feeling, monkey?"_

"Better." Beca says honestly.

" _Good. You're taking your meds right?"_

Upon hearing the not so subtle warning tone, Beca rolls her eyes and replies, "Yes _mom_. Don't worry, okay? I swear you're worse than my mom. My actual mom."

Donna laughs lightly. _"Don't blame me for taking care of my little monkey. Besides, Harvey would kill me if anything happen to you. You are his golden goose."_

"Pfft..." Beca rolls her eyes again, but with a hint of tenderness.

" _Hey Kid. This morning the people who arrange MTV Awards called and asked if you would like to sing in that show. It seems like one of the audience uploaded a video of you singing at the karaoke bar. We've taken care of that right away, but some people might've seen it."_

Beca groans and says, "No Donna. I don't sing in front of people. If they want me to DJ, I'll consider it."

" _This can be a great opportunity to show how multitalented you are. Just think about it, okay? They gave us a month to give our decision. The show will be held in 7 months."_

"Fine." Beca says in annoyance. "I'll think about it."

" _Good girl. Now say hi to Emily from me."_

"Okay." Beca ends the call.

"So?" Emily asks.

"Donna said hi. And yeah, Aubrey sent an email yesterday."

"Yesterday?!" Emily exclaims in shock.

"Donna said so." Beca shrugs. "Is something wrong?"

"No." Emily quickly compose herself from the confusion before saying with a tight smile, "Nothing's wrong at all."

Beca looks at her doubtfully, but shrugs it off. "When is it?"

"In a month if I remember correctly. November 1st." Emily says with a tight smile. "So, are you coming?"

"I don't know Em." Beca smiles sheepishly. "I've only met you, Stacie, and Fat Amy in person so far."

"And Chloe."

"And Chloe." Beca says with at tight smile. "Then after all of this feud triangle love? I'm not so sure I won't be banned from the reunion. Aubrey will probably scratch my name out of The Bellas alumni list, and then burn my bella scarf. I'd be lucky if I'm still alive or at least in one piece until reunion."

Emily chuckles lightly with a playful eye roll. "No, she won't. She always said that once a bella always a bella."

"It's been years since I've met all of The Bellas." Beca says nervously.

"The more reason for you to come Beca." Emily pursues calmly. "Everyone have missed you. And I bet you've missed them too."

With a light smile, Beca says, "Of course I've missed all of you. I mean, all of us in the same place, messing around like we were 20 again. It will feel very great to be around family again."

"So come then." Emily pouts with puppy eyes that over the years has only been defeated by Ashley's pout. "Please Pop."

Beca rolls her eyes and whines, "What's wrong with the women in my life, and their pouts, and puppy eyes? Ashley, you, Chloe? It's a curse."

Upon seeing that Beca has come back to her usual whiny self, Emily chuckles lightly and says, "Oh. You're in it for a surprise. You haven't met our Baby Belle yet. Her pout can even bend the unbendable master of bending, Aubrey Posen-Conrad."

"Oh. I know that for sure." Beca chuckles softly. "I've witnessed how Stacie turn head over heels only by one light pout."

"You've met Isabelle?"

"Yeah." Beca says with a look that says _obviously_. "Several times actually. Without Aubrey knowing. So... not a word Legacy. You don't want to cost Stacie her little princess."

Emily snorts and says, "Sure thing Captain." Then she stares at Beca expectantly and says, "So Pop, the reunion."

Beca groans loudly, causing Emily to intensify her pout and puppy eyes. "Please..."

"Fine." Beca says in mock annoyance before she adds, "But if things got messy, I'll blame you for that."

Emily squeals, jumping to hug the older bella over the table and shrieks, "Hooray! And don't worry Pop, it won't be messier than the time Chloe got really mad at you for unintentionally flirting with Kommisar."

"Legacy, air." Beca grunts under the smothering hug.

Emily pulls away, grinning from ear to ear.

"Flirting with Kommisar? Huh." Beca smiles softly over the memory. "Chloe was so furious at me. She didn't talk to me for almost two months unless it's Bella related. I had to bribe her with tons of mixes, tubs and tubs of ice cream, and a garden of flowers until she finally said good morning to me again."

Emily chuckles, remembering how dense Beca was of Chloe's blunt jealousy. "She was jealous you know?"

"I do now." Beca smirks. "But back then, I was... in a full denial that _The_ Chloe Elizabeth Beale would never be jealous because I flirted with another woman. It was... impossible. I thought it was because the DSM and The World Championship thing."

"Nope." Emily shakes her head lightly with a teasing smile. "Her jealousy was flying way over the roof."

Beca chuckles softly and says, "I was so, so... dense."

"Yeah you were." Emily says with a knowing look. Then her face turns into a serious mode as she says, "Now that you've decided to come to the reunion, I have to tell you something."

Jumping to the worst conclusion, Beca's face turns white in the matter of seconds.

Upon seeing the former captain's terrified look, the tall brunette immediately says, "Nothing serious, or about The Bellas."

Beca sighs in relief before she asks, "What is it then?"

"Well, I've told you earlier that Jesse and Benji were in trouble, financially."

After getting a nod from Beca, Emily elaborates, "Ever since you've resurfaced, Jesse has been trying to reach you. He had come to every single reunion we had in the past 4 years, hoping to get a chance to meet you and ask for your help."

With her eyebrows furrowed, Beca rubs her chin gently before she says, "Now that you said that, I remember after I came out, Donna told me that Jesse did look for me. He wanted to meet me."

"Did you?"

"No." Beca says with a look that say _are you kidding me._ "At that time, there were one hell of people who claimed to know me. Harvey insisted that we didn't take that chance. Didn't want to cause any scandal. Besides, I never really liked him anyway. So no, I didn't. And Donna made sure that he couldn't reach me."

Emily sighs in relief and says, "He'll be joining us in reunion again this year. And I doubt that it's purely for meeting his old college friends. I'm telling you now not to avoid him or anything. He's harmless obviously. But I just want to warn you so you have a heads up."

"Huh." Beca nods her head lightly. "Okay."

Emily looks at the older bella intently before she asks, "What are you gonna do now Pop?"

With her lips pressed tightly and slightly frowned, Beca shakes her head and says, "I honestly don't know Em. I need to think about the way to tell Chloe, and I also need to... find my way back to Ashley. Any idea?"

"I don't know about your situation with Chloe..." Emily says cautiously. "But I think I can help you with Ashley's. Why don't you do what you do best?"

"What?" Beca scoffs. "Sulking around, complaining about life? Hiding in my bunker?"

Emily chuckles lightly and says, "No, silly. I mean do your stuff in music. Write or mix something for her. Then produce it to show Ashley how much you love her."

Beca scoffs with a tired eye roll as she says, "I don't think it's gonna work this time Legacy. She was..." She clears her throat with teary eyes. "This time, I don't think she's coming back, Em. She was very determined about breaking up with me."

"Come on Pop." Emily says stubbornly. "She's hurt. She just... needs time and reassurance from you."

"But what if she doesn't want to be with me anymore?" Beca says with frightened look. "I mean, I did cheat on her. And it hit her hard because she had been cheated on before."

"Does it mean you're just gonna stop trying?"

"I..." Beca is taken aback. "I don't mean it that way. I... I just don't think I deserve her."

"Pfft." Emily scoffs harshly. "Are you kidding me now? She loves you. You've never seen her when she's talking about you, but I have. She loves you, and she loves the way you love her. And if you know her the way I know her, Ashley isn't a type of person who take any shit from anybody. She doesn't deal with bullshit."

"I know." Beca says with a soft smile. "She wouldn't have stayed with me for so long if she hadn't thought that I'm worth her time and love."

"True."

Still, Beca looks helpless as she says, "But not this time Em. She broke her promise. And for her to do that... I must have hurt her so badly and pushed her way too far. So I don't think a couple of songs can fix it."

"Let's cross that bridge when it comes down to it." Emily says with a reassuring smile. "Though I don't believe there is any bridge to be crossed."

Beca just looks at her skeptically, but nods nevertheless.

"Now, where are you staying?"

"The Ritz-Carlton downtown."

"And how long do you plan on staying?"

"I don't know."

Emily purses her lips before she says, "Well, I'm moving to L.A. on Thursday. Why don't you stay with me, and then we can go back to L.A. together?"

"I don't want to bother you and Andre, Em." Beca says with a weak smile.

"Non sense." Emily says in half-annoyance. "You won't bother anybody. Besides, Andre is already in L.A. to prepare our place. Just come and stay with me. You can mope and think all the way you want. We'll do a lot of music. And in return, you can look at some lyrics I've been working on."

With a playful scoff, Beca says, "I knew there is something in it for you. Taking advantage of your broken-hearted sister I see."

"Of course." Emily smiles smugly. "When does anybody has a chance to work with you without having to pay the expensive price?"

"Never." Beca smirks smugly.

"So?"

"Okay, okay." Beca seems shy, stumbling in her words as she says, "But uh... you don't mind flying back with me right? I came here with uhm... my jet."

Emily gasps overdramatically, mocking offended as she says, "How dare you to ask me flying with you in your luxurious private jet, the infamous Becube?"

Beca groans loudly and whines, "Ashley told you? You've been hanging out way too much with her."

Emily laughs so hard before she mocks, "Becube? Really? I swear you could be more adorable than a 5 year old sometimes Pop. Besides, can't blame me for wanting to know better the woman who makes _The_ Beca Effin Mitchell fall in love head over heels."

In half-annoyance, Beca rolls her eyes and scolds, "I'm so not adorable Em. And I was going to name her Cube, a badass name. But Ashley was the one who insisted that since it's mine, we should add _Be_ in front of it. So, Becube it is."

"It's a her?" Emily asks comically before barking out another loud laughter with tears pooling in the corner of her eyes.

Beca smiles softly and says, "Sometimes I forgot that you and Ashley are the same age."

After her laughter turns into a soft smile, Emily says, "She loves you Beca. And she's good for you. Fight for her."

"I will." Beca smiles. But then a teasing smirk appears on her face as she mocks, "I see you don't mind having a step mother then Kid."

Then Emily burst into a laughter again before saying, "Don't ever say that again Pop. It's freakishly weird. She's one of my best friends. Waaay too weird."

Beca burst into a laughter too. This is one of the things that she likes from hanging out with Emily, lots of laughter.

"Now, let's get you back to the hotel." Emily says once the laughter unwind. "You can check out of the hotel, and then we can go have lunch before heading to my place."

Beca nods to respond, asks for the bill, and pays for it before they left.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There it is, the chapter 10. In the next chapter, you're still going to see Emily a lot. And there will be Chloe and Ashley too.
> 
> Until then, sit tight and make good choices.
> 
> Thank you for reading. :)


	12. Different Hearts Different Ways

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey there. :)
> 
> I know most of you might be wondering why Emily isn't treating Chloe fairly. I'm glad that you caught that vibe. Truth to be told, I'm trying to show how every each characters have their own specific roles in this story. And since the story involves so many characters, it's been quite a challenge. Especially when I'm trying to show how 10 years has changed The Bellas' life in so different ways, even with the same commotion as a start, Beca's leaving. Since Chloe has Aubrey, I make Emily Beca's person. Peace dudes and dudettes.   
> Thank you for reading and reviewing. :)
> 
> I'd love to share my view of how the characters have grown, yet still carry the same traits from their college version. But maybe, if it's fine with you, I'd like to hear your opinion first. So... I don't know, maybe send me PM or review. :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now to the story. In the last chapter, Beca finally made a decision. A heart wrenching decision for Bechloe shippers. And in this chapter, you'll see how Chloe, Beca, and Ashley deal with not only their broken heart, but also the reaction from the people around them.
> 
> Let's dig in. I don't own Pitch Perfect.

 

**The Posen-Conrad's House: Tuesday, September 30** **th** **2025** **Dinner Time**

"Bells, eat your vegetables sweetie." Aubrey tells her daughter sweetly.

"But Mom..." Bella pouts.

"Isabelle..." Aubrey says firmly yet with a soft tone. "Vegetables are good for you."

The little blonde huffs and starts eating the vegetables, knowing that there's no use to debate when her mom calls her with her first name.

Aubrey smiles softly, ruffling Bella's hair and says, "That's a good girl."

Stacie simply smiles, looking at her wife and daughter lovingly.

"How was the interview yesterday, Bree?" Chloe asks casually.

"It was okay, I think." Aubrey says with her attention on her dinner. "Just like any other interview. But Harvey Specter is so great."

Stacie turns to look at her wife, chewing slowly and swallows before saying, "Okay? I think you must've killed it Babe."

Aubrey shrugs nonchalantly, making Chloe giggling lightly, knowing how stubborn her best friend about not putting her hopes up about almost everything.

"How are you feeling today, Chlo?" Aubrey asks cautiously.

"Hopeful?" Chloe says sheepishly, but when she sees that Stacie is sighing, she adds, "Maybe it's not wise to be hopeful in Beca's desperate time. But I couldn't help it Stace."

"It's okay Chlo." Stacie smiles softly at her red headed friend. "This isn't about Beca. I just don't want you to get hurt."

Chloe nods lightly and smiles at her. Then suddenly, Stacie's phone rings. Stacie glances to her phone, and sees Emily's goofy face on it.

"I'm sorry. But I need to take this." Stacie says apologetically and walks away from the dining table with her wife shooting deathly glare at her.

After making sure that she's out of hearing range, Stacie picks up the call and says, "How is she, Legacy?"

" _She's... quite okay, Stace."_

Stacie furrows her eyebrows, not convinced. "Are you sure?"

" _Yeah. We talked about her situation, and she seems better now."_

"She told you?" Stacie asks in surprise.

" _Yep. But you know her, Stace. She'll tell you herself when she's ready."_

Stacie sighs deeply and says, "I know. I'm just worried about her."

" _Don't be. She's staying with me now, and we'll go back to L.A. together."_

"Good."

" _Listen, I called because there's something I need to ask about the reunion."_

"Shoot."

" _Why Beca just got the invitation yesterday? Didn't Aubrey send it to the rest of us like a month ago?"_

Stacie groans before she says, "Aubrey thought that she won't come. So she didn't send it until I asked her to on Saturday."

" _But it's okay now, right? No problem if Beca come?"_

"Of course it's okay, Legacy. You know how Aubrey is. But I'm not so sure that Beca will come Kid. You know her."

" _Well, she said she would."_

"Really?" Stacie asks in surprise.

Then Emily chuckles from the other side. _"I can be very convincing you know. One of the perks for being the youngest Bella in our generation, and the first aca-child."_

"Good job, Legacy." Stacie says cheerfully. Then she hears Aubrey call her from the kitchen, and she hurriedly adds, "I've got to go Em. I'm in the middle of dinner."

" _Oops... Okay. See you soon, leggy sister. Say hi from me to Baby Bella, Older Captain, and Mom."_

"I will." Stacie ends the call and walks back into the dining room. She shots an apologetically smile to her wife before taking a seat and resumes eating.

"Who was it Babe?" Aubrey asks casually.

Stacie swallows her food before answering, "It's Emily. She said hi to all of you."

"Aunt Emmy?" Bella exclaims.

Stacie smiles toward her daughter and softly says, "Yes sweetie. She said hi to you."

Bella grins from ear to ear, and then resumes eating.

"Is something wrong with her plan to move here?" Aubrey asks.

"Nothing's wrong." Stacie says nonchalantly. "Beca is with her. So I asked her to keep me updated."

"How's she?" Chloe asks instantly.

"Legacy?" Stacie retorts with her attention on her plate. "She's fine. Way too excited for having her Pop. Just busy with the preparation to move here by the end of the week."

Annoyed by how dense her wife is, Aubrey rolls her eyes and says, "Chloe meant Beca, Babe."

Stacie stops chewing for a second, and then swallows her food before saying, "Emily said that she's feeling better. Beca is staying with her."

"Bec-Bec is with Aunt Emmy?" Bella asks excitedly.

Stacie turns to look at her daughter softly and says, "Yes princess. Bec-Bec is in Atlanta with Aunt Emmy now."

With her eyes widen in joy, Bella asks, "Can we go to Atlanta too Mommy?"

Both her mothers chuckle softly before Aubrey says, "Someday sweetie. Now, finish your dinner first."

Bella nods excitedly. On the other hand, Stacie nervously says, "Emily got Beca agreed to come to the reunion."

Chloe's eyes widen, and Aubrey gasps before she asks in surprise, "She did? How?"

"Oh... You don't know the power of Legacy's pout and puppy eyes over her Pop. It even trumps her Mom's." Stacie winks at Chloe who chuckle, and then she adds, "She got Beca wrapped around her fingers."

"Really?" Aubrey asks in comic surprise.

A memory flashes in Chloe's mind, and she laughs as she says, "Stace, do you remember how Beca drilled Benji before he took Emily on their first date?"

As the memory is coming back into her mind, Stacie laughs so hard and wipes the tears out from the corner of her eyes before saying, "I think he almost peed himself."

"Oh he would have if I had not dragged Beca away to the kitchen." Chloe says, grinning from ear to ear.

"What happened?" Aubrey asks curiously.

Stacie points her chin toward Chloe, asking the red head to tell the story.

"It was a couple of days after world championship." Chloe says, trying hard not to laugh before finishing the story. "Beca had been so grumpy the whole day since I told her that Emily was going to have a date night with Benji. She kept complaining that Emily was still a baby, and weren't supposed to be dating yet. And it didn't help her case at all when I was as excited as Legacy for the first date."

Then she barks out a laughter before continuing, "When Benji came over that night, wearing a tux, bringing pink roses for Emily, making smoke appeared around him, he was greeted by a very upset, very annoyed, and so not impressed Beca Mitchell."

After Chloe burst into a laughter and doesn't seem to be able to tell the whole story, Stacie took over. "Beca sat him down on the couch in the living room, and then she proceed to stand in front of him with her 5 foot 2 inches self, crossed arms, mad face, drilling him with questions that only Dad asked on her daughter's first date."

Then Stacie impersonates exactly the way Beca questioned the poor treble, even with Beca's voice. The three of them are laughing so hard by the end of the story while Bella just look at them with confused look.

Chloe manages to slip between laughter, wiping the tears away from the corner of her eyes as she says, "Be- Benji was sweating all over his body... I- I think he almost cried that night."

They laugh even louder. After the laughter unwind, Aubrey says in comic surprise, "I didn't know that Beca could be so protective toward Emily."

"We all did Babe." Stacie says matter-of-factly. "But Beca was the worst. Still is. Emily always went to her first if she was in trouble, and Beca spoiled that kid. Even more than she spoiled Chloe."

Chloe smiles softly and says, "Yeah. She even gave me a warning when I scolded Legacy after we lost that underground riff-off."

"Mom and Pop had a fight because of the aca-child." Stacie says, smirking at the red head.

"We were quite a pair back then." Chloe says with a fond smile. "I was the scolding Mom, and Beca was the spoiling Dad."

While Stacie is giggling, Aubrey is in awe, saying, "Wow. I still find it hard to believe that. I thought Chloe would be the spoiling one. And seeing how grumpy Beca is, I thought she was going to be the scolding one."

Stacie nods, rolling her eyes in a manner that says _I know,_ before she explains, "Beca is such a Dad. You weren't there in our senior year. But the only person Beca couldn't be mad at was Legacy. After we reconnected, it's only getting worse especially since Emily and Ashley became close. They love teasing Shorty. One time they-"

"Legacy knew Ashley?" Chloe cuts Stacie off.

With a hesitant nod, Stacie cautiously says, "Well, some of us do Chloe. Legacy, Fat Amy, and me. I've told you we've met her several times. But uh... Legacy is the closest one. Maybe because she and Ashley are the same age."

"How could you?" Chloe asks with undeniable hurt in her eyes and voice.

Doesn't know how to respond, Stacie simply gives her an apologetically look. Seeing that her wife is torn between her two best friend, Aubrey grabs Chloe's hand gently and softly says, "Chloe, you can't blame them for trying to fit in Beca's life. She's their best friend too."

Although she seems hurt, Chloe nods her head lightly, smiling apologetically to her friends. After a moment of awkward silent, Chloe brings herself to ask, "Do you think Beca will tell Emily about the break up?"

Stacie looks at her wife, as if asking whether she should be telling the truth, and Aubrey gives her a light nod. Then she takes a deep breath and mutters, "Emily said she did."

"I'm gonna call Emily." Chloe stands up in an instant, taking her phone with her.

Aubrey pulls Chloe's hand immediately, dragging her back to her chair, trying to take her phone away.

"Bree..." Chloe says with a warning tone.

"Don't Bree me, Chlo." Aubrey says firmly. "You and I both know that it's not a good idea."

"She can call Emily if she wants." Stacie says surprisingly calm, resumes eating her dinner.

Upon seeing how Aubrey and Chloe are looking at her in confusion, Stacie swallows he food and calmly says, "Legacy won't say anything about it. She wouldn't even tell me earlier."

With a defeated sigh, Chloe sits back down on her chair.

"Give her the space she needs, Chloe." Aubrey says sympathetically, squeezing the red head's hand gently. "She asks you to give her that."

Chloe pulls her hand harshly from Aubrey and says in upset, "You're supposed to be supporting me, Bree. You're supposed to be on my side."

"I _am_ on your side, Chloe." Aubrey says with reassuring look.

"Don't lie to me Bree." Chloe glares at her best friend. "You, Stacie, Emily. All of you are trying to protect Beca from me."

"Do you think I'm doing this for her?" Aubrey raises her voice. "To protect her?"

"You don't want me to be with her! You don't think I can love her better!"

With a long heavy sigh, Aubrey says as calm as she can, "I think, you need times too. I want you to have your space and time too. Think about yourself for once. I'm doing this for you. You haven't had a chance to think about yourself for a long time. There was Kristen before Beca. And now with Beca, you're just-"

"No!" Chloe snaps. "You think, with me loving her, it will drive her to go away again!"

"And why is that?" Aubrey asks, feeling upset now. "Why do you think we're all so afraid that she'll leave again?"

Seeing that the tension is raising from the beginning, Stacie had picked Bella up, and took her to her bedroom. It turns out to be a very great idea, because only a second after she shuts the bedroom door, she can hear Chloe yells, "Because she always has to be the one that's hurt! Because you think that she's the victim here! Because I was the one who kissed her first, and caused her a break-up! So you think I'm the one who's wrong!"

With a sarcastic scoff, Aubrey says, "And you know just how much I love that pain in the ass you love the most."

"Don't you ever belittling my feelings to her Bree!" Chloe points her index finger toward Aubrey furiously.

"Let me remind you, Chloe." Aubrey says in a low dangerous tone that slowly turns into a yelling. "Do you remember what happened to you after she left ten years ago? If you don't, then take your time to remember how miserable you were. How broken you were. And we! Stacie and I! We were there with you in Boston! We were there when you... we saw how you..." Now a lump is blocking her airway, so she clears it harshly. "And I, will never! Ever! Let you fall into that hole again!"

Upon seeing that Chloe is taken aback, Aubrey snaps, "So excuse me if I'm not fond of the idea you chasing her all over again! Frankly, I think it's the most stupid thing to do! Kristen was right about one thing! Beca will never love you the way you want! And even if she could, I! don't think that she deserves your time! Let alone your love! So for your sake, Chloe! Just get over her already!"

Aubrey is panting now, feeling so emotional after trying so hard to hold herself back in the last couple of days for Chloe's sake. On the other hand, Chloe stays in s catatonic state for a while until she breaks down in tears.

Then Aubrey instantly rushes to her and hugs her tightly as she mutters, "I'm so sorry, Chloe. I'm so, so sorry."

"I- I need you... in my corner, Bree..." Chloe says in between sobs.

As tears start running down her face, Aubrey says with restraint voice, "I'm always in you corner, Chloe... Stacie and I are. Always. That's why I can't let you hurt yourself again. You are better than this... You can do better than this... She is... I don't think she's good enough for you."

"But I love her, Bree..." Chloe cries. "I love her..."

"I know..." Aubrey kisses the top of her head. "I know sweetie... But you're hurting yourself by doing this. By loving her. And I can't... I just can't let you do this to yourself all over again."

However, Chloe shakes her head and sobs, "I can't, Bree... I can't if it's not her... please..."

Aubrey let out a damp ragged breath from her lips, simply consoling her not only broken-hearted friend, but her broken friend by hugging her tightly. After a long while, Chloe's tears subside into a soft sniffling.

"Let's get you to bed." Aubrey says softly.

Chloe nods lightly, sniffling and wiping the tears away from her face, still too shaken to stand on her own. Then Aubrey helps her up and takes her to her room. The blonds stays there, holding Chloe until she falls asleep before going back into her own bedroom that she shares with her wife.

Upon seeing how distraught her wife is, Stacie opens up her arms and softly says, "Come here Babe."

Without saying anything, Aubrey simply crawls into Stacie's warm embrace, and then Stacie holds her tightly and kisses the top of her head.

After a long while of silent moment, Aubrey says in barely a whisper, "I'm so scared for Chloe. I am so, so terrified, Babe."

"Me too." Stacie replies as worried. "We have to keep an eye on her."

"I just..." Aubrey says in frustration. "It's not that I don't sympathize with Beca's condition. But..."

"I know..." Stacie says in understanding, feeling that her wife can't finish her sentence. "I just got a text from Emily, and she said that Beca was thinking about disappearing again because she doesn't want to hurt Chloe and Ashley. So, let's just... keep this to ourselves for now."

"God!" Aubrey snaps. "Your shitty best friend is so... urgh!"

Stacie sighs heavily, tightens her arms around her wife, and says, "Let's not worry about Beca now. She got Em and Patrick. I've told Emily to not worry about Chloe but focus on Beca for now. We have to take care of Chloe."

"Good call." Aubrey says in defeat, but then she says with shaky terrified voice, "I just hope this won't tear The Bella apart. And we have yet telling the others. They are going to take side, Stace."

"I know." Stacie says tiredly. "We can't tell them yet. Let's just see how the reunion rolls out."

"Hmm."

* * *

**Emily's Apartment, Atlanta: Tuesday Night**

Beca and Emily are in the living room. It 's almost 11.00 PM, but they are still working on some songs together.

"I'm gonna get some wine. You want anything Pop?"

"Water, please." Beca replies without looking at Emily, too busy with the lyric she's been working on in the past couple of hours.

After Emily left to the kitchen, Beca grabs her phone, looking at her wallpaper, feeling the urge to call Ashley. It's almost 09.00 PM in L.A, and she's been missing the blonde so much. But she also wants to give Ashley her space.

Upon hearing a loud frustrated groan from her former captain, Emily says, "Call her Pop."

Beca is startled, jumping on the couch a little bit before she scolds, "You scared me, Kid."

"Oops... sorry." Emily chuckles while handing Beca a glass of water.

After taking a sip of her water, Beca sighs deeply and says, "I miss her so much Em. But I want to give her the space she needs."

"Hmmm..." Emily sips her wine, and suddenly an idea pops into her mind. She sits next to Beca and asks, "How long do you think it takes to produce some of these songs we've been working on today?"

Beca raises an eyebrow, looking at her in confusion.

"Produce and release them in the next couple of weeks for her."

"It's not that easy, Em." Beca says with bored-look. "We need to find the singers to sing them. Besides, I've produced so many songs for her. All of my songs in the past 5 years in fact. It must be getting old now."

Emily rolls her eyes before sarcastically says, "Yeah Pop. It must be getting old. No girl will be swoon at all for having songs dedicated for them for the rest of their life. And not only by any other producers, but by the almighty Beca Mitchell."

"We still need singers, Em." Beca says in mock annoyance. "Beca Mitchell or not, it won't be easy to find artists in such a short notice."

"Well," Emily smiles smugly. "First of, you'll have me. And I believe I can talk to Joe to do the duet. Second, you're best friend with JT, call him. And One D will be more than glad to sing the song you made, Zayn told me how they've been trying to work with you in the past years."

"Pfft..." Beca snorts. "One D huh?"

Emily simply wiggles her eyebrows up and down playfully.

"Hmmm..." Beca purses her lips, nodding absentmindedly with her head slightly tilted, trying to wrap her mind around the idea. "If you can pull that off, I think we can do this... maybe in three weeks or so."

"Finally!" Emily exclaims cheerfully while pulling Beca into a hug.

Beca pats her shoulder lightly and says, "Alright, alright. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. You still need to ask them."

"Oh, it will be no problem at all." Emily pulls away. "I'll call them tomorrow."

"Yeah." Beca says with a tight smile before putting her attention back on the music sheet.

"Hey Pop."

"Hm?" Beca responds without moving her eyes from the sheet in front of her.

"Why don't you sing for her?"

Beca sighs deeply, putting the sheet away, turning her head toward the tall brunette and says, "I've told you. I did sing for her. Right before she broke up with me."

"I mean in front of audience, Pop."

"I did." Beca replies impatiently. "At the karaoke bar, in front of 50-ish people, on our 5th anniversary. Remember?"

"How about in a larger crowd?" Emily asks stubbornly.

"You mean like a concert?"

Emily smiles widely, nodding excitedly as she says, "Something like that."

Beca averts her eyes, looking at the blank TV in front of her, deep in thought. She remains silent for a couple of minutes before she sighs deeply and says, "Donna told me this morning that MTV awards wants me to perform. Not DJ-ing, but singing."

"That's it!" Emily jumps on her seat. "What did you tell her?"

"I said I will think about it."

"Well, will you?"

"I don't know Em." Beca says hesitantly. "It's been forever since I sang in front of a huge scale of audience. The last time I did was in The World Championship. And not alone. I did it with all of you. And frankly, it was possible for me to do it because Chloe was there to encourage me. Besides, the show is in 7 months. Who knows what would happen between them."

"I think you still need to do that regardless whatever happen in between." Emily says with a hesitant smile. "I mean, not everything is always about Ashley. Or Chloe. Maybe it's time to dust away the anxiety of the crowds from your shelf."

Beca rubs her chin with her hand, pursing her lips, averting her eyes from side to side, thinking hard. Then after a moment of silent, she says, "We'll see. I'll talk to Donna and Harvey first."

"Great!" Emily exclaims.

"Now, enough talking about my life." Beca takes a sip of her water. "How's yours? Does Andre treat you well?"

"Aw..." Emily smiles teasingly. "Fulfilling your duty as a dad now, Pop?"

Beca scoffs lightly with a playful eyeroll, remembering how true Stacie and Fat Amy's words when they were still in college, that she was such a dad.

"Nah." Beca responds nonchalantly. "Just looking out for our baby bella. Besides, I was the one who introduced him to you."

Emily smiles fondly and says, "We're okay. He's been busy with the firm. Well, he's a junior partner in Harvey's firm in New York, of course he's always busy. But we can manage. We've been on and off for two years, you know. Our schedules hasn't been easy to be matched. But now that we're moving in together to L.A., hopefully it will get better."

"Hmmm..." Beca nods her head lightly. "But you're happy with him, right?"

Beaming in joy, Emily says, "Yes. He's so sweet and kind Pop. We were on and off because it wasn't easy for me to do long distance. But he's so patience with me. It assures me to move in together."

"Good." Beca says with a soft smile, and then her face turns into serious mode as she says, "But if he ever hurt you..."

Emily laughs and says, "He got the picture two years ago when you sat him down before our first date, Pop. To be honest, he's always been a little bit afraid of you."

"He should be." Beca says with cocky face.

"28 years old and still being treated like I'm 16." Emily says in disbelief.

Beca scoffs and says, "No offense Legacy. But you will always be our baby bella. No matter how old you are."

"Don't I know that." Emily rolls her eyes in half-annoyance. "Chloe still texts me every other day only to ask if I've been eating and sleeping well. And don't let me start with Stacie and Fat Amy. They still tease me like a little sister they never had."

"You know that we love you, Kid."

"Aw... I love you too Pop." Emily coos as she hugs the little brunette tightly.

"Okay, okay." Beca wiggles her way out of the hug. "I get it. Now let me go."

Emily lets her go with a bark of laughter, and then she says through a yawn, "I think I'm off to bed Pop."

"Sure. Go ahead."

Emily stands up and walks to her bedroom, but she stops half way and says, "Don't stay up too long Beca. Girlfriend or not, Ashley won't be happy if I let you stay up late."

"O...kay." Beca responds with bored tone. Then she keeps working on the song. It's not surprising when she passes out on the couch around three A.M.

* * *

**Troian and Patrick's House: Wednesday Evening, October 1** **st** **2025**

"Ashley!" Troian calls from outside of the room.

Ashley doesn't even bat her eyes and just keeps laying on the bed under the blanket.

"Oh for God's sake, Ashley. Get off this bed!" Troian commands from the bedside now.

"Am I still broken up with Beca?" Ashley asks with her voice muffled from under cover.

Troian sighs deeply and softly says, "Yes."

"Then I won't get out from this blanket."

"Ash, come on. Stop moping around." Troian pulls the blanket off the blonde.

Ashley rolls over, lying on her stomach and mumbles, "I'm broken-hearted. I can mop around as much as I want."

"It's been 5 days, Ash." Troian says in frustration. "People at work has been asking for you. I can only cover for you for so long. You know how it works with series. Everyday counts. Tomorrow you're going to PLL set."

Ashley groans loudly, peeking up a little as she says, "Tell them I'm sick and need some time off."

"I did." Troain says with her hands on her hips. "Now they insisted to visit you."

With another loud groan, Ashley picks herself up to sit with her back leaning on the headboards. It's obvious that she's holding back tears as she cracks, "I miss her, Troian. Every second and every minute."

Troian sits next to Ashley, rubbing her arm gently and patiently says, "Then call her. Ask her back."

"I can't." Ashley cracks while tears are welling up in her eyes. "I broke up with her. It'd be unfair if I do that now. Besides, she loves someone else."

Troian hugs her blonde friend from the side, pulling her closer by her shoulder. "What can we do to make you feel better? Movie night? Tubs of your favorite ice cream? Pizza?"

With dejected look, Ashley simply shakes her head weakly.

"Anything at all Ash?"

"Actually, can you please ask Patrick to call her?" Ashley says, glancing hesitantly to her best friend.

Troian narrows her eyes impatiently and says, "I don't think keep asking about her is a good idea. It won't help you to move on."

"I miss her Troian." A single tear runs down Ashley's face. "And I want to make sure that she's okay. Emily said that she hasn't been eating and sleeping well."

"It's not your problem anymore." Troian shakes her head firmly. "Instead, you need to make sure that you're okay."

With a heavy sigh, Ashley drops her head into her hand.

Doesn't have the heart to see her best friend so broken, Troian sighs and says, "I will ask Patrick to call her."

Ashley looks up at her with expectant sad look.

"But you promise that you will start going to work again tomorrow."

Instantly, Ashley nods repeatedly.

"And stop moping around."

After swallowing hard, Ashley nods again before saying, "But he has to call her here, on speaker." When she sees a worried look on Troian's face, she adds quickly, "I won't say a word. I just want to hear her voice. Please..."

Troian sighs in defeat and firmly says, "This is a one time thing, Ash. If you're not planning to get back together with her, you need to stop doing this kind of stuff. It won't do you any good."

With teary eyes, Ashley nods again.

"Patrick! Babe!"

Patrick runs into Ashley's room quickly, panting as he asks, "What is it? Everything okay?"

"Call Beca and put it on speaker." Troian says flatly.

"Why?" Patrick asks with furrowed eyebrows.

Troian huffs in half-annoyance and explains, "Ashley wants to know if she's okay. Plus, she wants to hear her voice."

With an eyebrow raised, Patrick says, "Not that I mind. But are you sure?"

Ashley nods again with a sad smile.

"Okay." Patrick says hesitantly. "Do you want to talk to her?"

"No." Ashley shakes her head immediately. "I just want to hear her voice."

Again, Patrick nods hesitantly, stealing a glance at his fiancé, earning a light nod from the brunette.

"Alright. Hold on a second." He says, pulling out his phone and dials Beca's number.

They wait a couple of rings until Beca pick up.

" _Hey dude. Everything alright with Ashley?"_

The worried tone in Beca's voice forms a longing smile on Ashley's face, and her heart flutters because her not so girlfriend anymore ask about her immediately.

"Hey bud." Patrick replies quickly, "Yeah, everything's fine. Just wanted to check in with you. How are you feeling?"

" _I've been better. But uh... I think I'm feeling slightly better than 2 days ago."_

Patrick suddenly becomes lost of word for a second.

" _Hmmm... Are you sure everything's fine there Pat?"_

"Yeah?" Patrick sounds unsure.

" _Patrick, is Ashley alright? Because I swear to God if you lied to me, I will-"_

"Easy Beca. She's been moping around. But physically, she's fine." Patrick says to reassure his best friend, earning a glare from Ashley. They can hear Beca's breath, sighing in relief.

" _Is she taking a good care of herself?"_

Patrick and Troian immediately looks at Ashley, who is signaling her friends to lie for her.

"No, she's not." Patrick says, staring at Ashley with daring look. "She barely eat and she won't go to work."

Then Ashley glares at him, but he ignores her.

" _Please tell her that I've been doing what she asked. I've been taking care of myself, and she should be doing the same."_

"I think she could hear that herself." Patrick says with teasing mean face toward Ashley. It's his effort, trying to help her best friends getting back together.

Troian puts her hand on her mouth, holding her laughter while Ashley jumps and slaps Patrick's arm, whispering with a sharp tone, "What are you doing?"

They can hear Beca chuckle on the phone, revealing that she has heard Ashley's voice. Then she softly says, _"Tell her I miss her and I love her. Then tell her that I will wait as long as she wants, that I will prove her that she's the one that I love."_

Ashley is grinning from ear to ear, failing so miserably to hide the joy she feels upon hearing Beca's words.

"Messages delivered right away dude." Patrick says with a sly smile. "If you know what I mean."

Ashley shots another half-heartily glare at her best friend's fiancé, still with the same wide grin on her face. She can hear that Beca is laughing on the other side of the line.

" _I don't know what you mean dude. But I think your phone call just made my day. Thanks man."_

"You're welcome bud." Patrick smirks.

" _Listen dude. I kinda lost my favorite navy hoodie. I don't suppose that you've seen it lately, maybe in the last couple of days?_

Upon hearing the teasing tone, Ashley's eyes widen and her cheeks are flushing red in the matter or seconds.

"Huh." Patrick looks at the hoodie Ashley's been wearing since she stayed with him and Troian. "Navy hoodie, huh? The color is a little bit faded, it's a little bit ripped by the end of the left sleeve, has a small headphone stitched with golden thread on the left chest?"

" _Yeah, that one. Have you seen it?"_

"Nope. Haven't seen it in my whole life dude. Sorry." Patrick says with a knowing tone.

" _Huh. It's weird. For someone who haven't seen it in your whole life, you sure could describe it awfully well."_

"I did, didn't I?" Patrick retorts, earning another chuckle from the tiny brunette. "Anything else you want to ask?"

Ashley drops her head in her hands; feeling embarrassed while Troian tries failingly to hold her laughter.

" _Oh, hey."_

"Hm?" Patrick responds while Ashley peeks her head up.

" _Supposedly, there is a blonde with a pair of mesmerizing blue eyes listening to this, I just want to tell her, please take a really good care of herself. Nobody likes a hypocrite."_

The half-playful half-warning tone makes Ashley blushing red even more from her neck up to the tip of her ears.

"She?" Patrick glances her eyes toward Ashley knowingly. "Huh. I mean I'm a blonde. And Troian loves my mesmerizing blue eyes. But the last time I checked, I'm definitely not a she."

They hear Beca laugh again, and Ashley can tell that the brunette is laughing while rolling her eyes.

" _I did say a she, didn't I?"_

"Yep." Patrick pops the P.

" _Well... I did it on purpose. Anything else dude?"_

"No. That's all. You take care, okay?"

_"I will."_

Then Patrick ends the call.

"Happy now?" Troian asks playfully.

Ashley nods, grinning from ear to ear as she grabs the pillow beside her, and presses it on her face to soften the scream of joy she's been holding.

Patrick chuckles softly yet Troian rolls her eyes with a hint of joy.

"Dinner?" Troian asks after Ashley lifts her head from the pillow, still with a huge grin on her red face.

Ashley nods happily, standing up to follow her best friends to the living room.

"Shay is gonna kill you." Patrick says in mock warning tone.

"Nu uh." Ashley replies with undeniable happiness in her voice and her face. "She is gonna kill you, because you are the one who call Beca."

Patrick shakes his head lightly, failing to hide the grin on his face as he says, "Huh. I guess it's worth it then, seeing how happy you are. I bet grumpy is feeling the same now."

Troian laces her fingers with her fiancé's, and then says with a fond smile, "No one's getting killed. I'll make sure of that."

"I love you Babe." Patrick says before kissing Troian's hand.

"I love you too." Troian replies softly.

* * *

**Atlanta: Emily's Apartment, After the Phone Call**

Emily studies her former captain's face who just came back from taking a phone call.

"You look way too happy for someone who's heart had just been broken a few days ago." Emily says with curious look as Beca takes a seat in front of her.

With a failing effort to suppress her goofy grin, Beca simply shrugs.

"Nu uh." Emily narrows her eyes. "Something must've happened. Spill pop."

Beca rubs her neck nervously, feeling the heat creeping up to her cheeks.

"Ashley called you!"

"No." Beca says, biting her bottom lip so hard. "She didn't. But Patrick did."

Emily simply stares with her doubtfully.

Beca chuckles and explains, "Patrick called me. And I'm pretty sure that Ashley was listening the whole time. Actually, I think she was the one who ask Patrick to call me."

After getting the full version of story about the phone call from the tiny brunette, Emily smiles teasingly and says, "No wonder you look like Santa just gave you two unicorns. And it's not even Christmas yet."

Beca laughs joyfully before she says, "You have no idea. She misses me, Em. Maybe I still have a chance."

"What are we waiting for then? Let's get to work."

Then Beca nods excitedly, and they continue the discussion of the songs again.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey folks... That would be the wrap up of chapter 12.
> 
> I know, I know, I know... Chloe is devastated. But she has a major role in this story. And it's her character that (I deemed) has the best possibility to do it in the perfect way. I truly understand if some of you are angry or mad. I'll be honest, for the next few chapters, things won't get better for Chloe. But it will, eventually.
> 
> Until then, sit tight and make good choices.
> 
> Thank you for reading. :)


	13. Facing General Posen(-Conrad)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey Folks :D
> 
> In the last chapter, Beca was in Atlanta with Emily, Chloe was in L.A. with Aubrey and Stacie, while Ashley was with Troain and Patrick. In this chapter, Beca is already back to L.A., and she will go to Stacie's place and meet Aubrey for the first time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's dig in. I don't own Pitch Perfect. I hope you enjoy.

 

**Beca and Ashley's Mansion: L.A., Thursday Evening, October 2** **nd** **2025**

Once she's at home, Beca immediately goes to her bedroom after greeting her puppies, who follow her to the bedroom, taking their place by the foot of the bed. She's missed Ashley so much, and their bedroom is the closest thing that has Ashley's touch in it.

She showers, calls Donna that she's already back to L.A., eats and takes her meds, and then drops onto the bed, inhaling the faded scent of her ex-girlfriend from her pillow. She can feel a warm feeling in her chest only by lying on their bed, and a content smile appears on her face.

Not long after, she falls asleep, but in the middle of the night, she wakes up from a nightmare. Knowing that she can't fall back to sleep, she decides to work on her songs.

* * *

**L.A., Friday, October 3** **rd** **2025**

Beca is so lost in her work until she realizes that it's already 07.00 in the morning. So she decides to have some exercises in the gym room downstairs. She spends almost two hours running on treadmill, cycling, lifting weight, then has breakfast, and showers.

She's glad to see that the two puppies follow her closely around the house. She takes some pictures of those puppies, and sends them to Patrick, knowing how much Ashley must have missed them. She puts down a tagline, _tell her that her stupid dogs miss her_.

A reply comes instantly from Patrick, stating, _is it the stupid dogs that miss her, or their dorky mama that misses their Mommy?_ Beca simply rolls her eyes playfully, but doesn't send any reply.

She's supposed to be on a break, but since she and Emily have decided to produce some songs, it means that she has to go to the studio that day. They works together the whole day, and suddenly, it's already 06.36 PM, and Emily has been so nervous for hours.

It's been hours since Emily keep stealing glances at her former captain, gathering her courage to ask Beca about Chloe. She finally make up her mind, taking a deep breath before she says, "Pop, it's Friday."

"Yeah Em." Beca keeps her eyes on the sheet in her hand. "I kinda have my own calendar to tell me that."

"I think you're forgetting something very important." Emily says cautiously.

Beca looks up and stares at her, pursing her lips, rubbing her chin gently with her eyebrows furrowed. Suddenly, her eyes widen and then she slaps her forehead hard. "Chloe!"

"Ye...a." Emily says with an apologetic smile.

"I totally forgot." Beca says with her hands pressing her temple, and her face showing panic.

Emily can see that her former captain is freaking out. "Breathe Beca..."

"What am I gonna do?" Beca mutters in frustration.

With a heavy sigh, Emily asks, "I just want to ask you one more time. Are you sure that it's Ashley?"

"Yeah." Beca says weakly without hiding the remorse.

"Well..." Again, Emily sighs deeply before asking, "Are you ready to tell Chloe about your decision?"

Beca blows out one hell of a long breath, biting her bottom lip nervously before she says, "This is Chloe we're talking about. I don't think I'll ever be ready, Em."

It takes a while of thinking before Emily puts her hand on Beca's shoulder and says, "Then it won't matter if you tell her today or tomorrow. Just... I think it's better to get it over with. I've never been in her position, but I do know that waiting in uncertainty doesn't feel good. Especially when you don't come bearing a good news. The longer you wait, the more miserable she will be, and the harder it will hit her."

Beca turns to look at the younger bella, seems torn between sad and regret, sighing deeply before she says in defeat, "You're right. It's not fair for her. Getting Ashley back or not, I know how I feel now. I'll call her and set up a meeting."

"Set up a meeting?" Emily dumbfounded. "Are you thick? Beca, she's not one of your clients."

"No. You're right." Beca mutters, biting her thumbnail; a habit she picked up from Ashley whenever she was freaking out. Then she paces around her office, trying to figure out a solution.

Emily approaches her slowly before cautiously says, "I might have an idea."

"Shoot." Beca says instantly.

"Let's go to Stacie's place." Emily says without hesitation.

Beca's jaw drops; she's in shock, and then she shakes her head lightly as she frantically says, "To Aubrey's house?! Are you out of your mind?! I might not survive the night, Kid!"

"Well," Emily says matter-of-factly. "I didn't say that it was a good idea. Besides, she'll need Aubrey and Stacie when it's all over."

It's frustrating for Beca. She runs her fingers through her hair, folds her hands to make a breaking sound on her knuckles, and then rubs her forehead nervously. It's indeed not a good idea, but she doesn't have another choice either. Besides, Emily's right. Chloe will need her best friends.

"You're right." Beca says through a heavy sigh.

Emily's jaw drops in shock that the DJ agreed to her idea. Then she asks hesitantly, "Are you sure?"

"Are you fucking kidding me now?" Beca looks at Emily in disbelief. "It's your fucking idea, Em!"

"Right." Emily shakes off her stunned face. "Let's uh... go to Stacie's."

"Wait." Emily says when Beca grabs her jacket. Then Beca stares at her in confusion, and she says, "Do you know what you're gonna say? How you're gonna tell her? I mean, this is Chloe we're talking about Pop. She uh... let's just say that not taking it well will be an understatement. When it comes to you, she uh..."

Still, Beca just stares at her with confusion, waiting for her to finish her sentence.

Then Emily lets out a heavy sigh and says, "Nevermind. Just... be sure that you do it cautiously."

"There's something you're not telling me, Em." Beca says with a warning look.

"I uh..." Emily says nervously. "I don't think I'm the right person to tell you, and this is not the right time."

When Beca folds her arms on her chest with _I'm waiting for your explanation_ look, Emily tiredly says, "Let's go Pop. Knowing her, she must've been waiting for you anxiously."

Beca closes her eyes, blowing out a long steady breath before saying, "Okay."

Emily simply gives her a sympathetic smile and a gently squeeze on her shoulders. Then they both head to Stacie's place in their own cars. The drive to their destination takes around 30 minutes because of the traffic.

Once they arrive and already standing in front of the door, Beca can feel a rush of panic wash all over her again. She closes her eyes, and shakes her hands to shake off the nerves while blowing out a long ragged breath.

With a worried look, Emily asks, "You ready, Pop?"

Beca clenches her hands beside her thighs, pressing her lips tightly and then nods slightly. Then Emily squeezes her shoulder, trying to give her former captain a little support before reaching her other hand to press the bell.

"Wait!" Beca stops her half way.

Emily drops her hand, looking at the brunette with her eyes narrowed.

"If." Beca starts with pure fear written all over her face. "If I uh... don't make it, cou- could you please tell Ashley that I love her?"

Emily chuckles very lightly, knowing how afraid Beca of her Aca-Nazi Captain - _in the terms of Fat Amy_. With a playful eye roll, she says, "Tune down the drama a notch there, Pop. Stacie and I will make sure that Aubrey won't kill you. You'll be fine."

"No. I'm not." Beca looks so terrified, and then she swallows hard. "I'm gonna hurt Chloe so badly. I don't think I'll be fine, Em."

"Well, about that..." Emily says hesitantly, "You shouldn't be. But uh... every decision has its own consequences."

Nodding her head dejectedly, Beca simply says, "I know."

"Just promise that you will stay with her." Emily says sympathetically. "As the best friend that she needs. You can't leave again, Beca. If you do... it will hit her, us, so much worse than telling her that you choose Ashley."

Trying to find some assurance, Beca simply stares at Emily in remorse. After a while, she sighs deeply and nods lightly.

Emily squeezes Beca's hand again before pressing the bell, and this time Beca doesn't stop her. She rings the bell once but nobody opens the door.

"Maybe they're going out Kid." Beca sounds a little bit relief.

"No way." Emily furrows her eyebrows, and then she presses the bell again. "All of their cars are in the drive way."

The door swings opened, and someone is surprise to see Beca and Emily.

* * *

**Posen-Conrad's House: Friday Evening.**

It's 07.48 PM, they just finished dinner, and sitting down in the living room because Bella wanted to watch a cartoon.

Stacie and Aubrey sit with their daughter between them, while Chloe is pacing around the living room, grabbing her phone tightly like her life is depended on it, and her eyes keep glancing at the clock on the wall.

Aubrey is getting impatient upon seeing her best friend freaking out as the time ticks by, but she doesn't say anything. Turns out, she isn't the only one who feels that way.

"Aunt Chowee." Little Bella pouts at her aunt. "Stop walking around. I'm dizzy."

Chloe simply gives her niece a weak smile, and then takes a seat on the couch.

"What is it that makes you squirm like a fish out of the water?" Stacie asks her jokingly.

Chloe throws her a deathly glare, but resumes bouncing her legs up and down.

On the other hand, knowing Chloe inside out, Aubrey sighs and answers her wife's question, "It's already Friday, and Beca hasn't called yet."

"Oh." Stacie's face turns to be apologetic. "Sorry Chloe."

Chloe nods without looking at her tall brunette best friend. Suddenly, their bell rings, earning confused look from the couple, and Aubrey asks, "Are any of you expecting some one?"

Still with confused look, Stacie shakes her head lightly, while Chloe is too distracted to pay any attention at all. The bell rings once again, and Stacie stands up as she says, "I'll go get it."

Stacie is stunned to see a very distraught Beca, and a seem to be nervous Emily are standing in front of her house.

"Hi Stace." Emily waves her hand in front of the older tall brunette.

Stacie pulls out from her little heart attack, shaking her head lightly, immediately pulling the younger bella in a tight hug. "Legacy!"

"I've missed you, leggy sister!" Emily exclaims with the same enthusiasm as she hugs Stacie back as tight.

"What are you doing here?" Stacie asks excitedly. "I thought you were going to move here by Sunday."

"I was supposed to." Emily says. "But I finished everything earlier than I thought I would. So here I am."

Beca clears her throat and says, "I'm sorry for breaking up this happy reunion. But uh... Hi, Legs."

Emily and Stacie turn their head toward the tiny brunette, forgetting for a moment that she's there too.

"Beca!" Stacie exclaims, pulling Beca in her arms. "You're back!"

"Yeah..." Beca pats her back awkwardly. "Um... I'm okay, Stace. You can let go."

Stacie pulls away from her former captain, grinning from ear to ear, but then shoves her shoulder as she says, "You could've told me that you're coming with Emily."

With nervous look, Beca grimaces and says, "Uh... surprise?"

Stacie chuckles lightly, taking a step back into the house as she says, "Come on in you two. Wait until Aubrey and Chloe see the both of you."

The three of them walk into the house, and when they are close behind Bella, Stacie cheerfully says, "Bells, look who's here."

Aubrey and Bella turns their head in unison. Aubrey's jaw drops widely, while the little blonde jumps off her seat, rushing her way to Beca and shouts, "Bec-Bec!"

"Omph!" Beca exaggerates as she kneels half way down to pick Bella up. All of her worries vanishes as she holds Bella in her arm. "Hey Smurfette! Wow. You're getting bigger. What are you? Seventeen now?"

"I'm only four, silly." Bella rolls her eyes - _one of the quirks she's learnt from Beca_ , and then she kisses Beca's cheek.

Beca laughs and ruffles the little blonde's hair gently. While from behind, Emily puts her hands on her hips, mocking to be upset when she says, "Well, well, well Bells... Now I know who your favorite aunt is."

"Aunt Emmy!" The toddler shrieks and leans her body toward her youngest aca-aunt. Beca hands her over to Emily, and then turns her head to see Aubrey, who's still dumbfounded with her mouth wide open.

"You might want to pick you jaw up from the floor there, Posen." Beca plays off her anxiety by joking.

Aubrey shakes her head lightly to get out of the trance. She stands up, walking slowly toward the tini DJ with Stacie and Emily's eyes glued on her, afraid of her reaction. Once she stands in front of Beca, she crosses her arms on her chest, looking up and down, studying her successor with unreadable face.

Other than swallowing hard, Beca doesn't dare to move or say anything more, waiting for the inevitable rage, or worse, the infamous pukegate. However, she's stunned when her former captain wraps her arms around her shoulders, giving her a warm hug.

"It's good to finally see you again, humpty dumpty." Aubrey says softly. After pulling away and seeing the very shocked tiny brunette with her dumbfounded face, Aubrey simply chuckles lightly.

On the other hand, Beca blinks slowly, trying to wrap her mind around the reality that had never crossed her mind; being warmly greeted by General Posen(-Conrad) after all of the shenanigans she had done over 10 years ago, and last week to Chloe. She stays in her stupor until Stacie pokes her back from behind. Then she clears her throat and stutters, "It's uh... good to see you too, Aubrey."

Aubrey smirks, feeling glad that she still has that effect on the alt girl with her not so many anymore ear monstrosities. She points her chin to Beca's ear and says, "Guess something's never changed, huh?"

Easing down from her terrified phase when Aubrey seems to be calm, Beca smirks back and says, "Can't say the same about you. Guess being a mother has rounded your edges."

"I'll take that as a compliment. Thank you." Aubrey says smugly, earning a little chuckle from Stacie and Emily.

"Oh. Don't thank me." Beca smiles softly toward her blonde niece. "I'm the one who should be thanking your smurfette over there."

Aubrey averts her eyes, following Beca's to her daughter, and loving smile appears on her face as she says, "She's definitely something else, isn't she?"

On the other side of the room, Chloe is too shocked to say anything for a while. She stays on her corner, standing up quietly, watching the woman she loves interacting with the Posen-Conrad family.

Eventually, Chloe gains her senses back. She clears her throat lightly, pulling the attentions of everybody else in that room to her.

Finally aware of Chloe's presence, Beca can feel the nerves strikes back into her, sucking the air out of her lungs. She puts one hand in her jeans pocket, while the other one rubbing the back of her neck nervously, and her feet shuffling back and forth. Then she takes a deep breath before nervously says, "Didn't see you there, Red."

Chloe rushes her way to Beca, can't hold the sudden urge to pull the tiny brunette into her deathly grip. As soon as Beca is in her warm embrace, she whispers in relief, "Becs."

"Hi Chlo." Beca says softly while patting Chloe's back gently. "You okay?"

"Am now." The odd this is, Chloe doesn't pull away. Instead, she closes her eyes, kissing the side of Beca's head, inhaling the unfamiliar scent of the brunette, and let it sinks into her lungs, giving a ticklish sensation in her stomach.

If the other people don't know any better, they would've thought that Beca just came back from being deployed in a war zone.

Emily, Stacie, and Aubrey just watch that moment with warmth filling in their chest. They can see that not only happiness, but also this sense of being content pouring out from the red head. No one dares to interrupt. Well, no one but the oblivious little blonde in Emily's arms.

"Where's Aunt Asheey, Bec-Bec?" Bella asks innocently.

Chloe feels like her heart drops down when her niece asks about Ashley. She pulls away slowly, putting the calmest smile she can manage, and then takes Beca's hand in hers, holding it tightly as if Beca could disappear any second.

After giving a soft smile to Chloe, Beca turns around to see the little blonde, and answers, "She uh... couldn't come tonight. She said hi though."

"I've missed her." Bella frowns.

Beca automatically walks closer to Bella, but the red head doesn't let go of her hand. So she walks toward her niece with Chloe towed close behind her.

Bella immediately leans forward, asking Beca to hold her, and the brunette takes her with one arm before she says with a fond smile, "She misses you too smurfette. But she's uh... busy tonight. Maybe next time. Is that alright?"

Bella nods lightly while the other three Bellas are still in their haze after seeing the reunion of Beca and Chloe. But Emily comes to her senses, walking toward Aubrey and hugs her as she teases, "Looking good, General."

With a light laughter, Aubrey says, "You too, legacy."

Then Emily pulls away and greets Chloe with a short awkward hug because the red head won't let go of Beca's hand.

"Hi Chloe." Emily says with a soft smile, which Chloe returns with the same effort as she says, "It's been a while Em."

After that, they are wrapped with nerve-wrecking air, and Aubrey is the one who takes initiative. She reaches out her arms in front of her daughter and says, "Come on sweetie. It's time for you to sleep."

Bella buries her face into the crook of Beca's neck, shaking her head lightly and mumbles, "No Mommy. I want to play with Bec-Bec and Aunt Emmy. I've missed them. Please..."

"It's passed your bed time, Bells." Aubrey says more firmly, not dropping her arms down.

With glassy eyes, Bella stares at her blonde mom, pouting and showing her best puppy eyes as she pleads, "Please Mommy. Please..."

Stacie and Beca chuckles lightly, knowing that Aubrey will fold for this plead. Nobody dismisses the request from the baby bella, especially when she use her super power; the super puppy eyes and pout that can even melt the stone hard heart of an evil queen.

After dropping her arms down in defeat, Aubrey says with soft warning look, "30 minutes. Okay pumpkin?"

Bella immediately nods excitedly.

The adults can't help but laugh lightly, and then they resume watching the cartoon. Aubrey and Stacie sit together on the one couch, while Beca sits with Bella on her laps, in between Emily and Chloe on the other one.

Beca is feeling a little bit overcrowded because of the body contact. Chloe hasn't let go of her hand, sitting closely with their arms and thighs pressed to each other's. Thankfully, Emily knows how she is, and puts a little distance between them.

"I'm getting drinks for all of us. Any request?" Stacie asks.

"I can use some wine." Emily chimes in.

Chloe and Aubrey nod while Beca says, "Just water please."

"Just water?" Aubrey asks with an eyebrow raised. She remembers that Beca had never refused any drinks in college. "Huh. This is new."

Beca just smiles in return, and Stacie immediately says, "Okay then. I'll go grab it."

Aubrey stands up and says, "I'll help you."

"Bec, do you have a favorite princess?" Bella asks.

Beca kisses Bella's crown, and puts her chin on the top of her crown gently before softly replies, "I do."

"Who?" Bellas asks again.

"Hmmm..." Beca drags her answer. "Rapunzel. Not the one from the book. But from the movie Tangled."

Bella claps her hands and excitedly says, "I like her too."

With a fond smile, Beca pokes the little blonde on her cheek and asks, "Why do you like her?"

"Hmmm..." Bella tilts her chin slight as if she's thinking hard. "Because she's pretty, and has blonde hair like me. She's also funny, and smart, and brave."

"She is, isn't she?" Beca says with a light chuckle.

"Yeah." Bella looks up at Beca over her shoulder, grinning from ear to ear. "Like Mommy."

"Sure." Beca replies before kissing Bella's forehead.

Chloe is more than charmed by the way Beca interacting with Bella. All of the other Bellas are great with kid, but not Beca. She is the grumpy one. It was not a secret back in college that Beca avoided interaction with children like a plague.

According to the college tiny brunette, kids were loud, sticky, clingy, and many other unpleasant stuff that made her beyond uncomfortable. However, the adult Beca Mitchell is surprisingly great with kid.

"How about you Aunt Emmy?" Bella turns her head toward her youngest aunt.

"Mulan." Emily says without hesitation. "She's brave and strong, defending her country even when she's underestimated as a woman."

"I like her too." Bella says cheerfully.

Then Chloe leans downward to kiss the little blonde on her cheek, and softly says, "It seems like you love every princesses out there, princess."

With her eyes so bright and a smile so wide, Bella looks at Chloe and says, "Yes, Aunt Chowee. But my most favorite one is Ariel."

"And why is that?" Chloe asks with a soft smile.

Bella climbs on her godmother's lap, and kisses her cheek before she answers, "Because she's pretty like you, she has a red hair like you, and she has a beautiful voice like you. And I love you."

The answer certainly touches Chloe's heart and makes her happy. Chloe grins from ear to ear, kissing the toddler dearly while Beca and Emily looks at them with a soft smile.

Then Bella's mothers come back to the living room with a tray of wine and glasses. They pour the drink for all of them but Beca, who opts to sip her water instead.

_There's only one heart,_  
_Beating between us_  
_One rhythm made from two_  
_This is the one love,_  
_We can be sure of  
_ _You are me, I am you_

Suddenly, You Are Me I Am You by Dave Koz, is heard from Beca's pocket. Upon hearing that ringtone, Beca pulls out her phone immediately, smiling ever so softly after seeing Ashley's sleeping face on the screen.

Then she jumps off her seat, pulling her hand from Chloe's - _failed to notice the shock and hurt in Chloe's eyes_ , before she rushes toward the stairs, stumbling and tripping over her feet, but she manages to sit on the stairs without any injury.

"Hi." Beca says, panting but grinning.

" _Hi."_

They both remain silent for a moment before Beca finally softly whispers, "I've missed you."

Beca can hear Ashley is sighing deeply from the other side. Before any of them say anything more, Beca hears a bark from Ashley's side.

"Is... Is that olive?"

" _Yeah, it's olive. Actually... I'm at your place right now."_

A pang hits Beca's chest when Ashley said _your place_.

"Ash, it's _our_ place. _Our_ home." Beca cracks out.

" _Beca, I-"_

"Come home, please." Beca cuts her off with pleading. "It's not the same without you. I- I don't know how to sleep on my own."

Again, Ashley sighs deeply and says, _"I can't do this right now."_

"Okay, okay." Beca says hurriedly, afraid that Ashley will end the call. "Let's not talk about us."

They fall into silent again shortly, and then Ashley says in mock upset tone, _"I got the picture of my_ _ **stupid**_ _dogs from Patrick."_

Beca chuckles lightly and says, "Yeah. Your _stupid_ dogs missed you."

" _They're not stupid, Beca. If they are, you need to remember that they're **your** stupid dogs too."_

The playful tone in Ashley's voice coming with a light laughter flutters Beca's chest with joy. Without hiding the excitement in her voice, Beca asks, "Do you want me to come home? I can be there in 15."

_"No. It's okay, Beca. I'm only here to grab some of my stuff."_

Beca's smile falters in an instant. She closes her eyes, trying to hold the fear in when she asks, "You're not moving out, are you?"

It takes a while until Ashley finally answers, _"No. Not yet."_

"Then don't." Beca says in relief, but then she takes a deep breath, biting her bottom lip before she says without hesitation, "I don't want to break up with you. Ever. But if it comes down to that, if that's what you really want, then I'll be the one who move out. I signed the land and all of the properties in your name from the beginning, and don't worry about the mortgage. I've taken care of it."

" _Beca, it's your house. I can't-"_

"No." Beca cuts her off. "I've made up my mind. You can do whatever you want with that place. It's yours anyway. Just tell me if you want me to move out."

After another short silent moment, Ashley softly says, _"I don't want you to move out. We'll talk about this, but not now."_

Feeling a bit of hope creeps into her mind, Beca sighs in relief.

" _Uh... where are you?"_

"I'm at Stacie's."

" _Oh, Baby Belle. I've missed her."_

Beca chuckles lightly and then says, "She said the exact same thing about you when I arrived." She pauses, gathering her courage to ask, "Do you mind if we uh... do face time? I mean, with smurfette."

" _Hmmm..."_ Beca knows that Ashley is hesitant, so she's taken aback when the blonde says, _"Sure."_

"Hold on." Beca grins unbearably happy, and she immediately ends the phone call before video calling Ashley. As soon as she dials _Honey_ , Ashley's face appears instantly on the screen.

Beca smiles goofily, looking at Ashley's tired yet still beautiful face. She can see that Ashley's face is lack of the usual spark, and her eyes have dark circles yet they still lit up, hopefully because of seeing her again after a week without any communication. She's lost in a moment, thinking that she's missed the blonde much more than she'd thought.

Upon seeing Beca's loving and fond eyes yet goofy smile staring at her, Ashley chuckles lightly. With her cheeks flushing red, she says, _"Dork."_

Beca's smile grows wider as she says, "Still your dork hopefully."

Ashley's cheeks become as red as Beca's maroon hoodie she's wearing. But she clears her throat and says, _"I thought I was going to face timing with Baby Belle."_

"Oh, right. Hold on a second." Beca says, skipping down the stairs, heading to her niece who are now sitting on Emily's lap.

"Hey smurfette." Beca kneels and holds her phone in front of Bella. "Look who's here."

"Aunt Asheey!" Bella exclaims.

" _Baby Belle!"_ Ashley replies with the same excitement.

Aubrey, Stacie, and Chloe whip their heads immediately toward Bella while Emily takes the phone from Beca's hand, holding it for herself and Bella.

"Hi, Benzo." Emily says with a smirk.

" _Oh my God."_ Ashley gasps. _"When did you get here, Junk? I thought you'd be here on Sunday."_

"I was. But I finished things earlier and decided to get here with Pop. Surprise." Emily explains.

" _We should totally catch up. Promise you'll call."_ Ashley says excitedly.

Emily grins and says, "I planned to call you tomorrow. How about lunch?"

" _Lunch sounds good. Text me where."_

"Aunt Emmy, I want to talk to Aunt Asheey too." Bella pouts, earning chuckles from the adults around her, even Chloe.

" _Hey Baby Belle."_

"Aunt Asheey." Bella pouts. "I've missed you."

" _Aw... I've missed you too, but I'm uh... busy tonight sweetie."_ Ashley says softly, and then she holds her phone in front of her puppies. _"Look who have missed you too."_

"Owiv! Walter!" Bella exclaims happily, earning excited barks from the puppies.

After speaking with Bella for a while, Ashley eventually says, _"Belle, I'm sorry, but Aunt Ashley need to go. Can you give the phone back to Bec-Bec?"_

Bella nods and then hands the phone to Beca, who is sitting on the floor in front of her.

"Hi." Beca says with the same goofy smile on her face, standing up and walking toward the stairs again; unaware that the red head is watching her.

" _There's something I need to ask you."_

Beca swallows hard and mutters, "Yeah?"

" _Do you mind if I take olive and walter to Troian's for a week or so? I miss having them around."_

Sighing in relief, Beca says, "Of course you can. They're your babies." Then an idea comes into her mind and she cautiously asks, "But uh... can I like, you know, visit them sometimes?"

Ashley stares at her with puzzled look.

"I mean," Beca says shyly, and her cheek is blushing. "They're my stupid dogs too, you know. I might miss having them around."

Ashley chuckles lightly and says, _"Sure."_

Beca grins from ear to ear, feeling ecstatic for a possibility to meet her ex-girlfriend.

_"Ash! Let's go!"_ Beca hears Troian's voice, yelling from the other side.

" _Coming!_ _"_ Ashley yells back over her shoulder before turning back to her phone, failing to hide the frown on her face as she says, _"I've got to go, Beca."_

"Um... Yeah. Talk to you soon?" Beca asks with expectant look.

Ashley sighs with a soft smile, and then nods before ending the video call.

Feeling happy after seeing Ashley, Beca walks back into the living room, skipping on her feet with a huge grin on her face. She sits back to her place before, and Chloe immediately holds her hand tightly.

Beca simply gives Chloe a smile in return. They watch the cartoon for a couple of minutes until Aubrey finally speaks up.

"Let's get you to bed, sweetie." Aubrey says softly as she approaches her daughter.

"Mommy..." Bella pouts.

Aubrey sighs, but says firmly yet with soft tone, "Isabelle, you agreed to 30 minutes."

Bella's eyes become teary, and her lips are trembling. Upon seeing that her daughter is on the edge of crying, Stacie says, "Bells, how about Mama take you to bed, and Aunt Chloe will sing for you?"

Asking for confirmation, Bella stares at her godmother with puppy eyes. Even though Chloe is reluctant to leave Beca, but she can't refuse her niece's request. So she nods with a soft smile.

With a joyful smile, Bella finally nods lightly before looking at Beca and Emily back and forth as she asks, "Will I see you again soon?"

"Of course smurfette." Beca kisses her forehead. "Promise."

"And Aunt Asheey too?" Bella looks at Beca with glassy eyes.

Beca smiles sadly, taking a moment to think of how to answer the little blonde, and then she says, "She would love to see you soon, munchkin."

Then Emily holds Bella up, and kisses her cheek before saying, "Yep. You'll see me again. Even when you're tired of me."

After that, Stacie takes Bella in her arms, walking upstairs with Chloe, who let go off Beca's hand reluctantly, leaving Emily, Beca and Aubrey in the living room. To say that the situation is awkward and tense will be an understatement.

"So, Beca." Aubrey starts nonchalantly. "How's life?"

Beca looks at her nervously and replies, "It's uh... good. I guess."

"Huh." Aubrey says strangely calm. "Good. I've heard from Stacie and Bella that you've met them several times since we've moved here."

"Er... yeah, actually." Beca says, almost in panic. "But please don't be mad at Stacie. The first time we met was a coincidence. I hope you don't mind, because Ashley and I just click with Bella."

"Hm." Aubrey says with a light smile. "My daughter seems to like you and Ashley very much."

"I guess so." Beca smiles softly, thinking back to the time she and Ashley spent with Bella. "She's something else. And Ashley loves her. Keep asking to spend more time with your Baby Belle."

"It's nice to know that Bella has such a charm." Aubrey replies with soft smile.

"You have no idea." Beca scoffs playfully. "One pout and Ashley will comply. Or to be more precise, begs me to comply. One time, I had to leave the office early because Ashley insisted to have lunch at Stacie's office with Bella."

Emily chuckles lightly and says, "Just wait until I join their forces Pop."

"I can't say I'm waiting eagerly." Beca rolls her eyes playfully.

Aubrey laughs lightly, and then says, "Bella has the best teacher for that."

Beca raises an eyebrow questioningly.

"Chloe." Aubrey says matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, right." Beca says in mock annoyance. "The famous Beale's pout and puppy eyes."

"Speaking about Chloe," Aubrey says nonchalantly. Yet somehow Beca feels like she's going to be dead from the sudden change of air around them, and she's almost right. Aubrey puts her terrifying calm look on and says, "You and I both know how much I love her."

Beca swallows hard and can only manage a light nod, while Emily knows better than to meddle with Aubrey's intervention. So she keeps quiet, opting to fake checking something on her phone.

"So I assume you also know what I'm capable of when _someone_ hurts her." Aubrey continues, now with a hint of anger. "Again."

Holding her breath under her nose, Beca simply stares at her former captain with terrified look.

"You," Aubrey says coldly. "Are free to love whoever you love."

Thinking that Aubrey will push her to choose Chloe, Beca dares herself to raise an eyebrow slightly in confusion.

Aubrey leans slightly forward, still with that strange calm terrifying look. "But if you ever, _ever_ leave Chloe again..."

Beca clenches her jaw, unaware that she's been holding her breath for a while now.

"There will be no place on this earth where you can hide from me this time." Aubrey finishes with bold intimidating look, yet still with calm tone. When Beca stays in her stupor-terrified position, she adds, "Got it?"

The only thing Beca can muster is a light nod.

Glancing her eyes sharply away from Beca, Aubrey puts on a cheerful smile, turns to Emily, and asks, "How's L.A. so far, Em?"

Emily looks up from her phone, sighing in relief before answering, "It's fine Bree. Actually, I want to invite you all for a dinner on Sunday. You know, just a little gathering with my bellas sisters."

"We'd love to." Aubrey says with a soft smile. "Just text me or Stacie the address."

"Sure." Emily chirps before turning to Beca and asks, "Can you come Capt.?"

"Uh..." Beca clears her throat, trying to pull herself together before she says with a weak smile, "Like you need to ask. Food."

With a grin on her face, Emily punches Beca's arm playfully.

Beca turns her head toward Aubrey, running her fingers through her hair nervously before she says, "Aubrey."

"Hm." Aubrey responds.

"I uh..." Beca takes a deep breath. "Owe you a bunch of apologies."

Aubrey stares at Beca with unreadable look and says, "You do."

This time, Emily looks at Aubrey, hinting a slight warning toward the blonde.

After blowing out a long nervous breath, Beca stutters, "Yeah. I uh... I know that you and Stacie have been having a hard time for keeping my secret. She told me that you uh... almost left her two years ago when uhm... you found out about me."

Aubrey's face cringes slightly upon hearing Beca's words, but she doesn't say anything.

"I'm uh... very sorry about that." Beca gives her an apologetic look. "I'm glad you didn't leave her. Stacie... she didn't mean to hurt you. She was just trying to be a good friend for me."

"I know." Aubrey says calmly.

"So uhm..." Beca says with tighten lips. "I'm very sorry about that."

"I was angry." Aubrey says, still as calm.

"I understand." Beca replies, seeming half-afraid and half-confused of the calmness.

"No you don't." Aubrey says with her eyes boring into Beca's. "I, understood why my wife did it. I'd do the same thing for Chloe."

Beca nod very slightly with terrified look.

"But you," Aubrey seems angry now, but her voice still as calm. "Have no right to ask my wife to lie to me."

Beca swallows hard and says, "I know. I'm sorry."

With a soften face, Aubrey says, "Don't ever do that again."

"Never again." Beca says in an instant with relieved look. "Thank you for being understanding."

"Bear this close in your mind, Beca." Aubrey says, this time almost with a hint of pleading. "The two things I ask you to do. Don't ever leave Chloe again, and don't ask my wife to lie for you again."

"Promise." Beca says with reassuring smile.

"You better keep it." Aubrey says. "If you love your life enough, you better keep it."

"Babe." Stacie calls her wife with a soft warning as she walks and takes a seat next to her wife.

On the other hand, Chloe hurriedly takes her place next to Beca, taking the tiny brunette's hand in hers instantly, seems to be not listening to the conversation.

"What?" Aubrey rolls her eyes and says in annoyance, "I'm just telling her what might happen if she do either of those things. She has nothing to worry about if she doesn't plan to do any."

"Babe..." Stacie says with a soft warning gaze toward her wife.

"No, it's okay Stace." Beca says with a warm reassuring smile, "She's right. I have no right asking you to lie to her. I could've destroyed your marriage. Your life. So, it's okay. Besides, I owe you an apology too. And one hell of gratitude."

Stacie laces her fingers with Aubrey's, kissing her wife on the cheek, and then turns her head toward the DJ before saying, "No need to Shorty. You're my best friend. I'm just doing what I can to help you."

"That's why I need to apologize." Beca says with a weak remorseful smile. "I've taken your kindness for granted, and it almost cost you your marriage."

When Stacie is going to cut her off, Beca raises her free hand to stop her. "I'm more than thankful for having such loyal friends. You and Legacy have been taking bullets for me, flipping your life upside down to keep my secrets. However, I can't let you ruin your life in the process. I shouldn't have. So, it was wrong of me to make you lie to your loved one. That's a mistake I don't plan to repeat."

Emily squeezes Beca's shoulder gently, smiling softly toward her former captain while Stacie nods lightly, not going to argue with her best friend over the matter.

Chloe simply rubs Beca's arm, trying to comfort the DJ. The act pulls Beca's attention to the red head, smiling sadly and staring at Chloe's calming smile for a while before saying, "We need to talk."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that would be the 13th chapter. As you can see, the next chapter will be about Beca telling Chloe about her decision. Also, for you who have been wondering about Beca's meds, you'll get your answer in the next chapter too.
> 
> Until then, sit tight and make good choices.
> 
> Thank you for reading. :)


	14. Telling Chloe Why Her

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey! :D
> 
> Back to the story. We were left off with Beca finally said we need to talk. For most of us, it's the most terrifying words to hear. So in this chapter, Beca will tell Chloe her decision, and you will find out about Beca's health condition.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's dig in. I don't own Pitch Perfect, and I hope you enjoy. :D

 

"We need to talk." Beca says with a sad smile.

Chloe swallows hard and then nods lightly before pulling the tiny brunette up on her feet, and guiding her to the backyard. They sit silently on the grass side by side, leaning their back on the bench, stretching their legs, and looking at the sky with Beca's hand is still Chloe's.

It's one of the things they used to do together back in college, just sit in silent and stare at the night sky. After a couple of minutes without any word, Chloe rubs her own arm, and Beca knows that she is shivering from the cold wind. So she pulls her hand away, taking off her leather jacket and helps to put it on Chloe.

With a soft smile, Chloe says, "Thanks Becs."

Beca just smiles in return as Chloe takes her hand back into hers, holding it tightly. Then she presses her lips on Beca's upper arm before resting her temple on Beca's shoulder.

Still at lost on how to tell Chloe about her decision, Beca simply lifts her chin up, and stares at the sky again. Eventually, Chloe breaks the silent by saying, "I've never seen you so relax around kids before."

"Meh." Beca plays it off. "I guess it's what you'd become when you were forced to be a godmother for a very annoying brat."

"I bet it is." Chloe says with a teasing tone.

"Well," Beca says, still as nonchalant. "Don't be too overjoyed for it. I'm only completely comfortable with Steve and Bella so far. Don't tell Fat Amy though. Her boys are waaay too loud."

Chloe giggles and turns to face the tiny brunette, resting her chin on Beca's shoulder before she says with a fond smile, "I can't wait to see you with your own kids."

After rolling her eyes combined with a light scoff, Beca says, "Don't hold your breath Red. Having your own kids is in a very different level from being comfortable with kids."

"I think you'll be a great mother."

"Well, you think wrong." Beca simply says in mock annoyance.

"Nu uh." Chloe insists, still with her beaming smile. "A couple of years from now, you'll see just how right I am."

"Again, don't hold your breath." Beca says in mock annoyance.

"Wanna bet?"

Beca can't help a soft chuckle escapes from her lips, but she mocks, "Glad that you're still so optimistic about skeptic little me."

"Can't blame a girl for hoping for the best." Chloe says with teasing tone. "You'll be a great mom, Becs. Trust me on this."

Beca turns her head toward Chloe, and she's taken aback by the proximity of Chloe's face with hers. She freezes up for a second, unable to move, being pulled in by the bright blue eyes in front of her.

Then Chloe leans in, inching closer to kiss her, and right before Chloe's lips touch hers, Beca jerks back immediately. The jerking back is so abrupt that Beca almost falls on her side, pulling Chloe with her, but the red head is showing nothing else but hurt in her eyes.

Beca hurriedly apologizes. "Chloe, I-"

"It's okay, Becs." Chloe cuts her off, shaking her head lightly as she straightens up. "It was my fault. I shouldn't have done that. But I couldn't help myself."

"Still... I'm sorry."

With an understanding smile, Chloe says, "It's okay."

Then Beca straightens up, letting Chloe rests her temple back on her shoulder while they remain silent again. At some point, Chloe softly calls, "Becs."

"Hm?"

"Last week," Chloe has a second of hesitation before she says, "When I told Stacie about our kiss, she told me something that made me wonder."

"Yea?"

Chloe tightens her grip on Beca's hand as she starts, "Did you ever try to..." she stops halfway, taking a deep breath before cautiously asks, "Take your own life?"

Stunned by the question, Beca's breath hitch for a second and her whole body tense up.

"It's okay Becs." Chloe rubs Beca's hand with her thumb gently. "You can tell me everything."

Beca takes a deep breath and says, "I... didn't do it in purpose, Chlo."

"Then?"

"It..." Beca holds her breath for a couple of seconds, and swallows hard before saying, "It happened because of the combination of guilty feeling, loneliness, and bad coping management."

Knowing that it must have been not easy for Beca, Chloe waits patiently and simply rubs her arm up and down gently.

As the memory of the time after she graduated from Barden starts flowing into her mind, Beca closes her eyes and let her body easing down the tension by steadying her breaths. It doesn't hurt as much as it did before she had therapy, but she still holds the feeling it left behind as a reminder of the struggles she had overcome in her life.

"After we graduated," Beca says, trying to be as calm as possible. "I lived alone for a long time. The only person in my life was Donna. And then Harvey came along the way. But I didn't even open up to them. Not for a very long time."

A gentle squeeze on her hand giving her the courage to continue. "I was... The guilt of leaving you, leaving all of you, were eating me up. Every day. I was over the edge constantly, terrified if any of you would find me, and I was always scared to even meet people in general." She pauses to find the word that suits her condition, but she fails. So she says, "Let's just say that... it was one of the worst time of my life."

Chloe presses her lips on Beca's upper arm to show her support, and then Beca takes a deep breath. "I barely slept, or ate unless Donna forced me to. For years. And combined with... other stuff..." She sighs heavily. "It was a hard time. Thankfully, it didn't affect my work quality. But one day, my body couldn't take it anymore, and I had a heart attack."

Chloe tense up and squeezes Beca's hand even tighter.

"Donna found me in my apartment early in the morning." Beca explains as if it isn't a big deal. "She immediately called 911. But my heart stopped beating for a couple of seconds before the paramedic brought me back to life and took me to the hospital. I woke up... four days later with Donna by my hospital bed, crying in relief when she saw that I was alive."

"Alive?"

"I was in a coma in those four days. My heart couldn't take it, and they put me under drug induced coma." Beca says casually. "Harvey was beyond furious. He was so worried, and I had never seen him so wrecked in the years I've known him." She chuckles lightly, remembering the first moment she realized how much she meant to that couple. "The first thing Harvey did was punching me straight on my jaw."

"He did what?!" Chloe exclaims.

"It's okay red. Not as hard as you'd thought. He didn't harm me more than I'd harmed myself." Beca says calmly. Then she continues telling her story to a very stunned Chloe as her mind trails its way back to the memory lane.

* * *

**_Flashback: 6 years and 2 months ago._ **

Beca felt so dizzy, and her body felt so heavy. She tried to open her eyes but barely succeeded. She could feel that someone was holding her hand tightly. When she finally opened her eyes, Donna's face, a very distraught Donna, came into her view.

"Donna?" Beca muttered almost inaudible.

"Monkey..." Donna smiled in relief with tears in her eyes, pushing the nurse station button as she said, "You're awake."

"What happened?" Beca croaked out weakly.

"You had a heart attack, monkey." Donna explained with tears running down her face as she brushed her hand on the brunette's head. "But you're fine now."

A long-haired brunette woman wearing a white coat came rushing in before Beca could ask another question. The doctor smiled at her and said, "Miss Mitchell, I'm Doctor Wilde. The doctor that's in charge of you."

"Just Beca please." 

"Alright, Beca. Let me check your vitals first." Doctor Wilde smiled, and proceed to check her vitals. After listening to her heartbeat and her breaths, doing some neuro exams, and then checking her temperature, Dr. Wilde said, "Alright. I guess everything is fine for now. But I'm going to need a full checkup to make sure."

"What happened to me?" Beca asked.

"You had a heart attack, and you were in a coma for four days." Doctor Wilde explained.

"I was?" Beca is dumbfounded.

Doctor Wilde smiled and continued to explain patiently, "Your heart stopped for a couple of seconds, and we were able to resuscitate you, but you were out for a while. And that caused hypoxia, lack of oxygen in your brain. That combined with how hard your heart took the attack, we had to put you under drug induced coma to prevent more damage and let your body rest. We already reversed the drug since yesterday. But you just woke up. So, you kind of almost gave Mr. and Mrs. Specter a heart attack too."

Needing a confirmation, Beca turned to look at Donna in confusion and Donna nodded lightly. Then Beca sighed heavily before turning her attention back to Doctor Wilde and said, "Well, I'm awake now. Can I go home?"

"You have to stay for a couple more days in the hospital for further checkups, and to make sure you're in a better condition before you check out." Doctor Wilde said.

Beca's eyes widened in fear, and she straightened up from her bed. Ever since her mother's death, Beca had avoided hospital like a plague. She could feel massive anxiety creeping up into her, and it spiked her heart rate on the monitor.

"Easy there, Beca." Doctor Wilde warned her calmly. "Your heart is still a little bit fragile. Deep breath."

Beca relented and laid back to her bed, taking a few deep breaths to calm herself.

Once Beca had already fallen back onto her bed, Doctor Wilde put her stethoscope on Beca's chest again to check her heartbeat. After making sure that Beca was okay, she said, "We still need to talk about certain things, but it can wait. A nurse will come in a while with your lunch. But for now, you need to rest."

"Thank you doctor." Donna said with a weak smile toward the doctor.

"Just doing my job. Let me know if you need anything." Doctor Wilde smiled before walking out the door.

As soon as Doctor Wilde walked out, Donna gave Beca a glass of water, helped her take a sip before puffing her blanket, and said as she sniffled, "You heard the doctor, monkey. Now sleep. I'll wake you up when your lunch's here."

Beca looked at her with a weak smile. She could see that her personal assistant hadn't had a good night sleep for a few days. She wore an oversize shirt with sweatpants, her eyes were bloodshot, and her usual bouncy curly red hair was tousled and lack of shine.

"Have you been staying here all the time?" Beca asked weakly.

"You think?" Donna scolded her half-heartily.

It was a worried scolding, and Beca knew it well. So she smiled sheepishly and said, "Thanks Donna."

Donna simply nodded lightly. Suddenly, the door opened and showed a very stunned Harvey. Beca could see the dark circle under his eyes, and he looked like he hadn't shaved in a few days, which was very unlikely because Harvey Specter always showed up nice and clean. Beca wouldn't even be surprised at all if he went to bed in suit.

"You're awake." Harvey said in relief, but his face turned red in a matter of seconds. Beca could see anger was raising up in him as he took a few of very wide steps toward her, and then raised his fist, swung it down to connect with Beca's jaw.

"Urgh!"

"Harvey!" Donna was on his side in flash to pull him back.

"What the hell, Harvey?!" Beca yelled angrily, and her heart monitor was beeping rapidly.

"Don't you fucking dare Harvey me, you stupid kid!" Harvey yelled at her furiously.

Beca was stunned when she saw the anger from Harvey. Harvey had always scolded her because it was his way to show his affection. But she'd never seen Harvey this furious before.

"I'm sorry." Beca said weakly with her voice cracked.

Harvey scoffed harshly and sarcastically said, "Oh. You're sorry. Look at her Donna. She's sorry. She's fucking sorry for living her life so recklessly, had a fucking heart attack, and then ended up in a fucking coma!"

Beca could feel anger raising up in her too. She had never let anybody dictated her, and she certainly didn't like to be yelled at like she was a child. "Look! I'm sorry, okay?! What do you want me to say?!"

With a loud scoff, Harvey leaned forward, and then jabbed his finger on Beca's chest repeatedly, speaking intensely so close to Beca's face, "Don't you dare be angry. Don't you fucking dare raising your voice on me. You don't get to be angry after every fucking things you put us through this week."

"Harvey, please." Donna pulled her husband back. "She just wo-"

"Don't, Donna. This fucking ungrateful asshole needs to learn her lesson." Harvey said firmly to her wife. Then he turned his head back to Beca and said sardonically, "Or is it too hard to poor little Beca?" Then he mocked in a high pitch, "Nobody loves me. I'm all alone. Nobody ever cares about me." Then he raised his voice again, "Sack up, dude! It is so fucking yesterday!"

Beca became angrier than before. She could feel the heat raising under her skin, her breath became shorter and shorter, her heart was thumping so hard, and the vein on her forehead was throbbing, threatening to explode. Holding a slight pressure in her chest, she snapped, "Why do you care anyway?! I'm not a child! And I'm certainly not yours! Stop treating me like one!"

With a mocking laughter, Harvey mocked, "Speaking like a fucking irresponsible teenager."

"Yeah!" Beca scoffed harshly. "And you are so fucking mature for punching and yelling at me in a fucking hospital!"

Suddenly, Doctor Wilde came back into the room, frantic as she asked, "What is happening here?"

Ignoring the doctor's question, Harvey stepped closer to Beca instantly, pulled her hospital gown under her neck and then said strongly, punctuating every words in front of Beca's nose. "You know what? You're so fucking lucky that I care enough to punch and yell at you." He pulled back a little bit before spatting out louder, "And if you wanted to be treated as an adult, then you better start acting like one!"

"Mr. Specter!" Doctor Wilde called loudly, holding Harvey back by his shoulders. "I need you to get out of here! Go take a walk."

Upon getting the warning, Harvey stepped back, took a deep breath, and said with softened voice. "You were right. I don't have to care about you. My wife and I certainly do not have to care about you. Then you better thank your lucky star that we choose and want to care about you. If you haven't notice, after four fucking years, we haven't up and leave. Because we do care about you, Kid."

Tears were starting to pool in his eyes, so he turned and walked away, leaving Beca still stunned from the words. On the other hand, Dr. Wilde instantly rushed to check her vitals, and firmly commanded, "Beca, I need you to take a deep breath."

Although it wasn't easy, Beca swallowed hard and took a deep breath. Doctor Wilde resumed checking her EKG, and gave her some medication through her IV.

With a relieved sigh, Doctor Wilde took off her stethoscope and said, "You're okay now. But try not to be angry for a while. And the bruise?"

Seeing that Beca wouldn't be able to say anything, Donna said, "Harvey was angry."

"Do I need to call security and not let him in?" Doctor Wilde asked, and Beca instantly shook her head.

"Are you sure?" Doctor Wilde asked again, and Beca nodded lightly.

The doctor seemed to notice that Beca was on the verge of crying, so she said, "I'll come to check on you again later. Don't do something stupid without my permission in the meantime."

Again, Beca simply nodded. Just as the doctor walked out, Beca let out the sobs she'd been holding, and Donna was quick to take a spot beside the brunette, hugging and stroking the back of her head gently.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry Donna." Beca muttered in between sobs.

"It's okay, monkey." Donna said softly, trying to calm the upset DJ. "I know you are. Harvey was just worried about you."

"I know." Beca choked out.

Beca cried herself to sleep for the first time in forever in Donna's arms. She finally opened a window of her thick wall for the only two people she had in this whole world. She woke up hours later with Donna sleeping soundly on a couch beside her bed.

Not long after she'd woken up, Harvey walked into her room, looking calm and collected. He let out a weak smile, and handed Beca her favorite chocolate without saying anything.

The one thing that she and Harvey had in common was they were awkward when it came to loving affection. It made them understood each other without so much word to be said. Beca took it, knowing that it was a peace offering, and weakly said, "Thanks Harv."

Harvey simply nodded before he approached her sleeping wife, waking her up gently with a nudge on her shoulder and a kiss on her forehead. "Hey Love, I bring you dinner."

Donna smiled and kissed him on the lips chastely before taking the paper bag from his hand and started to take out the food inside. The three of them enjoyed dinner in silent. Just right after they finished dinner, Doctor Wilde came in.

"Hi Beca." The doctor smiled. "How're you feeling?"

"Mmmm... Awake? I guess." Beca said unsurely.

Doctor Wilde chuckled and said, "I take it you feel better then."

Beca just shrugged nonchalantly while Harvey and Donna took a stand beside her bed.

"Alright then." Doctor Wilde said calmly. "I've told you this morning that there are certain issues we need to address."

Beca nodded lightly, but Doctor Wilde stared at the tiny brunette with knowing look after glancing toward Harvey.

"Oh." Beca responded after taking the cue. "He... They can stay. They're uh... family."

While Beca was looking down and rubbing the back of her neck with blushing cheeks, Donna was staring at her with teary eyes, and Harvey was trying to hide his smile by pressing his lips tightly, but his puffing nose gave him away.

"Very well." The brunette doctor said. "I believe you all know that Beca has an unusual and unhealthy lifestyle?"

After getting a nod from Harvey and Donna, Doctor Wilde turned her attention toward Beca and then said firmly, "I've asked Harvey and Donna before, but they didn't seem to know much. Now Beca, I need you to be honest so we can take the right treatment for your health issues."

Other than swallowing hard, Beca didn't dare to say anything. If she told the truth, there was a huge possibility that Harvey would punch her again.

Doctor Wilde saw through her and said, "You have a heart disease that we call Alcoholic Cardiomyopathy." Doctor Wilde explained patiently. "And just as its name, it's indeed caused by drinking too much alcohol. It happens more often in men than in women. So seeing your condition now... I can only assume that you drink a lot. And judging from the scans of your lungs, I can tell that there's still more."

As terrified as she was, Beca knew that there was no way out of it. So she swallowed hard and weakly said, "I uh... smoke."

"How many per day?" The doctor pushed.

"Four... packs." Beca said, didn't dare to glance at Harvey and Donna, but she could hear Donna gasped.

"And?" Doctor Wilde asked.

With lowered voice, Beca said, "I uh... drink at least a bottle of vodka every night until I uh... pass out, and I uh... take at least six cup of double espresso every day to sober up in the past four years."

* * *

"You did what?!" Chloe exclaims, jerking away to look at Beca in shock.

Beca rolls her eyes in half-annoyance and says, "I was... a zombie. I needed the cigs to calm my anxiety. And I drank so I could pass out without having nightmares or night terrors. And the coffee sobered me up so I can work normally."

"And nobody noticed?" Chloe asks in disbelief.

With a light chuckle, Beca shakes her head and says, "I was... very careful so Donna and Harvey only knew less than half of it."

"Hmmm..." Chloe rests her temple back on Beca's shoulder. "Any drugs?"

"One time." Beca shrugs lightly.

"One time?"

Beca rests her cheek on Chloe's head and says, "Just one time. And Donna caught me. Thankfully, she caught me. And she was so furious at me. Saying that if I wanted to ruin my life, she and Harvey would walk out of the door, and would never come back." She lets out a soft chuckle. "Donna and Harvey, they've never gone easy on me. Ever. And I couldn't lose them. They were the only people in my life. So I didn't do it anymore. The drugs stopped. But not the other stuff."

With a long heavy sigh, Chloe asks, "So you finally told them about your... other stuff. And then?"

"And then..."

* * *

There was a moment of silent after the revelation. After a while, Beca dared to look up at Harvey and Donna. Harvey's face showed something worse than anger. Disappointment. While on the other hand, Donna looked like she was going to throw up. Then Beca quickly glanced back down.

Doctor Wilde didn't seem to flinch, maybe because there were a lot of others patient who did worse. So she continued her explanation. "It has caused some complications for your health."

"What is it?" Harvey asked with gritted teeth.

"Beca, do you know that you have asthma?" Doctor Wilde asked calmly.

Beca furrowed her eyebrows, shaking her head and said, "I don't. I mean, I did experience shortened of breath and dizziness from time to time. But I thought it was because I uh... smoked heavily and never completely sober."

With a heavy sigh, Doctor Wilde looked at her and said, "That's why I didn't find it in your medical records."

"Is that why she had this heart attack?" Donna asked worriedly. "Because of the asthma?"

Doctor Wilde turned to look at the red head and explained patiently, "Not quite. Asthma sometimes could be misinterpreted as a heart attack, because they have similar symptoms. Shortened of breath and tightened chest. However, in this case, Beca apparently have both of them, and it isn't quite related. But her life style indeed have a huge role for both of those diseases."

The other three nodded again, and Donna rubbed Beca's arm to soothe her.

"The good news is," Doctor Wilde explained further toward Beca. "For now, you don't need any surgery _yet_. The symptoms can be managed with medication. However, the bigger issue here is your lifestyle. It won't matter how much money you put on medications, it won't help you get better unless you start a healthier habit and learn a constructive coping behavior. Apparently, you haven't been keeping a good eating habit as well. So now you are slightly malnutritioned."

"What do you suggest us to do, Doc?" Harvey asked.

Doctor Wilde looked at Beca intensely for a moment before she answered, "I'm afraid that Beca has developed an addiction toward cigarette and alcohol. Therefore, I suggest Beca to get help in a rehabilitation center for her smoking and drinking habit. They have the experts and therapists that can also help with her physical and psychological issue."

"I'm not addicted." Beca rolled her eyes. "I just... needed them to help me sleep and calm my nerves. I don't need to go to rehab. I can help myself."

"Yeah right." Harvey commented sarcastically with his arms crossed on his chest. "Like you've been doing in the past four years I believe."

Beca wanted to argue, but Donna cut her off. "Do you think it'll help her, Doctor Wilde?"

Doctor Wilde pursed her lips, sighing deeply before she said, "We certainly can't push Beca to do something she doesn't want to do. For the program to be successful, Beca has to be a willing participant. I do strongly suggest you to do it. It might be hard in the beginning, but it will help all of you in the long run. Especially you Beca."

"Absolutely not." Beca said stubbornly.

"This is not up for discussion, Beca." Harvey said angrily.

"Enough you two!" Donna snapped. Then she turned her head toward the brunette doctor and tiredly said, "Do we have to make the decision now?"

Doctor Wilde smiled understandingly and said, "Of course not. Take your time to consider it." She looked back at Beca and said, "I expect you to have a good night sleep because tomorrow we'll do certain tests to check your well-being." Then she looked at the other two adults in front of her with a comforting smile before she asked, "Is there any other question?"

Beca and Harvey remained silent while Dona shook her head lightly.

"That would be all. For now." Doctor Wilde said, giving them a reassurance smile. "Don't hesitate to ask the nurse to call me if you need more information."

"Thank you Doctor Wilde." Donna smiled.

"Your welcome." The brunette doctor replied before she turned on her heels, and walked out the door.

Once the doctor left, Harvey pulled out his phone quickly, pacing around as he waited for the phone to be picked up.

"What are you doing, Harv?" Beca asked worriedly.

"I'm calling my colleague who knew the best rehab center." Harvey answered nonchalantly.

"So, that's it?" Beca asked, raising her voice in anger. "You won't even ask my permission?"

"No." Harvey glanced at her impatiently. "You will do as the doctor said. End of discussion."

Fear and anger were flying off Beca's chart, her heart was thumping way too fast and way too hard. She scrunched her face in pain, groaned lightly as her hand reached her left chest.

"Beca!" Donna shrieked in fear.

After hearing his wife was yelling in fear, Harvey turned his head quickly, shoving his phone into his pocket and hurriedly reached the tiny brunette.

"Breathe Beca... breathe..." Donna said worriedly.

Beca tried her best to take a few deep breaths and her heart started to beat slower. Then Harvey and Donna let out a relieved breath as they saw Beca's face became more relax.

After her breath became even, Beca looked at Harvey, pleading, "Don't send me to that place, Harv. Please."

Harvey sighed deeply, stroking his hand on Beca's head and sadly said, "You gave me no choice, Kid. We can't have you get another attack. You could've died. And you will, with the way you live your life."

"I'll do better." Beca said helplessly. "I promise."

Donna rubbed Beca's arm to comfort her, glancing toward her husband, hinting to put this off for a night.

"I can't Beca." Harvey said, ignoring his wife. "I can't let you keep going down this road. You got lucky Donna was at your apartment last week. What if you get another attack and we weren't there?"

Beca turned her head toward Donna, looking at her with teary eyes as she begged, "Donna, please."

"Donna won't comply this time." Harvey held up his hand toward his wife, stopping her from giving in. "I can't have my wife worry about you all the time, especially when she's growing a tiny human inside her body."

"You're pregnant?" Beca asked in surprise.

Donna smiled weakly and nodded. "Eight weeks now. I was going to tell you the day you collapsed. That was why I was at your place early. I was going to tell you over breakfast."

Feeling happy for the couple, Beca smiled so widely, pulling the red head into an awkward hug as she said, "Congratulations you two." Then she turned to punch Harvey playfully on his shoulder and said with a smirk on her face, "You're finally having a real kid now, Papa."

Harvey smirked smugly and mumbled, "Thanks."

As a realization hit her, Beca shrieked in joy, "I'm gonna be an aunt!"

"The more reason to go to rehab and get better, monkey." Harvey said with a soft smile.

Beca's smile faltered instantly, replaced with fear as she pleaded, "Please Harvey. I'll do anything you ask. But don't put me into rehab. Please. If I don't do better in a month, you can send me to that place. And I promise I won't fight you over this."

"Monkey," Donna softly said. "We're doing this for you. We want you to get better."

With trembling lips, Beca begged, "One month... please..."

After knowing the tiny brunette for more than four years and had only seen her in her snarky fierce state, seeing her on the verge of crying did make it harder for Harvey to push her. So he sighed in defeat and then looked at the tiny brunette intensely before firmly said, "Under three conditions."

Beca nodded excitedly as she said, "Anything."

"First," He said with a stern clear voice. "You will stop smoking, drinking alcohol, and coffee all at once. Cold turkey. And no substitute. You will take your medication as instructed as well."

"Done." Beca replied instantly.

"I hope you know that it's not as easy as it sounds." Harvey warned her.

"I do." Beca said reassuring.

"And I will do unexpected urine test whenever I want." Harvey narrowed his eyes intensely.

"Deal." Beca said with tighten lips.

Harvey rolled his eyes and then said, "Second, you will stay with us until further notice. No point to argue with this."

Beca nodded reluctantly.

"Third, you will be under strict supervision 24/7. You will always have Donna, or me, or Pascal and Rico with you all the time."

"Is that really necessary?" Beca asked weakly.

"Either accept all three conditions or go to rehab." Harvey said without hesitation.

Beca narrowed her eyes, pursing her lips, considering arguing with Harvey on the third condition. However, she sighed in defeat when Harvey looked at her with determination she knew so well, and no one said no to that Lawyer Harvey Specter demanding look. So she nodded lightly.

"Okay then." Harvey smiled with satisfaction. "One month, and if nothing change, I'll make sure you get into rehab even if I have to carry you myself. And you'll stay there for at least a year."

Beca nodded again.

Donna smiled fondly toward Beca, stroking her hair gently as she said, "You'll be fine, monkey."

"I hope so." Beca responded with a tight smile.

Then Donna kissed Beca on her forehead before turning to kiss her husband on the lips and said, "Thanks Love."

Harvey simply smiled in return.

**_End of flashback._ **

* * *

"I checked out from the hospital a week later and I stayed clean from alcohol, cigarette, and coffee after that. I lived with Harvey and Donna for around... seven months until Stephan was born." Beca ends her story.

Chloe's face is showing a mixture of fear, worry, disbelief, yet also a little bit relieved, knowing that the tiny brunette is still alive until this moment. She shakes her head lightly to pull herself out of the trance, rubbing Beca's arm gently as she says, "It must had been hard to sober up in cold turkey."

"Hmmm..." Beca purses her lips. "Actually, not as hard as I'd expected. I mean, after I've witnessed how much Harvey and Donna cared about me, I didn't feel so much alone anymore. And it really helped."

With a relieved sigh, Chloe says, "I'm glad that you're okay and never go down that road again."

"Actually," Beca smiles sheepishly. "I did."

"You did?"

"Yea."

Chloe pulls herself up a little bit to look at Beca in disbelief, but Beca smiles as she says, "It was around four months after I met Ashley. Stephan was... I think he was around five months old."

"Why?"

With hesitant look, Beca asks, "Are you okay talking about this? I mean, I had another heart attack, and it was the moment I chose to be with Ashley."

Chloe puts on her smile and says, "I want to know everything about your life after Barden, Becs. Just tell me. I can take it."

"You sure?" Beca asks worriedly.

"U huh." Chloe nods.

Upon seeing the determination on Chloe's face, Beca sighs deeply and says, "Well... The first time I met Ashley, there was something about her that reminded me of you."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Oh." Beca smiles lightly. "She has blue eyes, overly excited to get to know me, and also has this bubbly, perky personality. And of course, has no regard or personal space."

"You fell in love with my double." Chloe teases.

Beca chuckles and says, "I'd thought so too in the beginning. But after a couple of dates, the more I know her, the more I realized that there were more of her that didn't have anything in common with you."

"Hmmm..." Chloe's smile turns into a frown.

"Chloe... We don't have to talk about this."

"But I want to."

"Are you sure?"

"Yep."

"Okay." Beca takes a deep breath and exhales slowly. "Well... The realization didn't make me sleep any better. If anything, it scared me more. Because I started to have feelings for her and opened up myself to her. She had this... charm that pulled me in even though I was scared out of my mind. I just... couldn't stay away." She chuckles lightly and then adds, "She still has that charm over me."

Noticing how Chloe cringes her forehead slightly, Beca clears her throat and softly asks, "Let me ask you again. Are you sure you want to hear about it?"

"Yep."

"I don't think it's a go-"

"Just tell me Becs." Chloe firmly says. "Like I said. I can take it."

After spending a couple of seconds of stubborn staring competition with Chloe, Beca sighs deeply and continues, "It uh... terrified me. The way she made me feel scared me so much, and spiked up my anxiety off the chart. The thought of having someone that I could actually feel connected to after more than four years. It was... I was beyond terrified. Then I started to have these horrifying nightmares, not that it ever stopped, but it became more unbearable."

Beca can feel Chloe tense up in her arms, so she rubs Chloe's knee soothingly. "I started to skip my meds. I also started to smoke and drink again, hence the overflowed coffee to keep me sober. And at that time, Ashley hadn't known about my heart condition or asthma. But she did warn me from time to time about my nasty habit."

Waiting for the explanation was nerve wrecking. So Chloe blows out a long breath but remains silent.

"I was..." Beca shrugs. "A ticking bomb. And eventually, it went off. I was spending the night with Ashley. She found me unconscious in the middle of the night after she heard a crashing sound from the balcony. Apparently, I had my second heart attack and fell down. She immediately called 911 and Donna, and then I was brought to the hospital again. My heart did stop for a couple of minutes, but they managed to bring me back. I was again, in a coma for seven days."

"Becs..." Chloe shakes her head worriedly.

After giving the red head a weak smile, Beca looks up at the sky, taking a long deep breath, feeling the cold wind filling her lungs. "When I woke up, I thought I was gonna see a furious Harvey and a crying Donna in my hospital room. I didn't expect that Ashley would be the one who stayed with me. Yet... there she was."

"And then you fell in love." Chloe interrupts. "Because she was there."

Beca scoffs lightly and says, "Not that easy, Red. This is me we're talking about."

"Then?" Chloe asks in confusion impatiently. "What happened?"

After taking another long breath, Beca slowly tells the story, letting the memory plays out in her mind.

* * *

**_Flashback: 5 years and two months ago._ **

Beca was barely awake, but she could hear a faint sound of sniffling near her. When she tried to talk, she choked up from something in her throat.

"She's awake!" Beca heard someone exclaimed. "Nurse! Page Liv!"

It was foggy, but she felt how something was being pulled out from her throat and a voice, sounded like Doctor Wilde's voice, saying, "It's okay Beca. Don't fight the tube. I'm taking it out."

And Beca complied no matter how uncomfortable she felt. Then Doctor Wilde commanded her to look at the light and squeeze her finger, before asking, "Beca, how do you feel?"

It was all so blurry, but Beca managed to croak, "Almost awake. I guess."

Then she heard a sound of chuckling from the doctor. "You're joking already. You'll be fine."

Beca started adjusting to the light, slowly gaining her consciousness before she asked, "What happened? Did I-"

"Yeah." Doctor Wilde said with upset look. "You had another heart attack. You had a surgery, and this time you were in an actual coma for a week. Here, drink some water."

After taking a sip that made her realize that her throat was hurting, Beca scrunched her face and said, "That doesn't feel good."

"Hm." Doctor Wilde stared at her sharply. "I thought you didn't know. It's a small pay back for getting another heart attack."

"Sorry." Beca said sheepishly.

"I'm not." Doctor Wilde scolded her. "I hope this can be your final lesson so you don't go back down that nasty road."

"Hopefully." Beca said with a weak smile, but then she looked around before asking in panic, "Where are Donna and Harvey? Did they leave?"

"Calm down Beca." Doctor Wilde said calmly as Beca's heart rate spiked up. "They are getting lunch. Ashley is outside though. She stepped out to give me some room to check on you."

Beca sighed in relief.

"Now," Doctor Wilde smiled softly. "Why don't you have some rest? I'll explain everything for you later."

"Mmmkay."

After the doctor walked out, Beca could see from the glass door that Ashley was talking with the brunette doctor. Beca simply stared at her, unaware that a smile had appeared on her face.

Not long after, Ashley walked into the room. At first, Beca was smiling sheepishly toward the blonde, but suddenly, Ashley was already on her side, raising her hand and slapped her hard on the cheek.

* * *

"She what?!" Chloe asks in shock.

"She slapped me." Beca says nonchalantly. "Hard."

"How dare she?" Chloe asks in upset.

"Calm your pit Red." Beca smiles, trying to calm the red head. "It was the first and only time she ever did. So... let's just say that you and her have equal score now for slapping me."

"But she wasn't even your girlfriend yet."

"You weren't my girlfriend too." Beca smirks teasingly.

"But..." Chloe seems so stubborn. "But I was your best friend."

"That..." Beca drags teasingly. "Is true. But still, a slap is still a slap. Besides, what would you've done anyway? I was almost dead on her balcony, with her sleeping merely ten feet away from me. And it made her angry. Just like you were angry because I left."

Chloe lets out an annoyed sigh and says, "As angry as I would've been, I wouldn't have slapped you. I would've been too happy to see you wake up, that I think I would've kissed you until you're out of breath."

"Well..." Beca smiles softly. "Not everybody can be as sweet as you are, can't they Chlo."

"Hmph." Chloe puffs her nose with a hint of smug smile. "Then? You fell in love because she was the first woman to ever slap you?"

"Eeer..." Beca purses her lips. "Not really."

"So?"

"Well..."

* * *

"What the..." Beca was dumbfounded.

"You!" Ashley snapped. "Are the most selfish coward I've ever known!"

Every words were punctuated harshly, so Beca sighed in defeat and weakly muttered, "Donna told you."

Tears were already running down her angry face, but Ashley kept on yelling with shaky voice, "You don't have to love anybody else in this world! And you certainly don't have to do any favor to anybody if you don't want to! But you at least owe it to yourself to love one person! One! And that is yourself, Beca Mitchell!"

Something odd happened to Beca. Suddenly, she could feel it so vividly how her heart was fluttering, thumping in a steady rhythm, like her heart had never beat before, like it was the first time she was totally aware of having a heart.

* * *

"And that's when you realized that you fell in love with her." Chloe states, staring at Beca with narrowed eyes. "The butterflies in your stomach."

"Nope." Beca shakes her head lightly, still as nonchalant. "Not yet."

"So when?" Chloe asks impatiently.

Beca stares at the red head with bored look, raising an eyebrow as she says, "We won't get there if you keep interrupting."

"Right." Chloe mutters sheepishly.

"Besides," Beca looks at Chloe in confusion. "Why the sudden curiosity? I mean, isn't it supposed to be hard for you? It's hard for me telling you this."

"I just..." Chloe sighs heavily. "Stacie told me that she saved you from yourself. So I... I want to know. I want to know how you became brave enough to be with her, while you couldn't be when you were in love with me back in college."

"Chloe..." Beca sighs. "It was a different situation. Back in college, we were best friend. And I don't want you to think that I was able to tell her about my feelings because she was a better person than you were. That would be very untrue."

"But you loved me back in college." Chloe says stubbornly. "And then it was the same with her, but you did tell her. I want to know why. And I won't judge. Promise."

After staring at Chloe worriedly for a couple of seconds, Beca asks, "Are you really, really sure you want to know about it?"

Chloe ignores the worried look from Beca and says, "I'm really, really sure."

With hesitant nod, Beca worriedly says, "Okay then. So..."

* * *

"Do you have any reason?!" Ashley yelled furiously while wiping her tears away harshly with the back of her hand. "Just anything so I don't kick you so hard that you're gonna need another surgery!"

Beca tried to compose herself from blowing up in anger because she didn't like to be yelled at. "I just-"

"What?!" Again, Ashley yelled. "You had a bad childhood?! Abusive parents?! You were bullied?! What makes you hate yourself so much that you have to do this?!"

Getting more frustrated, Beca took a deep breath and tried to reason, "I was-"

"And for the record," Ashley cuts her off again angrily. "Even if all of those things did happen to you, you're a grown up now. Stop blaming life for your bad decisions!"

Then Beca was getting angry. "I think-"

* * *

"So she just kept yelling at you." Chloe states in disbelief. "And since you'd never been yelled at your whole life by a woman, you fell in love with her."

Beca groans and says, "I'm not there yet, Chlo."

"Okay, okay."

"You know what?" Beca says with a sigh. "I don't think this is a good idea."

"Why?"

"Chlo..."

"Just tell me everything."

"Huff..."

"It's... okay Becs." Chloe says with a reassuring smile. "Just think of me as your best friend like back in college when you could tell me everything. Everything but your feelings about me."

Beca rolls her eyes tiredly and says, "I just-"

"I'm Chloe Beale, Becs." Chloe says matter-of-factly. "I'm your best friend. Unless you think that I'm not."

"You are my best friend, Chlo." Beca says with a heavy sigh. "But you're also-"

"I'm your best friend for now." Chloe finishes her sentence without hesitation. "That's why I need to know everything about you. I want to."

Beca sighs tiredly, taking a moment to think before saying in defeat, "Just don't interrupt me again."

Then Chloe nods.

"So she kept on yelling at me..."

* * *

"What can possibly so bad, Becs?!" Ashley was panting out of breath. "Because Donna and Harvey know nothing! Nothing about your life! And I'm here wondering how could you do that to yourself."

Getting more and more upset, Beca took a deep breath and said, "I think-"

"How could you be so selfishly stupid!" Ashley kept on spatting out her anger. "Have you ever heard of-"

"I think I'm falling in love with you!" Beca snapped out after the yelling became unbearable.

Surprisingly, Ashley didn't even bat her eyes. She scoffed and sarcastically responded, "You could've just sent me a bouquet of lilies with a note that says _I think I'm falling in love with you, Ashley_. You didn't need to drop almost dead on my balcony."

Beca was taken aback. She had thought that the revelation would've at least shut the blonde up before running away. But Ashley didn't seem to notice as she kept on rambling her sarcasm. "You could've just told me to my face that you think you're falling in love with me. And I would've told you that I feel the same. But noooo... You felt that you needed to wreck yourself and be almost dead to show that you're fall-"

"What?" Beca asked in full confusion.

"You do know that there are million ways to say I love you without killing yourself right?!" Ashley retorted, still furiously. "Even a simple sen-"

"Ash!"

"Just a simple sentence can do Becs!" Ashley kept pouring out her anger. "It's not so hard to-"

"Ashley!"

"What?!" Ashley bit harshly.

Beca took a deep, deep breath and swallowed hard before she stuttered, "You said... Earlier, you said... Is that true?"

"What?" Ashley seemed to be calmer but still very upset.

"You said..." Beca was uncertain, but she was also curious. "You just told me that you're falling in love with me too. Is it true?"

"Duh." Ashley said. "Isn't it obvious?"

Upon seeing Beca's dumbfounded look, Ashley sighed heavily, shaking her head lightly and walked to sit on the edge of the bed next to Beca.

"Yeah." Ashley rolled her eyes in annoyance. "I'm falling in love with you. Is that a bad thing? Should I drink and smoke my way to drop dead on your balcony too?"

Beca couldn't help but laughing lightly, and then Ashley started to laugh too. Slowly, the laughter became louder, and they were holding their stomach and wiping the tears in the corner of their own eyes.

After the laughter subsided, Ashley took a deep breath, and still with a hint of annoyance, she softly asked, "Now. Would you tell me what you were _thinking_ with that _thick_ brain of yours?"

"I just..." Beca sighed deeply. "I'm scared. I'm... terrified of falling in love with you."

"Who wouldn't be?" Ashley asked smugly, and again Beca laughed lightly, rolling her eyes in mock annoyance.

"Is that all?" Ashley asked with bored look. "You're scared of falling in love with me so you decided to drink and smoke your way to heaven instead?"

Beca snorted and rolled her eyes.

"Well don't be." Ashley shrugged nonchalantly. "There's no need to be killing yourself for falling in love with me. I'm flattered that you thought you needed to do that. But still, there are easier ways to tell me that you love me, that include you staying alive so I can tell you that I feel the same."

Again, Beca simply rolled her eyes and chuckled.

"Besides, I don't bite. So, no need to be scared." Ashley said nonchalantly, but then she smirked and teased, "Unless you're into that kind of stuff. That can be arranged."

And again, Beca laughed. And so did Ashley. After the laughter unwind, out of no where, Beca just felt so calm to say, "I am so, so terrified that loving you would destroy me."

Ashley simply gave her a puzzled look.

"Loving you..." Beca smiled lightly. "It will give you the power to break me. To hurt me. To destroy me."

"It should." Ashley said nonchalantly. "And it will."

"Smug." Beca rolled her eyes.

"I mean," Ashley rolled her eyes back at Beca. "Feeling in love _would_ make us, all of us vulnerable. It's just how it's supposed to be Becs."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you think I don't feel the same way?"

"Huh?"

"Becs..." Ashley smiled, feeling slightly frustrated but also amused. "We've just known each other for four months. But you've managed to destroy me. Twice."

"What?" Beca asked in complete lost.

"Yeah." Ashley says matter-of-factly. "Starting with how you've changed my belief about my sexual orientation. You've destroyed a 24 years of strong built belief that I was as straight as an arrow. And was I scared?"

"No?"

"Duh." Ashley said as if Beca was an idiot. "Of course I was scared. It was something new, and nothing I'd expected before. But did I drink and smoke my way to heaven?"

"Haha." Beca said in half-annoyance. "Very funny."

"I am funny." Ashley said smugly. Then her bright eyes dimmed a bit when she said. "And the second time, the night you collapsed on my balcony, and suddenly you had a surgery, and then ended up in a coma for a week." She sighed heavily. "Everything happened so fast, and I... I'm so in love with you that... all I could think about was what would I do if you don't survive this."

"Huh." Beca smirked smugly.

"I know. I know." Ashley rolled her eyes in mock upset. "Too much. And probably too soon. But that's what you've done to me."

"Huh." Again, Beca smirked smugly-er.

"Wipe that cocky grin on your face." Ashley said in mock annoyance, but then she smiled softly. "I wasn't only scared Becs. I was a complete mess. You destroyed me. Again. But did I-"

"Drink and smoke your way to heaven?" Beca finished her sentence with a knowing look.

"Yeah. That." Ashley rolled her eyes. Then she held Beca's hand, staring so fondly into her steely blue eyes when she said, "That's what happened when you love someone, Becs. Somewhere along the line, you'll be destroyed. Or you might be the one who destroy. But it doesn't mean we don't let ourselves to keep falling."

"What do you mean?"

"Well," Ashley purses her lips, thinking for a while before saying, "Let's think about love as a Lego house. You know, you build the one you really like, and then at some point your sibling comes and stomps their feet to wreck it, or your parents insist to put it back into the box, or your grandma thought that it's a choking hazard and put it away. Then you of course will cry, maybe throw a tantrum. But it's ruined anyway. So what will you do?"

Beca raised an eyebrow and teased, "Drink and smoke my way to heaven?"

Rolling her eyes in half-annoyance, Ashley said, "You let your parents bribe you with ice cream before bedtime, you go to sleep, and you build another one the next day."

Beca let out a relieved chuckle and stared at the blonde fondly.

With her cheeks flushing red, Ashley cleared her throat and said, "So, yeah Becs. We're in love with each other. And I promise you that somewhere along the line we'll destroy each other. And maybe we can pick the pieces up together and rebuild the relationship with the love we have left. Or maybe we won't be picking up the pieces together. Maybe you'll be picking up your pieces with another blonde, and I will be picking up my pieces by binge eating. Who knows?"

"Hmmm..." Beca nodded absentmindedly.

"But do you know what we do know now?" Ashley asked softly.

"What?"

With a smile so tender and a pair of eyes beaming in happiness, Ashley said, "We're in love with each other."

A grin appeared on Beca's face, and she couldn't help herself to lean forward and kiss Ashley. Then Ashley kissed her back. After the kiss ended, still with her eyes closed, Ashley brushed her nose gently on Beca's and softly said, "I take it that you choose to have the possibility of us destroying each other?"

With a fond smile, Beca caressed Ashley's cheek gently and retorted in barely a whisper, "Isn't it obvious?"

"Kind of." Ashley chuckled before pressing another chaste kiss on Beca's lips. Then she stared at Beca with intimidating look and firmly said, "So can you _please_ stop trying to drink and smoke your way to heaven from now on?"

Beca chuckled and said, "Yes ma'am."

* * *

"Oh." Chloe responds.

Yeah..." Beca presses her lips tightly, nodding lightly with a long sigh.

"That's it?"

"Yep." Beca responds nonchalantly. "That's it. My first and second heart attack."

"What happened next?"

"Well," Beca shrugs. "Then I sobered up. Never had another heart attack in my life so far. Oh and, I had a kidney transplant two years after the second heart attack. You know, I obviously ruined my kidney with alcohol. But I changed my diet, I stayed away from alcohol, and I rarely smoked ever since. Last week was the first time I smoked again in three years, and it was only two cigs. I only take my coffee in decaf, I regularly work out, and I have my regular checkups every six months. Ashley... she keeps me in line."

"Hmmm..." Chloe seems to be in deep thought. "But... if she's so good, why would she leave you three years ago? Why would she push you to see a therapist?"

"How... did you know?"

"Doesn't matter."

With a deep sigh, Beca says, "At first, Ashley didn't care about my past. She'd never pushed me to open up. For her, it's the present me that matters."

"But she left you."

"Yeah." Beca says with a tight lip. "When my past prevented us to be together. When it held me back from taking our relationship further while in fact, I wanted the same thing. To be with her. So she did what she'd thought the best for the situation. And she was right. I... stepped up. Finally brave enough to fight for what I wanted."

"Hmmm..." Again, Chloe is deep in thought. It's longer this time until she softly says, "I can do the same thing. I can love you like that, Becs. I can even love you better than that. I just need a chance."

"Chlo-"

"I broke up with Kristen." Chloe blurts out.

At that moment, Beca forgets about the purpose of this talk. She pulls her hand back from Chloe's, wrapping it around Chloe's shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze as she says, "I'm sorry to hear that Chlo."

On the other hand, Chloe snuggles her head into the crook of Beca's neck, wrapping her arms around the brunette's waist, pulling her closer before she softly says, "I'm not."

Confused of the revelation, Beca pulls her head back slightly, and looks at Chloe with furrowed eyebrows.

Chloe lifts her head up a little bit to look Beca in the eye, smiling tenderly as she says, "I love you Becs. I want you. It's only right to end my relationship with her."

It hurts. It hurts to hear the love revelation again. Beca turns her head away, sighing heavily with her eyes closed, clenching her free hand to hold the pang in her chest. If she had heard those words from Chloe ten years ago, or even maybe six years ago, she would've burst in happiness. Scratch that, she would've been the happiest person alive. 

However, the very same words only brings a suffocating pang in Beca's chest today, a pang of guilt. She takes a few deep breaths, and un-clenches her hand to ease the pain in her chest.

After she deems that she's calm enough, Beca turns her head slowly back to face Chloe and mutters, "Chloe..." she pauses, closing her eyes, preparing herself for another pain she's going to cause on the red head, breathing in the chilly air into her lungs before she says in barely a whisper, "I'm afraid... No, I'm dreading... that I can't give you what you want."

Chloe moves her body to sit cross-legged facing Beca from aside. She raises one hand, cupping and brushing her thumb gently on Beca's cheek, smiling ever so fondly as she says, "You can Beca. I know you do."

The sincerity and vulnerability in Chloe's voice punches Beca's on her gut, and she can't bring herself to look at Chloe. So she turns her head to look forward, and simply sighs heavily.

Determined to convince Beca, Chloe straightens up, trying to look Beca in the eye when she says, "I've heard from Stacie that you and Ashley broke up."

Beca nods lightly, keeping her eyes on the view in front of her, trying to shield the pain from the truth in Chloe's words. Turns out, it's harder to hear the reality from someone else.

"Then maybe we can have our chance." Chloe tilts Beca's head gently on her chin to face her. "The chance we could've had more than ten years ago. Fourteen years ago."

As gentle as she can, Beca pulls Chloe's hand away from her face and says, "I'm sorry Chloe."

Chloe sighs deeply, her eyes are showing hurt with a hint of hope when she says, "This is the second chance of our happy ending, Becs. I know it. You just have to open up yourself for the possibility that you can be happy with me. That we can be happy together."

Can't bring herself to see the hope in Chloe's eyes, again, Beca turns her head aside. Then she runs her fingers through her hair, blowing out damp air through her mouth but says nothing.

"I can make you happy Becs." Chloe says so softly. "Trust me."

Beca lets out a sad smile, rolling her teary eyes helplessly before she says, "I have no doubt that you can, Chlo. I've seen it in college, how you could light up my day only with a single smile." She swallows hard. "But I can't do the same to you. I... I don't think I can make you happy in the way you want me to."

"It's not true." Chloe says as she caresses Beca's hair gently. "You are the only person who can make me the happiest I've ever been. In fact, you're the one that can make me feel the most in my life. That's why I know that I love you with every fiber of my being."

Beca sighs, taking Chloe's hand in hers, squeezing it gently, looking right into Chloe's eyes sadly before she says, "That's the thing Chlo. I feel the same way... But not with you."

A single tear escapes Chloe's eyes as she closes them gently to shield away the hurt that's spreading up from her chest. She lets out a damp sigh, shaking her head slightly, and then opens her eyes to beg, "You can learn to love me again Becs. I know you still love me. Deep inside of your heart, there's still a piece of love that's reserved only for me. If you don't, then you wouldn't have kissed me back at all."

Still with sad smile and teary eyes, Beca swallows down the lump, cups Chloe's cheek, letting the red head kisses her palm before she replies, "I know." She blows out a shaky breath. "I know Chlo. You are my first love Chloe. You will always have a place in my heart. But... my heart doesn't belong to me anymore."

It feels like a dagger is stabbed straight into her chest, and Chloe has to take a moment to compose herself before she breathes out, "Ashley."

With a shaky nod, Beca says, "You were right. That kiss was... eye opening."

Chloe looks at her with undeniable sorrow in her eyes. "All the things you said about how she made you fall in love with her, I can do the same. I can do what she's done. I will keep you in line. I will keep you safe."

"It's..." Beca shakes her head real light and swallows hard before saying, "It's not about what she did, or what you couldn't. I just... maybe it's the timing, maybe it's..." She scoffs lightly. "People said that the heart wants what it wants."

"But there must be something, Becs..." Chloe says in pleading. "Make me understand... Because... because I thought that... I believe we're meant to be together. So try... make me understand. What did I do wrong? Or... what did I not do right for you?"

Beca smiles fondly, staring at Chloe's blue eyes as she says, "You're amazing, Chlo. You... made me realize that I'm capable of loving. Back in college, I didn't know how it felt like to love someone. Until I met you. That's the best thing I'll never be able to repay you. You're so amazing that you could turn the snarky skeptic broken me into someone who's able to accept that I'm in love."

"But?" Chloe says in barely a whisper.

"There's no but, Chlo." Beca softly says. "No but. I've told you. You were the first one that broke into my wall, brick by brick, and then you set yourself in it. And I'm beyond thankful for that. You'd made me open up myself to you. You'd showed me that I can have a room for someone else in my life."

"Oh." Chloe seems to get an insight.

"Oh?"

"Ashley..." Chloe says dejectedly. "She didn't just put down your wall and set herself in your life thoroughly... She also managed to pull you out to see the other side of your wall."

Beca didn't even realize how true it was until now. With a heavy sigh, she weakly says, "Yeah. She did. Through all the hurt and the happiness, time and time again she managed to show me what's real. That... there's more to life than just how I feel. She made me face my fear, and never once she sheltered me from everything life have for me. Good and bad. Instead, she stood by me in the open, and let me learn my lesson. Learn to take responsibilities of my own decisions. She made me... step out of my shell."

"I can do better, Becs." Chloe says stubbornly with tears in her eyes, pushing to change Beca's mind. "I can do all of that without causing you pain. And I can take the pain away from you. I will always wait until you're ready for everything. And I will never push you by leaving. Ever."

"Then I wouldn't have grown up at all Chloe." Beca says with a sad smile toward the red head. "I don't want my pain erased. As wretched as it is, I need my pain. It makes me who I am."

Chloe lets out a shaky breath, speaking raggedly, "I can be whatever you need, Beca. Please..."

Beca stares at Chloe's blue eyes, thinking about how she could choose to let go off someone who loves her this much. Then she swallows hard and says, "Then you wouldn't be yourself, Chlo. You'd be too concerned to be someone you thought I'd love. And then you'd forget to love yourself."

"But I'll be happy loving you. Having you." Chloe says sadly, grabbing Beca's hand and squeezes it gently.

Beca smiles with teary eyes and says, "No, you won't." She lets out a shaky breath as she continues, "And I can't be the reason you spend the rest of your life unhappy. Especially for me. And after what I did to you ten years ago, I just..." She sighs heavily. "I refuse to be a person who dim the light in Chloe Beale's life. Again."

"Then choose me, Becs." Chloe pleads with tears threatening to pour out from her eyes. "Please..."

"Honestly," Beca swallows hard, trying to push down the lump in her throat and then she cracks, "It's more like a realization than choosing, Chlo. I... I'm in love with Ashley."

Feeling hopeless, Chloe closes her eyes in defeat, dropping her head down, letting her tears falling freely from the tip of her nose. After a while, with her voice cracked, Chloe asks, "Are- are you sure that th- there's nothing I can do or say to make you mine?"

Beca cups Chloe's cheeks, lifting her head gently before kissing her forehead. Then she pulls away, wiping the tears on Chloe's cheek with her thumbs as she says, "You deserve so much more than a person with half a heart, Chlo."

Can't hold the pain anymore, Chloe hugs Beca dearly on her waist, sobbing hard on her shoulder. Then Beca pulls Chloe closer, adjusting their position so Chloe is now snuggled up onto her chest in between her pulled up legs.

They sit for a long time like that; Chloe with tears running down her face and sobbing hard, while Beca holds her tight silently, pressing her lips on the top of Chloe's head. The sobbing is so heart wrenching that Beca sheds tears herself.

It takes a long time, but they remain in that position even after Chloe's tears subside. At some point, Chloe speaks up again.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> O...kay. That's it. Chapter 14. Long. I know. I just don't know where to cut it halfway without messing with the flow. So... another long chapter. 
> 
> I know, I know, I know... Love and the complications. But the talk doesn't end here. The crying and sobbing are the first hit for Chloe. In the next few chapters, you'll see how certain things affect us not always all at once in a linear graph, but gradually and more like a roller coaster.
> 
> Btw, I'm not a medical student, but I did read a bunch of article about the disease. So, if it's not accurate or wrong, I'm sorry in advance, and please let me know so I don't make the same mistake.
> 
> So... until then, sit tight and make good choices. Thank you for reading :)
> 
> P.s. For Bechloe shippers, you're allowed to be mad at me.


	15. It's Odd

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Olla :D Good day folks.
> 
> In the previous chapter, we've seen how the talk rolled out. It wasn't ended yet. In this chapter, we'll pick up from the moment after Chloe crying in the backyard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own Pitch Perfect. I do hope you enjoy. Let's dig in. :D

 

After a while, Chloe's tears subside, and she wipes it with her hand before calling with hoarse voice, "Becs..."

"Hmm?"

"Why did you break up with Ashley?"

After swallowing hard, Beca says with restraint voice, "She uh... she broke up with me."

"Because of the kiss?"

"Kind of." Beca says dejectedly. "She thought that... I wasn't sure about my feelings for her. She said, she can't have a relationship where she's sure about us while I'm not."

"That easy?"

"Huh?"

"She didn't even try to fight for you?"

"No." Beca holds her breath. "Not this time she said."

"Why?"

"Well," Beca clears her throat. "Ashley... she doesn't like to be in doubt. She's one of those few people. You know, the people who knows what they want. Who knows... which baggage to carry, which one that they can live with, which consequences that they can bear with. And Ashley... her conscience is always clear. She knows what she knows and wants. And she's never let anybody make a decision for her."

"No offense, Becs." With a scoff, Chloe says matter-of-factly. "But it sounds like one hell of bullshit for me. I mean, does it mean she can bear with letting you go even though she loves you?"

Beca sighs heavily and says, "I... guess so."

"Don't you think that it's just an excuse?" Chloe asks doubtfully. "A beautifully wrapped excuse of not wanting to deal with the fact that maybe she's not the right person for you?"

"I... don't think so." Beca furrows her eyebrows, thinking about the fight she had with Ashley before they broke up. "She just... she said that she can't have this relationship where she's in a constant wondering, fear, that I haven't moved on from you. That... it's always been you for me. So instead of pushing herself to stand her ground, which would tear me, us, apart, that in the end would hurt both me and her, she chose to... take the baggage she could carry. Without hurting us more than necessary."

"Because she thought that you don't love her enough?"

"Yea."

"Why would she think that way?"

"Because I gave her more than enough reasons to."

"What reasons?"

"Over the years," Beca takes a deep breath. "From the beginning, she has always been the one who stepped forward first. But me... I've always been the one who needed to be pushed. And I think, it's just the seal. You know, that kiss, our kiss, is the seal. She just... connected the dots that all this time, I wasn't only afraid of having a commitment. I was also not sure about loving her. And that is something she'd never thought about before. She can deal with it when it's only me and my insecurity of commitment. She's been tirelessly showed me that I can be fear all my way to Pluto, but in the end, she's here to stay. But then you came along, and..."

When Beca sighs in the end of her sentence, Chloe says, "And she can't push you to love who you love."

"Yea." Beca says dejectedly.

"Where did you find someone like her?" Chloe asks in disbelief.

Beca chuckles and says, "I think... _she_ found me. I'm just lucky."

"Hmmm..." Chloe is in deep thought, pursing her lips before asking, "Don't you think it's too surreal? I mean, being so unselfish?"

"Believe me. I've been asking the same thing." Beca says in mock annoyance. "But she always said that she's selfish. Just in different ways. For her, pushing me to change is selfish. She said, she needed me in her life, and in order to get what she needed, I had to change. I had to be and do better."

Then Chloe chuckles, along with a half-annoyed eye rolling as she says, "That's lame."

"I know." Beca chuckles. "She's just... wonderful that way. And rarely actually taking the credit. Most of the time, she just... played it off."

"How did you find her again?" Chloe asks teasingly.

"Have no idea." Again, Beca chuckles, and then she says, "But after meeting her family, her father especially, I wasn't surprised anymore. I'm still wondering, but I think I know one or two things. Jeff is a professor of positive psychology in Stanford. And he is... _the_ most emotionally secured and stable person I've ever met. I guess Ashley just has the best gene and a great role model. She's been practicing meditation since what... four years old I think. And she's compassionate. I believe Ashley is just following her dad's footstep. And her sister is just as collected."

"So she's emotionally secure and stable too." Chloe states casually.

"Hmmm..." Beca purses her lips. "Not as good as her father yet. I think. I mean, she still yell at me whenever she's angry and stuff. And the constant pinching and arm slapping..."

Chloe laughs lightly and teases, "You sure it's not because you deserve it?"

"Shut up." Beca says in mock annoyance. Then her smile turns soft as she says, "She's... quite emotionally secured and resilience for her age. She embraces pain as much as she embraces happiness in her life. She told me not to be picky and discriminate emotions. They're all equal. Can't favor one more than the other. So when she's sad, then she's sad. When she's angry, then she's angry. When she's happy, then she's happy. Never the one to sugarcoat bad things or exaggerate good stuff."

"How could it make any difference?"

"Well," Beca shrugs. "I don't quite understand too. But Ashley always told me that our life isn't about what happen to us. It's about our state of mind in dealing with what happen to us. When it happens, it happens. Just... let yourself know and aware that it happens."

"What does it mean?"

"I think you should talk to her to understand this." Beca says with bored tone. "Like I said, I too, still don't understand. She's just... one of those people, you know. Who's not afraid of putting herself out there, knowing that whatever happen, they will be able to push through by really experiencing it."

"I'm wondering..." Chloe sighs. "How it feels like to live without so much baggage."

"Don't ask me." Beca says matter-of-factly. "I still don't know how to do that. Why did we talk about this again?"

"Hmmm..." Chloe purses her lips. "Ah. You two broke up. And she left you."

With a heavy sigh, Beca says, "She did."

"Again." Chloe states sympathetically.

"I know." Beca says in barely a whisper.

"What would you do now Becs?"

"I... don't know." Beca sighs deeply. "I guess... I'll just..." She sighs. "Do the best I can to get her back. To change her mind."

"What if she doesn't come back?"

"Then..." Beca swallows hard. "Then I don't get her back."

"Are you sure you want to face that heart break?" Chloe asks softly. "To take that risk?"

With Chloe still in her arms, Beca lifts her left hand up so Chloe can see the tattoo on it. It's written with a diagonal permanent ink, align from the edge side of her wrist, and stop right before the tip of the knuckle of her index finger.

"I had this tattoo after I moved in with her three years ago." Beca says softly.

"Take a leap of faith." Chloe reads it out. "What does it mean?"

With a soft smile, Beca says, "Ashley. She's my leap of faith. Every time I decided to be with her, to go after her, every single significant leaps I've done is because of loving her. This tattoo is my reminder that I finally had enough courage to jump over my fears and insecurities. To love and to be loved by her. Completely surrender everything I am and I have to her."

It's hard for Chloe to hear how a person that's not her, could change so many things about Beca. _Her_ Beca. She can't help but thinking that she's not a good enough person.

_Maybe I'm just too broken for her._

_Maybe it's all in my head that I could've done the same things._

After a while, Beca says, "It's too loud."

"What's too loud?"

"The gear in your head." Beca says nonchalantly. "It's turning like crazy. And it's driving me crazy."

"Oh."

"What are you thinking Chlo?" Beca asks softly.

After clearing her throat, Chloe gathers her courage to ask, "Do you... If back in college you had told me that you were in love with me, do you think we're gonna be happy?"

Beca lets out a soft chuckle and says, "I think so."

"Why?"

"Well," Beca starts softly. "My therapist said that I lived my life in black and white. I've always thought that I knew what people think of me, and how they would've treated me. That for me, there's only one way to think about everything. And that's true. That's why having an unexpected experience with unexpected person always intrigue me."

"What do you mean?"

"Such as some red head barged into my shower."

Chloe giggles and teases, "Oh you loved it."

"I did." Beca says nonchalantly. "Who wouldn't. But who in their right mind would have the courage to just rush into other person's shower only because she was curious of the voice. And naked."

"Hey!" Chloe pouts. "I have a right mind. I'm just a curious person."

Beca chuckles and playfully says, "Yeah... believe whatever you want to believe, Red."

"Hmph." Again, with that pout.

With a light laughter, Beca shakes her head, still amused by the pout, and then she continues, "At audition, after singing, I understood why Aubrey looked at me in despise. But you? You looked at me like I hung the stars in the sky. That was unexpected."

"Hm..."

"Then after Warren bailed me out of jail, you were the one who said _of course we're waiting for you_. And I didn't expect that either."

A soft smile appears on Chloe's face as the memories passes her mind.

"When you stood up for me against Aubrey, I also didn't think you would ever do that."

"I'm blushing." Chloe mutters. "But keep going."

Beca chuckles and says, "I can keep going. There were so many of them. So many things that had changed my life. You... had changed my life in a way that I had never possibly thought of before meeting you. Without you, I wouldn't have been in The Bella and had such an amazing family, a village of sisters. You made me happy, even when you weren't my girlfriend. Only by loving you, I was happy. And if we had had our chance, I'd so much hope that I could've made you as happy as you'd made me."

"So..." Chloe says with shaky voice. "You think we would've been happy if you had been brave enough to tell me."

"I believe so." Beca says softly. "I needed someone with the color of rainbow to make me see differently. And you did. Like I said Chlo. It's all just... the matter of timing. I was young and... too scared. And then after Warren disowned me, I hid away, and then time passed by, and suddenly, my life has been different."

"And then you met Ashley." Chloe states bitterly.

While nodding her head absentmindedly, Beca says, "And then I met Ashley. And she is..."

"The right person for you?" Chloe asks curiously with a soft tone. "Your one true love?"

Beca scoffs lightly and says, "I just like to think that... her crazy fits mine."

"How?"

"Well," Beca smiles fondly. "One instance, even after she found out everything about me, she's never tipped toeing around me. She's never let me use my past as an excuse to not be better."

"Huh?"

After taking a long deep breath, Beca says, "One time, we were already together for more than three years, I had to stay in London for half a year. So we had a long distance, and there was a rumor about her cheating on me. I called and yelled at her, she flew to London, we fought on that, she yelled that I'm being paranoid and ridiculous, and I snapped out Warren's cheating on my mother card as an excuse, and then she said, and I quote, _Yeah, you had a crappy childhood, and a crappy father. Boo hoo. But now you're being just as crappy for thinking that I would ever do the same to you!_ "

With wide eyes, Chloe gasps, "She said that?"

"Yep." Beca pops the P. "And then she walked out of my apartment. Flew right back home to L.A."

"She did not!" Chloe becomes more shocked.

"Yep." Beca says nonchalantly. "She did."

"And you chased her back?" Chloe asks in disbelief. "You begged her to come back to you? After what she said? After what she did?"

"Yep." Beca says with a chuckle. "I flew back to L.A. a week later after pulling my head out of my ass. When I got back home, she simply looked at me with her arms crossed on her chest, waiting for an apologize from me for not trusting her and accusing her. And I apologize."

"And did she apologize?"

"Nope." Beca chuckles. "She said in a full force of annoyance, and again, I quote, _You are so maddening to be in love with, Beca Mitchell. But I love you anyway._ Then I kissed her. End of story."

"What?" Chloe is in complete shock.

Beca chuckles and says, "Ashley is never the one who apologizes when she doesn't do anything wrong. Like I said, her crazy fits mine. I needed someone to constantly slap me back into reality. Into something real that I have in front on me. Not behind me."

"Hah." Chloe is dumfounded. "Unbelievable."

"I know." Beca says with a light smile.

Then they fall into a silent moment for a long while. Eventually, Beca says, "Chlo, I need to ask you something."

"Hm?"

"Uh..." Beca is hesitant, but she asks anyway. "Why didn't you tell me about your feelings back in college?"

Upon feeling how tense Chloe becomes in an instant, Beca hurriedly adds, "I mean, it's okay if you don't want me to know. I'm just... the thought just crossed my mind."

After blowing out a long steady breath from her mouth, Chloe says, "I've never really thought about it before."

"Hm." Beca simply nods.

"I guess..." Chloe says unsurely. "Maybe I was... scared too. I mean, after you told me about your parents, I thought you were not into any kind of relationship. And I didn't know that you were gay. And more importantly, you were my best friend. And I also knew that you were a runner. And I loved having you around. So..."

"I bet you did." Beca says smugly. "I'm such a keeper."

Chloe eases down her tension in an instant and chuckles. Then she says, "We were just as scared."

"Yeah." Beca says nonchalantly. "And it's okay. We were young and naive."

"Stupid you mean."

Beca laughs, and then Chloe laughs too. After the laughter unwind, Chloe straightens up, taking a place in front of the brunette with her leg crossed. She takes a deep breath and asks with a sad smile, "You really love her, don't you?"

Without hesitation, Beca smiles fondly and says, "Love her enough to choose to live forward, more than enough to never run and hide again."

Then Chloe simply stares at the person she loves the most. Beca has this blinding spark in her smile and her face that Chloe has never seen before. She can see that Beca is somehow content.

It would've been a lie if she's said that she's not feeling any hurt. Chloe is indeed hurting. She sighs deeply with a sad smile, and then suddenly, Kristen's words flows back into her mind. _"_ _I can at least not stand in the way if there's a chance she can have them. So, that's what I'm doing. Giving her a chance of happiness and love that she thinks she deserves."_

Chloe scoffs lightly, thinking how ironic it is to learn from someone she's left behind. Then she closes her eyes, finally admitting defeat, and softly says, "I let you go then."

With her eyebrows raise in surprise, Beca blurts out, "You what?"

Gently, Chloe cups Beca's right cheek and says with teary eyes, "I let you go, Becs."

Now with her eyebrows furrowed, Beca hesitantly asks, "You... let me go?"

"Yeah." Chloe nods very lightly, still with that sad smile. "I let you go."

"We can still be friends, right?" Beca asks worriedly in an instant.

Chloe looks at Beca longingly, brushing a strain of hair to the back of her ear, smiling softly before saying, "I don't want to live my life without you ever again. I've had enough of it for ten years."

With a grin so wide, Beca pulls the red head in a tight hug, and Chloe hugs her back just as tightly. They stay hugging each other for a while until Chloe pulls back and says, "Let's go inside."

Beca nods, standing up and offers her hand to help Chloe up, and then Chloe takes her hand and stands up before walking back into the house hand in hand.

Once they're inside, Aubrey and Stacie gasp when they see their best friends are holding hands while Emily shots Beca a confused look.

"Did you two finally-" Aubrey asks instantly, but Chloe shots her a look that made her stop half way. Stacie sees that look too, so she doesn't ask anything more. Then Chloe and Beca join them in the living room, simply talking about the reunion plan.

Aubrey keeps on glancing toward Chloe, who becomes more silent and detached as the hours pass by. That behavior indeed alarms her. At some point around 01.00 AM, Emily says, "It's getting late, Pop. Let's go home."

Beca nods toward the younger bella, and turns her head toward Chloe before she asks, "See you Sunday?"

When Chloe doesn't respond but staring blankly forward, Aubrey immediately says a bit louder, "Chloe."

Slowly, Chloe turns to look at her blonde best friend. "Hm?"

Slightly worried, Beca asks, "You okay Chlo?"

"U huh." Chloe says weakly.

"So..." Beca isn't convinced, but she brushes it off. "See you Sunday?"

"What's on Sunday?" Chloe asks.

"Oh." Emily immediately chips in. "You weren't here when I asked. I'm planning a dinner only with my bella sisters in town on Sunday. Will you come?"

"Of course I will Em." Chloe replied, giving the younger bella a light smile that somehow doesn't reach her eyes.

Too focused on staring at Chloe in confusion, Beca's missed how the other three bellas are stealing glances toward each other.

Then Emily puts on a smile, clears her throat, and says, "Okay then. See you all Sunday."

"Yeah. See you Sunday." Stacie mumbles while her wife is watching Chloe closely.

Then Beca stands up, but Chloe doesn't let go of her hand. Instead, she stands up, pulling Beca closer and looks her in the eye before hugging her tightly. Chloe can feel a heavy burden in her chest, suffocating her.

Beca is indeed confused by the sudden change of mood. Moreover, she's worried, yet she says nothing but giving Emily a puzzled look, to which Emily simply shrugs with a tight smile.

After quite some time, Chloe pulls back and presses a gentle kiss on Beca's forehead. She lingers for more than a couple of seconds until Beca can't help it anymore and asks, "Are you okay, Chlo?"

Chloe pulls back, swallowing hard, simply giving the tiny brunette a nod with a smile without saying anything.

"Are you sure?" Beca stares at her worriedly with narrowed eyes.

Again, Chloe doesn't say anything but biting her bottom lip and nods.

Beca senses that something is off with Chloe. So she looks at Aubrey, and Aubrey seems to avoid her gaze when she says, "It's way past midnight. Why don't you two stay the night? Emily can stay with Chloe, and Beca can use the other guestroom."

The offer confuses Beca even more. But when she looks at each of her friends, they simply give her a tight smile. Although Beca is reluctant to stay, but there's something about Chloe that she can't exactly put what it is.

Again, Beca looks at Emily, Aubrey, and Stacie who all have the same concern look toward Chloe. So she puts on a smile and nods as she says, "Sounds like a good idea."

Instantly, the air becomes lighter, and Aubrey sighs in relief.

"Let's go shorty." Stacie says while keeps stealing glances toward Chloe. "I'll show you the guestroom."

On the other hand, Emily pulls Chloe's hand and tries to be cheerful when she says, "Come on Mom. Let's have a mother daughter quality time."

The odd thing is, Chloe still won't let go of Beca's hand. Instead, she looks at Emily shyly, and clears her throat before apologetically says, "Actually, do you mind if Beca stay with me tonight, Em?"

Emily glances at a very surprised yet confused Beca as if asking whether she's okay staying with Chloe for the night. Then Beca pulls her jaw up, looking back at Emily, showing that she's uncomfortable with the idea.

Aubrey immediately meddles and says, "Chloe, I-"

"Please Becs." Chloe cuts her off, pleading toward Beca. "Just one night. Like in college."

Still confused and slightly panicking, Beca runs her fingers through her hair, looking back and forth between Stacie and Emily as if asking for support. But they say nothing.

Other than Beca, they all knew Chloe's condition after Beca left ten years ago. Now they are terrified of what would happen to the red head after Beca chose Ashley over her.

Chloe seems to be on the verge of crying, and the other three bellas somehow seem to be torn and afraid. So Beca sighs deeply and nods, earning a squeal from the red head. Chloe pulls her into a hug and excitedly says, "I will prepare the room and clothes for you."

After Chloe rushes to her room, Emily is quick to stand in front of Beca, putting her hands on Beca's shoulder and asks, "You okay Pop?"

"I uh..." Beca is still in complete lost. "I'm honestly not sure."

Aubrey comes closer to the tiny brunette, failing to hide her irritation when she asks, "What happened?"

With her eyebrows furrowed, looking like she has no idea what is happening, Beca swallows hard and says, "She uh... she was fine? I think?"

Aubrey raises an eyebrow, waiting for an explanation.

Feeling so clueless, Beca explains, "I told her that I can't be with her, and then she said she let me go, and in the end she said that we can still be friends. I thought she was fine. Well, now I'm not so sure. I mean, seeing the way she's acting, I... What just happened?"

Aubrey's face immediately turns into worry mode, while Emily and Stacie also show the same concern.

"There's something you don't know about Chloe after you left." Stacie says worriedly.

"Huh?" Beca stares at Stacie with puzzled look.

Stacie taps her foot nervously, looking back and forth between Emily and Aubrey before she hesitantly says, "Chloe, she uh..."

Then Aubrey pulls her hand to cut her off when she sees Chloe walking down the stairs. On the other hand, Beca, who hasn't seen the red head yet, asks, "She what?"

"Chloe!" Emily calls out fast. "You're back."

Beca whips her head toward the red head behind her, unaware that her face still look confused with her eyebrows furrowed.

Upon seeing the look on Beca's face, Chloe's face turns white, and she frantically asks, "Do you change your mind, Becs? Did I push you too far? Do you- Is it not fine with you?"

Obviously, Chloe is panicking. She is sweating, her fingers are fidgeting, her face pale, and her breath shortened. Beca knows this sign so well because she herself had had the same experiences.

Beca quickly grabs Chloe's arms gently, and with a calming smile, she says, "Of course not, Chlo. I'm glad I get to spend the night with you. It's been a long while."

A relieved smile immediately appears on Chloe's face, and then she says, "Let's go to bed then."

Just as Chloe pulls Beca with her to head upstairs, Emily cautiously asks, "Hey, Chloe. Do you mind if I borrow Pop for a second?" When she sees the puzzled look on Chloe's face, she adds, "An idea for a song just popped into my mind."

Chloe purses her lips and sighs before she relents. "Don't take too long, Em. She needs to get some sleep."

"Sure." Emily says in relief. She pulls Beca to the kitchen with Stacie following them closely. Once they are out of hearing range, Stacie immediately says, "Chloe is ha-""

"She's having a hard time Pop." Emily cuts her off. While Beca is looking back to Emily in disbelief, Stacie is looking at the younger bella in confusion as she says, "Em, wha-"

Emily looks at Stacie, hinting her to stop talking and she says toward Beca, "You just told her your decision. Also, she just got you back. It will take her some times to adjust."

Still not buying it, Beca looks at the two tall brunettes back and forth with obvious concern and confusion on her face, feeling that her friends are hiding something from her. But when they say nothing, she simply nods, knowing that Chloe is waiting for her. And she doesn't want to make the panicking red read waits too long.

Then Beca walks back into the living room, standing next to Chloe, and the red head immediately laces their hands together. Beca simply gives her a calming smile, and turns to Stacie with puzzled look. But Stacie just nods at her, giving her a hint to go along, making Beca becomes even more confused and worried.

Chloe pulls Beca with her and walks up the stairs. Half way through, she hears Aubrey playfully says, "You can at least say good night to us. You know, the less best friend of yours, Chloe."

As she turns on her heels, Chloe giggles and says, "Aw... no need to be jealous, Bree. You all are my best friends. And I love you all almost equally."

Upon seeing that Choe has come back to her bubbly self, Aubrey smiles in relief and says, "Glad to know that we're almost on the same level as the hobbit."

"Good night, gals." Chloe says with a huge grin before turning and pulling Beca into her room.

As soon as they heard the soft tap of door closing, Stacie turns to Emily and asks in upset, "What the hell are you doing Em?"

Emily ignores her and turns to Aubrey instead to ask in concern, "Is Chloe gonna be okay Bree?"

"I don't think so." Aubrey shakes her head with distressed look. "We must tell Beca as soon as possible."

"I'll explain it to her tomorrow." Stacie says worriedly.

"Can we uh... wait?" Emily asks cautiously.

"What do you mean wait?" Aubrey raises her voice.

Emily sighs and sheepishly says, "I know Chloe is... not well. But Beca has a lot in her hands now with Ashley. She's hanging by a thread. She hasn't been sleeping or eating well. And you know how she is when she's in distress. Can we at least wait until they work their relationship issue to tell Beca? I don't think her heart is strong enough to handle more."

"I'll explain to you later." Stacie tells her confused wife before turning to Emily and asks, "She remembers to take her meds right?"

"Yeah." Emily says, still with worried look. "I make sure of that every day. Ashley gave me a clear instruction and texted me every day to check on Pop. She would've killed me if I've let Beca missed her meds. But I can't always be with her 24/7. I can't control everything when she's home or not with me."

"Hmmm..." Stacie sighs tiredly. "I don't like this idea Em."

"Me too Stace." Emily says dejectedly. "But-"

"But what about Chloe?" Aubrey cuts her off in upset.

"I'll make sure Beca comes here every day until we tell her the truth." Emily says almost in pleading. "I promise Bree."

When Aubrey wants to debate, Stacie says, "Both of them are at risk Babe. We have to compromise. Emily will keep an eye on Beca, and the two of us will handle Chloe's situation."

"Beca has a risk?" Aubrey asks doubtfully without hiding her annoyance. "Another flight risk? It's getting old Babe."

"I'll explain to you later." Stacie says with a weak smile. "But... it's not about her running away again."

Upon seeing the concerned look on her wife, Aubrey sighs in defeat and nods. Then the three of them head to their own rooms.

* * *

**Chloe's Room**

Beca is in the bathroom, washing her face, brushing her teeth, and then changing into a shirt and sweat pants Chloe lent her. She takes her time to calm herself from panicking for the thought of staying on the same bed with another woman other than Ashley after ten years.

When she walks out, Chloe is already under the blanket, paying attention on her phone. As anxiety raising in her, Beca simply stands quietly, paying attention to her feet, rubbing the back of her neck, shuffling her feet, feeling out of place.

"Get your cute little butt here, Mitchell." Chloe says cheerfully once she notices Beca standing by the bathroom door nervously. Then Beca looks up at her, giving the red head a smile and drags her feet slowly to sit on the edge of the bed.

"Come on Becs." Chloe said playfully. "I promise I won't bite."

Beca chuckles nervously, trying to humor the red head. She slowly lays her back on the bed, taking a space near the edge of the bed, lying stiffly with her hands on her stomach.

On the other hand, Chloe pulls one of Beca's arm, slipping herself between the arm and Beca's body, snuggling up onto the brunette's chest. She rests one of her arm on Beca's abdomen, and stretches her leg across Beca's.

Beca tense up immediately, feeling nausea raising up from her stomach, but she swallows hard and stutters, "Uh... Chlo, I uh..."

"Relax, Becs." Chloe cuts her off softly. "We've slept like this for hundreds of times back in college."

"But I uh..." Beca stutters, trying to explain as she begins to panic. "I haven't slept on the same bed with anybody else in ten years except with-"

"Ashley." Chloe pulls herself up a little bit to look at Beca with annoyance showing on her face. "I know."

Beca is speechless from Chloe's reaction, staring at the red head with wide eyes.

"Look Becs." Chloe says firmly. "I'm back in your life now. If Ashley wants to be in your life too, then she has to accept the fact that I'm your best friend, and we can do what best friends do. Just like we did in college."

If Beca was speechless before, now she's stunned. She's never seen this side of Chloe, which reminds her of how unusual Stacie and Emily's behavior in the kitchen. She takes a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself from the panic attack.

Upon seeing the brunette's half-shocked and half-scared expression, Chloe sighs deeply, and her face turns calm as she says with soften tone, "I'm sorry Becs. I didn't mean to lash on you. I just..." She pauses and exhales a long breath before adding, "Can you try? Please."

Beca swallows hard and nods lightly, still trying to grasp the air to calm her nerves. Once she becomes calmer, Chloe lays back on her chest and hums lightly to a song that Beca recognizes as Titanium.

Cautiously, Beca puts an arm on Chloe's back, pats the back of her shoulder gently, and then puts her other arm on the side of her head with her fist resting on the top of her crown.

_This is gonna be another sleepless night._ Beca thought to herself.

"Night night Becs." Chloe says sleepily.

"Night Chlo." Beca mutters.

Not long after, Chloe falls asleep. On the other hand, Beca is busy with her mind, wondering about what happened to Chloe after she left, and trying to alter how it feels like to be sleeping on the same bed with Chloe.

Beca can't shake off this feeling that she's cheating on Ashley again. Beca sighs deeply, drowning in a miserable feeling of missing her ex. How she would give anything just to have Ashley by her side tonight.

* * *

**Stacie and Aubrey's Bedroom**

Stacie is lying with Aubrey in her arms; her fingers are curling Aubrey's blonde hair, while Aubrey is rubbing her chest gently.

"What happened with Beca, Babe?" Aubrey asks her wife softly.

Stacie sighs deeply and says, "After Barden, Beca developed bad habits to deal with her guilty feeling and loneliness. She drank every night, she smoked packs a day, and to be sober enough to work, she had way too much coffee through the day."

"Hmmm..." Aubrey responds curiously. "Was she in depression or something?"

"I don't know for sure about her diagnosis." Stacie says. "Only her psychiatrist and Ashley that know everything about her. But those destructive behaviors led to a heart and lungs problem. Six years ago, she had two heart attacks, and she still has asthma until now. That's why she doesn't drink either caffeinated coffee, or alcohol, and has to take meds daily. She's been sober for more than five years now."

"Since Ashley." Aubrey says calmly.

"Since Ashley." Stacie nods.

"That's why you said that Ashley saved Beca from herself."

"Exactly."

After a moment of silent, Aubrey dares herself to ask, "Are you afraid that Beca will fall back to her old habits after breaking up with Ashley?"

"Hmmm..." Stacie purses her lips, thinking for a while before saying, "I don't think so."

Aubrey pulls herself up to look at her wife questioningly, and Stacie kisses her lips before pulling her to lay back on her chest and says, "Beca has changed throughout the years being with Ashley. She's become stronger. Loving Ashley gives her so many reasons to not only live, but also live better. I believe she won't fall back to that broken road."

"But you were worried about her before, about her taking the meds." Aubrey says matter-of-factly.

"She uh..." Stacie says with a tired chuckle. "It's just... After being with Ashley for years, Beca doesn't know how to be alone. And it distresses her more than anything. And when she's distressed, Beca tends to forget to take her meds, her meals, and even to sleep. She will also skip her meditation and working out session. All of that in the end can cause her another heart attack."

"Isn't it not healthy?" Aubrey asks in concern. "I mean to depend on someone that much?"

"She doesn't do it in purpose, Babe." Stacie explains patiently. "She's kinda used to be taken care of by Ashley. Including being reminded to eat, work out, meditate, take her meds, and sometimes, even to sleep. If not, she usually forgets. She's just careless and forgetful that way. Especially when she's drowned with ideas and works. And when she's distressed, it all becomes worse. But Emily said she's getting better. She worked out this morning and had breakfast without being reminded."

"Hmmm..." Aubrey nods understandingly. "No wonder you speak so highly of her. I guess you're right. Ashley did save the hobbit from herself."

Stacie rolls her eyes and playfully says, "Sometimes I can be right, Mrs. Always Right."

After slapping her wife gently on her chest, Aubrey kisses Stacie's jaw and asks, "Do you think they're going to be okay? I mean, Beca and Ashley."

"I don't know." Stacie says through a sigh. "I mean, with Chloe's condition, and Beca's heart, I just... I don't know how to think about Beca and Ashley."

"That's why you're so torn." Aubrey says sympathetically.

"Yeah." Stacie says with a tired scoff. "I want both of them to be happy. But how? How to have them both happy when they both want different things? When... if Chloe gets what she wants, meaning Beca won't get hers. And the other way around. And with their track record in dealing with problems..."

"I know..." Aubrey sighs, rubbing Stacie's arm to soothe her. "You said that Beca has been seeing a psychiatrist since three years ago. Shouldn't she be better at taking care of herself and coping with her problems?"

"She is." Stacie says. "But something like this... It never really goes away Babe. I mean, look at Chloe."

With defeated sigh, Aubrey says, "I guess you're right. Years of sweat and tears crawling out from that hole, ruined only by one night of meeting Beca."

"Yeah." Stacie says worriedly. "Have you taken care of Chloe's room?"

"I have." Aubrey says in reassurance. "And also our house."

"Have you limited everything to only what she needs for her daily life?" Stacie asks again worriedly.

Aubrey nods and says, "I have Babe. I believe I've covered everything."

"Okay." Stacie sighs. Then a soft smile appears on her face when she says, "I'm proud of you."

"Hm?"

"You've handled your first meeting with Beca very well, even in your standard." Stacie says teasingly.

Aubrey chuckles and says, "I'm a grown up Babe. You think I would've blowed out chunks at her?"

"Can't say it didn't cross my mind." Stacie giggles. "I mean, with your track record of handling stress, I think I might need to put a reminder in my phone. The day Aubrey Posen-Conrad didn't puke. It will be-"

Aubrey simply cuts her off by kissing her, deeply. And it turns out to be effective.

And you know what happen next. No need for elaboration.

* * *

**Aubrey and Stacie's House: Saturday Morning,** **October 4** **th** **2025**

Aubrey and Chloe are preparing breakfast while Emily, Stacie, Bella, and Beca are sitting around the dining table with drink in their hands.

The eating position is set. Stacie is always sitting at the head of the table, Bella sits on Stacie's left side, and Aubrey's seat is on her wife's right side. So Emily takes a seat next to Aubrey, while Beca sits next to Bella across from Emily, and it seems like Chloe will sit next to Beca.

"Did you sleep well, Shorty?" Stacie asks Beca in almost a whisper, trying not to be heard by the red head.

Beca rolls her eyes and then stares at her with an eyebrow raised as if saying _Seriously? Do you even need to ask?_

"Oh, right." Stacie gives her an apologetic smile. "Silly of me to ask."

With a light shrug, Beca sighs and then sips her hot milk. On the other hand, Stacie takes her time to stare at her best friend's appearance. Beca has dark circles under her eyes, and she looks paler than usual.

Before any of them started another conversation, Aubrey and Chloe bring a stack of pancakes, a plate of bacons, a bowl of scrambled eggs, and a jug of orange juice to the table. After they take their seats, Aubrey puts two pancakes, pouring maple syrup on them and two bacons on a plate before putting the plate in front of Stacie.

"There you go Babe." Aubrey says with a loving smile.

"Thanks Babe." Stacie replies before kissing Aubrey on the cheek.

Then Aubrey puts a pancake and one scoop of scrambled eggs on a plate before putting it in front of Bella. "Here's yours sweetie."

"Thank you Mommy." Bella says sleepily. and starts eating her breakfast.

Beca is getting up to take some food when Emily stops her and says, "Let me Pop."

Although she's confused, Beca simply nods, letting Emily puts four plain pancakes and two big scoops of scrambled eggs on a plate, and then places it in front of her. Unknowingly to Beca, Ashley had warned Emily that Beca would've taken much less food than she'd needed if she'd taken the food by herself.

"Thanks Kid." Beca says with furrowed eyebrows. "Though I still can take my own food you know."

Emily plays it off by saying, "Aw... We know how you're so used to be spoiled, Pop. No need to be shy."

While Beca is sending a deathly glare to Emily, Stacie snorts and then ducks when Beca throws her a piece of scrambled eggs from her seat.

"No food war, please." Aubrey says firmly.

"Sorry Bree." Beca says with a smirk.

Chloe watches how Emily is treating Beca in half-confusion yet still surprised. "Didn't know you are more spoiled than Bella, Becs."

Then all of them are laughing, except for Beca, who just rolls her eyes, shoving a small piece of pancake into her mouth and says in half-annoyance, "Haha. Very funny."

After that, they are engaged in conversation, starting with Chloe asking, "What are you planning to do today, Becs?"

"Got a full day at the studio with Em." Beca says without looking at Chloe, opting to play with her food instead.

After shoving a spoonful eggs into her mouth, Emily asks, "How's the schedule?"

"Swallow before you talk, Legacy." Aubrey says softly.

Bella grins from ear to ear and teases, "Aunt Emmy, you're eating so messily."

The adults laugh lightly before Beca looks at Emily and answers, "All done in the next three weeks. The deadline is on October 27th."

"Hmmm..." Emily chews her food slowly. "You think we can get it done by then?"

"We have to." Beca replies before taking a little bite of eggs.

"Okay." Emily says before shoving another chunk of pancake into her mouth.

"Are you always this busy?" Chloe asks curiously. "I mean, this is weekend, Becs."

Beca purses her lips, taking a sip of her milk before answering, "Not really. I usually put up a reasonable schedule. But this is a very special project I've been working with Emily this whole week."

"What special project?" Chloe asks again.

Aren't sure if she should be telling the truth to Chloe, Beca simply puts on a tight smile. Then Emily comes to her rescue by saying, "You know, since I'm signed under her record and training to be a senior producer, Beca let me choose the artists, and gave me her precious time to teach me."

It isn't entirely a lie. Except she left out the fact that the songs is being produced for Ashley. But Chloe doesn't need to know that, and Emily sighs in relief when Chloe simply nods and resumes eating again.

However, just right after she swallows, Chloe asks, "Do you mind if I come with you to the studio, Becs? I'm hoping that we could spend more time together."

"I don't think it's a good idea, Chlo." Beca replies casually, still with her eyes on her food. But Emily kicks her foot under the table and gives her a warning look. So Beca turns and sees the hurt in Chloe's eyes that makes her hurriedly adds, "I mean, I'd be too busy working, and you'd be bored."

When Chloe is going to push the matter, Stacie instantly meddles in by asking, "You're not coming with us to the zoo? Bella would be sad if her godmother doesn't join her."

Chloe turns to look at Stacie, and then to Bella when the little blonde excitedly says, "Yes Aunt Chowee! We're going to the zoo. You're coming with us, right?"

Doesn't want to disappoint her goddaughter, Chloe cheerfully says, "Of course I'm coming with you, Bells. We're gonna have so much fun."

Bella nods, seeming so enthusiastic, and Aubrey softly says toward her daughter, "Now, finish your breakfast, and then we can get ready. Okay sweetie?"

"Yes Mommy." Bella resumes eating her breakfast cheerfully.

Everybody are almost done with their breakfast, yet Beca's plate is still almost full. She barely eat three spoon. That is the reason Emily put a lot of food on her plate, Ashley told her that this was going to happen. Apparently, she isn't the only one to notice.

"Not having any appetite, Becs?" Chloe asks in concern.

Beca just gives her a weak smile. Then Emily takes Beca's plate, taking out two and half pancakes, and almost half of the scrambled eggs before she puts it back in front of her former captain and softly says, "Can you at least finish this much Pop?"

With a heavy sigh, Beca nods lightly and starts eating reluctantly.

This fact really confuses Chloe. Back in Barden, Beca ate like a trucker. It wouldn't take her more than 10 minutes to finish her food, and then ordered some more. She doesn't ask anything though, knowing that a lot has changed since ten years ago.

However, she becomes more surprised when after Beca finishes her breakfast, Emily pulls out a little container from her pocket, taking out the content and hands it to Beca.

"Pop." Emily calls.

Beca looks up after wiping her mouth with a napkin. When she sees the pills on Emily's hand, she rolls her eyes, taking the pills and drinks it with the glass of water that Stacie puts in front of her.

"All done Kid." Beca says with bored-look.

Emily grins, and Stacie pats Beca on her shoulder, earning more eye roll from the tiny brunette.

"I can take care of myself, you know?" Beca says in half-annoyance.

"We know. We just want to make sure of it." Stacie says playfully.

Beca groans and whines, "You both need to stop treating me like a child."

"I won't blame them judging from your size." Aubrey teases.

With a deathly glare addressed to her former captain, Beca says in mock upset, "Haha. Making fun of my heights. Setting up a high standard for your kid, Posen."

"Oh, you'll need to look up to know how high it is." Aubrey replies playfully, and Beca just rolls her eyes again.

"You seriously needed to be taken care of that much?" Chloe asks in half-surprised and half-curious tone. She's been looking at the way Emily's been treating Beca, and people who don't know would've thought that Beca is Emily's girlfriend.

"No." Beca says in half-annoyance. "I can take care of myself very well, thank you very much."

"If you don't forget." Stacie chips in with a smirk.

Beca sends another deathly glare toward Stacie while the other adults are laughing lightly. Then Aubrey stares at Chloe knowingly and says, "Chloe?"

"Now?" Chloe whines.

"Now." Aubrey says firmly before pulling Chloe out of the dining room. They come back merely five minutes later, and without saying anything, they start cleaning up after the breakfast.

"Come on Princess." Stacie picks her daughter up. "Let's go get ready to the zoo."

"To the zoo!" Bella shrieks excitedly, earning a bark of laughter from her parents and aunts.

After Stacie is gone, Beca and Emily are still sitting around the dining table, and then Beca calls, "Em."

"Hm?" Emily responds without taking her eyes away from her phone.

"Are you uh... still having that lunch with Ashley today?" Beca asks nervously.

"Yep." Emily says, still not looking up from her phone.

"Can you uh..." Beca rubs the back of her neck. "Can you give her something from me?"

This time, Emily looks up and stares at her with puzzled look.

"It's just a note." Beca says as she pulls out a piece of paper from her back pocket.

"Sure, Pop." Emily takes the note and asks, "Anything else?"

"Just that. Thank you Kid." Beca says with a soft smile.

"No problemo, _Bambino_." Emily smirks, teasing her former captain with a nickname Ashley gave her.

Beca blushes, groaning loudly before she says, "You seriously have been hanging out too much with Ashley."

While Emily is laughing upon seeing how flushed Beca is, unknowingly to the two brunettes, Chloe is watching them closely. She is sighing when Aubrey puts a hand on her arm, asking, "Are you okay, Chloe?"

Chloe turns her sad expression into bubbly Chloe look and nods. However, Aubrey sees through her and isn't convinced at all. But she doesn't push the matter. Not long after, Beca and Emily say goodbye to their friend. And Beca left not without a tight grip hug from Chloe.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that would be chapter 15. I wasn't sure about the tittle, but I guess it's the most suitable one. I've been putting bread crumbs here and there about Chloe's condition since chapters ago. And all of you are free to guess. But you'll find out in... maybe between chapter 20-23. I'm not so sure.
> 
> In the next chapter, it will be a whole chapter for Ashley in her contemplating phase.
> 
> Meanwhile, just sit tight and make good choices. Thank you for reading. :D


	16. Which Moving On to Choose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ola :D
> 
> For the story. In the last chapter, we were left off where Emily was going to have a lunch date with Ashley. And I've said it previous chapter that this is going to be all about Ashley.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song in this chapter is Loving You Tonight by Andrew Allen. And there is a piece of If You Stay by Joseph Vincent. I don't own Pitch Perfect nor the songs. Hope you enjoy. Let's dig in :D

**October 4** **th** **2025, Lunch Time**

It's lunch time, and Emily has arrived at the restaurant where Ashley has been waiting. She walks to the back booth where not so many people around, and when she's close to Ashley, she greets from behind, "Hey, you're Ashley Benson right? Can I ask for a picture?"

"Actually I-"Ashley looks over her shoulder and jumps off her seat, squealing and pulling Emily in a tight hug. "Junk!"

"Benzo!" Emily squeals back as excited, hugging her blonde best friend back as tightly.

"How have you been?" Ashley asks lightly as they take their seat facing each other.

Emily takes a menu from the waiter, muttering _thanks_ before answering Ashley, "Same old, same old. Been busy looking out for a certain DJ in a while." She smirks playfully. "When will you take your job back?"

Trying to hide her flushing cheeks, Ashley opts to look at the menu instead of answering Emily. Yet Emily chuckles knowingly, not pushing the blonde. Not yet at least. When their food come, they resumes to eat and just catching up casually.

After they finish lunch and have a cup of coffee in each of their hands, Emily asks bluntly, "Now that we're done with pleasantries, how you've been holding up?"

"Barely." Ashley breathes out with heavy sigh. Then she clears her throat, easing the lump down before saying in a cracked voice, "I miss her, Em. Everything's reminding me of her." She exhales a shaky breath. "It physically hurts."

Emily grabs her hand on the table, giving her a sympathetic smile before saying, "She feels the same, Ash."

With a glint of hope in her eyes, Ashley stares at Emily for a moment before shaking her head, remembering the reasons she's broken up with Beca, and says, "She loves Chloe, Em. And judging from the stuff she's told me about Chloe, I think... she's better with Chloe instead of me."

"True." Emily replies without hesitation. Then after she sees the confirmation of hurt in Ashley's eyes, she continues, "Chloe loves her. And Beca loves Chloe. But not the way she loves you. And I believe you are just as good for Beca."

When Ashley is trying to say something, Emily holds up her hand, stopping the blonde from interrupting. "She's her first love, Ash. Her, first, love. There will always be a place in her heart that's reserved for Chloe. And she might've had Beca's heart yesterday. But you're the one who holds it today. And more likely tomorrow too."

"Why are everybody so sure?" Ashley says in frustration. She wipes the tears on the corner of her eyes and then says, "First Troian. Then Patrick. And now you."

Emily rolls her eyes, and then asks with the same frustration in her voice, "Why are you not?"

"They kissed, Em." Ashley says with a weak sad smile. "Besides, it isn't the only thi-"

"Yeah. One time. Get over it." Emily cuts her off and sips her coffee casually, can't be more care less whether she hurts her best friend with her words.

"You know it's not the kiss that counts." Ashley rolls her eyes. "It's the feeling in it Em. She is... It's her first lo-"

"But-" Emily cuts her off.

Ashley holds up her index finger before firmly says, "I'm not done yet." Then she takes a deep breath. "She is her first love. Ten years they've never met. Yet the second Chloe was back, I could see how all of her anxiety and uncertainty raised up all in an instant."

With her lips pressed tightly, Emily remains silent, simply staring at her blonde friend in half-annoyance. Then Ashley looks back at her with furrowed eyebrows before rolling her eyes and says, "Now you can talk."

"Exactly my point." Emily holds her index finger up in front of her own face.

When Ashley furrows her eyebrows questioningly, Emily huffs and says, "Like you said. It's been ten years, Ash. Ten years of unanswered questions, ten years of unspoken feelings that's left behind, ten years of shame and guilt. Of course it would affect her. I know she might look as tiny as a troll, and has an emotional capability of a rock. But she's a human Ash."

Ashley scoffs weakly for Emily's effort of humor and says, "She's torn, Em. She's afraid of choosing. I just don't want her to hurt herself. So I thought... I just wanted to make it easier for her. For us."

"Keep telling that to yourself." Emily says matter-of-factly. "And you might actually believe that."

"All I want is the best for her."

Emily snorts sarcastically before saying, "You sure have a funny way of showing that. And since when do you get to decide what's best for Beca? You've always let her make her own decision."

Fiddling with the pendant on her chest with her fingers, Ashley sighs deeply and helplessly says, "I'm doing this because I love her, Em. I can't lose her."

"Who are you trying to convince?" Emily retorts with bored-look. "Me, or yourself? Besides, newsflash Ash. You're already losing her. You left."

"Oh, you so do not get to say that to me." Ashley says in upset. "You have no idea how it feels like to love someone who're not sure of their own feelings."

"What do you mean?" Emily asks. "Are you saying that Beca has never loved you enough? Is that why you broke up with her?"

Ashley rolls her eyes impatiently as she says, "She loves me more than I deserve. But her feelings to Chloe..." She takes a deep breath. "What if the feelings never go away? What if we thought it was fine while it's not? What if one day Beca wakes up and realizes that it has always been Chloe? You know Beca. She's always needed more time to process everything."

Acting so nonchalant by sipping her coffee, Emily says, "You can ask as much what if's as you can find. And it will only makes you wander in bottomless wonder. You won't be able to see that the answer is already in front of you, served on a silver platter."

"And what's that?" Ashley asks with her arms crossed on her chest.

Emily rolls her eyes, shaking her head tiredly and emotionally explains, "That she still chose you! In fact, she has been choosing you for more than five years. She chose to be with you even she was terrified of being in a relationship; she chose to come out to the public with you; she chose to open up to get you back after you left her; she chose to live with you; and she chooses you now!"

Realizing how helpless Ashley seems, Emily stops talking because apparently, she's been raising her voice. She takes a deep breath and exhales slowly before she adds with a soften voice, "She has chosen to love you every single time Ash. If it doesn't prove enough, I don't know what will."

With a groan, Ashley snaps, "Do you think I don't know that?"

Ignoring the staring from the other table, Emily scoffs and says, "You obviously haven't shown anybody that you actually do."

When Ashley just huffs in frustration, Emily impatiently says, "Look. I know it's hard to see the bigger picture with something this big standing right before your eyes. Something that can break you. But Beca is in love with you. You don't have to worry about anything else. I'm sure of it."

"You know nothing Em!" Ashley snaps in a whisper.

Also in a whisper, Emily snaps back, "Then tell me what I don't know! Because Beca just broke Chloe's heart! My sister's heart! For you!"

Upon hearing Emily's revelation, Ashley cringes her face, feeling a pang under her chest. But Emily doesn't notice and keeps on hissing harshly, "Because she loves you! And she chooses you! So God help me if you don't pull your head out of your ass, I will ki-"

Emily stops snapping when she sees the hurt and guilt on Ashley. Although she is indeed confused, and needs some answer, she chooses to calm herself down. Then they remain silent for quite a while.

People think that the two of them become best friends for Beca, or because they are both hilarious and master pranksters. But the truth is, they've become vastly close because they are just as stubborn and blunt.

Emily knows that this silent moment can go for hours, but she also knows that her best friend is hurting and stubborn. Evidently, even more stubborn when she's hurting. So she sighs deeply and softly says, "I'm such an ass. Sorry Ash."

"You're just trying to help." Ashley replies with apologetic smile. "I'm sorry for putting my frustration on you. I just... I can't."

"Ash..." Emily starts tiredly. "I... Honestly, in these past three years I've known you, I've never seen you like this. What's wrong? You know you can tell me everything."

"I can't." Ashley says dejectedly.

"Is this really about Chloe and the kiss?" Emily asks cautiously. "There were so many women who wants to be in Beca's life, but it has never been an issue before. Ever. So I'm wondering... Is there something else?"

"It's not..." Ashley seems nervous and somehow guilty. "I don't know how to tell you. But... yeah. It's not only about the kiss and Chloe, Em."

"Then what?" Emily asks with puzzled look, but Ashley just glances away from her, biting her bottom lip, looking uneasy. Then Emily firmly asks, "Ash... what did you do?"

"I..." Ashley holds her breath, can't seem to reveal what's on her mind, and it definitely worries Emily.

"Did you-" Emily can't seem to finish her question. She'd never thought that Ashley would ever pull something like that. But she has to make sure. So she cautiously asks, "Is there... someone else? For you?"

"No." Ashley immediately answers with her eyes fixed on the table.

Emily sighs in relief and softly says, "You don't have to worry about her not loving you, Ash. She loves you. She worships you like... you hung the stars in the sky. No. Like you are her universe. I remember her saying that you are the center of her universe. Meaning that you're her sun."

"Oh God..." Ashley massages her temple. "How could I..."

"She told me that," Emily continues. "You are the gravity that grounded her. You keep her in line."

"Please stop Em." Ashley says weakly.

"That you put her on her orbit so she doesn't wander around without a direc-"

"Emily, stop." Ashley firmly cuts her off, and this time, Emily complies. Then she remembers about the note.

"I almost forgot." Emily takes the paper out from her purse and hands it to Ashley as she says, "Beca gave you something. Here."

Ashley takes it with her eyebrows furrowed, unsure if she wants to know about the content. She holds the paper tightly, doesn't have enough courage to open it.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Emily asks impatiently.

After swallowing hard, Ashley says, "I'm not sure Em."

"What?" Emily furrows her eyebrows in confusion. "You think she's gonna say bad stuff in it? That she'll say that she doesn't want you anymore?"

Doesn't know what to say, Ashley simply shakes her head lightly, and it certainly confused Emily more than anything. This isn't like Ashley at all for her, so Emily pushes, "Just open it Benzo. It must be another love declaration for you. There's nothing to be scared of."

Again, Ashley just sighs heavily but says nothing. It pushes Emily's button, and she snatches the paper from Ashley's hand, opening it before reading out to her best friend.

 _When you're with me I feel so alive_  
_You're the Bonnie to my Clyde_  
_We can paint the town_  
_But you're so far._  
_And that can't even hold me down_  
_You're the one my everything  
_ _If you stay, you'll make me sing_

 _-I got the inspiration this morning after another_ _sleepless night  
_ _missing holding you in my arms. -Love, Beca._

When Emily is reading the note, Ashley feels like being hit on her chest. So she closes her eyes, connecting the tips of her fingers in a circle on the table, and mutters under her breath, "Just breathe."

"If you don't go get her after this, I might." Emily chuckles after reading the note. But when she looks up at Ashley, the blonde is still closing her eyes. In total confusion, Emily calls, "Ash?"

However, Ashley ignores her and keeps focusing on her breath. Around five minutes later, Ashley opens her eyes, smiling sadly toward Emily and says, "It's sweet Em. It is so her. But..." She swallows hard. "I'm so, so sorry. But I need to go back to work."

"Ash!" Emily tries to call her back, but Ashley has already rushed out from the restaurant.

* * *

 **Troian and Patrick's House: Sunday Afternoon, October 26** **th** **2025**

Ashley is having a really bad week. Work has been crazy, her friends have been bugging her about her ex, Beca hasn't called since she said she'd want to visit Olive and Walter because she's been crazily busy this past few weeks, and above all, she just misses Beca.

Usually, when Ashley had a bad day, Beca would do anything to make her smile again. A soft smile creeps up on her face as her mind trails its way back to a couple months ago, when they were still happily together.

* * *

_**Flashback: 4 and half months ago.** _

Ashley just got a news from her agent that she didn't get a part in a movie she auditioned for. She felt so sad because she really wanted that part, and it was the third movie that she didn't get that year. On the top of that, she found a magazine saying that Beca was having an affair with one of her artists. Although she clearly knew it wasn't true, it still managed to worsen her mood.

She went home that evening, showered and got on her bed immediately after changing. Usually, when she was done early, she would go to the studio to be with Beca, or cook dinner for Beca at home.

However, she wasn't in the mood of cooking that day. So she curled up under the blanket, and absorbed in a feeling of low self-efficacy. After a long while, all of the sudden, Ashley felt a dip on their bed.

"Hon?" Ashley felt Beca's hand, rubbing her arm over the blanket. However, Ashley didn't give any respond, and it wasn't surprising when Beca pulled down the blanket gently, uncovering a very upset girlfriend, who was on the edge of breaking a dam of tears.

"What's wrong, Hon?" Beca asked with concern look, placing her palm on Ashley's forehead to check her temperature, and after making sure that Ashley wasn't having a fever, Beca cupped her cheek, brushing it with her thumb gently.

Certain that she would break down in tears if she opened her mouth to talk, Ashley just shook her head lightly. Then Beca kissed her forehead gently, stroking her hand on the blonde's golden lock. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Ashley shook her head again.

"Do you want to watch some movies? We can have chocolate malted crunch." Beca asked softly, making Ashley's chest warm because her girlfriend offered to watch movies even though she herself didn't like watching movies.

However, Ashley was still upset. So she shook her head again.

"How about we watch Spongebob Squarepants?" Beca tried to pursue her, knowing that it was her favorite cartoon.

Ashley shook her head again, and Beca became silent for a while before she asked, "Do you want to go for a ride?"

Riding a motorcycle was something that Ashley loved to do with Beca. It was thrilling and it helped her clear her head. But she was too tired to comply, so she shook her head again.

When Beca ran her fingers through her hair and scratched her head, Ashley knew well that her girlfriend was becoming more frustrated.

"Have you eaten yet?"

With her bottom lip in between her teeth, Ashley shook her head again, trying so hard to hold her tears.

"Do you want to eat something?" Beca asked worriedly. "We can order sushi."

It was Ashley's favorite food. But still, she didn't have the mood to go for it. So she sighed and shook her head again.

"Let's call Patrick, Troian, and Shay. We can invite all of your friends from PLL if you want, and just have an impromptu party."

The more Beca persuade her, the more Ashley felt bad to her girlfriend, who was offering to do everything she liked, even though she herself didn't favor them. Including this one, having a bunch of people in their house.

As sweet as it was, Ashley was in her zone, in feeling the emotion that hit her. So, again, she shook her head.

From the heavy sigh, Ashley knew that Beca was getting impatient because it wasn't often Ashley acted this way when she was upset. Usually, one of the things that the brunette had offered before would've brought the smile back to her face.

"Honey, Babe, Love, tell me what happen so I can fix it." Beca pleaded. "Please."

Tears finally fell out from Ashley's eyes, and she wiped it quickly, before she cracked, "Nothing you can do to change that. I just need to feel this way for a while."

Ashley felt a gentle caressing on her head, and a pressing of the lips on her forehead.

"We don't know that. Maybe you will change your mind about feeling... whatever this is after we do something else."

Again, Ashley shook her head and weakly said, "It means I'm denying how I feel. I shouldn't avoid my emotion. I need to feel it. This. I have to let myself experience this."

After saying that, Ashley just turned her back to Beca, and then she felt Beca's lips on her shoulder.

"I'm here for you."

However kind it was, Ashley shrugged her girlfriend off gently, and this rarely happened. She knew that this act would worry Beca more than anything. Usually when she was upset, she would either complain, scold, be clingy, or whatever it was to show that she wanted to have Beca around.

She thought that Beca would be freaking out and started to ramble or call the cavalry, Troian and Patrick. The odd thing was, she felt Beca got up from the bed. But she couldn't bring herself to find out why Beca walked away.

After a while, Ashley heard Beca shouted from the bathroom. "Hon?!"

Ashley didn't reply.

"Honey, Babe, can you help me please?!" Beca yelled louder.

Thinking of the worst, Ashley sat up immediately and loudly asked, "Are you okay?!"

"Yeah! I'm fine!"

Ashley sighed in relief but didn't say anything, and then she laid back on the bed, covering herself under the blanket again.

"Could you uh... sit on the bed?!"

Ashley sighed and then muffled loudly, "I'm not in the mood, Babe. What do you want?"

"Just humor me please! I promise you won't be disappointed! I hope!"

This time, Ashley sighed in annoyance but complied, sitting up with her back leaning on the headboards.

"Are you in position?!"

"Hng!" Ashley crossed her arms on her chest, and then Beca walked out from the bathroom.

Upon seeing her girlfriend's appearance, Ashley almost burst in laughter but she bit her bottom lip to hold it. Beca was wearing an onesie for adult; the pattern was diamond with blue, white, and grey as the colors. She even put the hoodie on. She stood, leaning by the bathroom door on her side with one arm stretched up, and the other one holding Ashley's round hairbrush.

It was as dorky as it was, and Ashley loved it. But she was still feeling the blue even though a light smile was already creeping up on her face when Beca started to sing overly dramatic.

Swaying her hips side to side, using the hairbrush as a mic, Beca walked toward her slowly. She was singing and changing her expression according to the lyric. She feigned a tired and bored look, and then changed into a huge grin as the lyric went on, making the blonde hid her laughter by scoffing.

 _Lost in the day, in a way, tt's same as the one before this,_  
_And I wish I could say that's it's all black and white_  
_But it's grey. It's the same, it's the same and I'm so tired  
_ _But you are what I'm coming home to_

 _Oh and I'm thinking about a red wine buzz and takin' it easy,  
_ _And I got you in my arms, takin' a break from crazy_

Ashley looked away to the side, pouting with her arms crossed, while Beca started crawling up onto the bed and slowly approaching her, still singing overly dramatic. When the brunette poked her nose, Ashley batted Beca's hand away. But Beca grinned as she tilted Ashley's chin to face her, and kissed her lips chastely as she continued to sing.

 _And I'll say "hey!"_  
_You'll say "baby, how's your day?"_  
_I'll say "crazy"_  
_But it's all gonna be alright_  
_You'll kiss my smile_  
_I'll pull you closer_  
_Spend a while just getting to know ya_  
_But it's all gonna be alright  
_ _Loving you tonight_

When Beca pulled back slowly, she took Ashley's hands in hers, pulling her to get up from the bed. Once Ashley's up, still with that adorable pout on her face and crossed arms on her chest again, Beca danced around her, leaning her back against Ashley's, singing with dramatic expression. _  
_

_And you are there on my heart at the start of my every morning_  
_And I can't deny by the end of the day that I'm running on empty_  
_But you make me full, steal my breath_  
_You're so unpredictable  
_ _That's what I'm coming home to_

Ashley yelped when Beca pulled her hand and turned her around, drawing her closer, wiggling her eyebrows as she sang. She took Ashley's other hand, and put it on her shoulder, feigning a slow dance.

 _Oh I'm dreaming about a romance, slow dancing with you  
_ _When I got you in arms, then I don't care what we do_

Then Ashley finally laughed and she shoved Beca playfully. She could see a huge splitting goofy grin and beaming eyes on Beca's face when she finally made her smile.

 _And I'll say "hey!"_  
_You'll say "baby, how's your day?"_  
_I'll say "crazy"_  
_But it's all gonna be alright_  
_You'll kiss my smile_  
_I'll pull you closer_  
_Spend a while just getting to know ya_  
_But it's all gonna be alright  
_ _Loving you tonight_

Suddenly, Beca's grin turned into a fond smile. The brunette threw the hairbrush away, took Ashley's hands, and put them on her shoulders. On the other hand, Beca put her own hands on Ashley's hips, pulling her closer, swaying slowly to the song as her singing became slower and soften.

 _'Cause every day is just the in-between_  
_The hours separating you from me_  
_I know you'll be waiting  
_ _I know you'll be waiting_

Ashley couldn't help but fondly smiling back as the warmth raising up from her stomach to her chest.

 _And I'll say "hey!"_  
_You'll say "baby, how's your day?"_  
_I'll say "crazy"_  
_But it's all gonna be alright_  
_You'll kiss my smile_  
_I'll pull you closer_  
_Spend a while just getting to know ya_  
_But it's all gonna be alright_  
_Loving you tonight  
_ _Loving you tonight_

By the time the song ended, their foreheads are resting on each other's, their eyes looked into each other's, and their lips were forming fond smiles.

"There it is." Beca said softly. "The smile I've been craving for a whole day."

Ashley smiled wider and kissed her girlfriend on the lips, taking her time to nip Beca's lips gently as her fingers lost their way in Beca's hair, while Beca pulled her closer by her waist. As the kiss became more heated, suddenly, there was a loud roar coming from Ashley's stomach.

Beca pulled away instantly, snorted with her lips pressed tightly to prevent herself from laughing.

"Don't you dare laughing at me, Mitchell." Ashley scolded, mocking anger, pouting her lips with her cheeks flushing red, which was making it even harder for Beca to hold her laughter, and her face also became red.

When Beca couldn't help it anymore, she barked out a loud laughter, bending forward with her hand on the side of her stomach, laughing until she was out of breath. On the other hand, Ashley crossed her arms on her chest and pouted vigorously.

"Sorry, Hon... I... I couldn't help it." Beca tried to manage between laughter.

Ashley slapped her arm, still with that adorable pout, but then followed to laugh with her girlfriend. Once the laughter unwound, Ashley kissed Beca's smiling lips chastely and mumbled, "I love you Babe, always."

With a goofy grin on her face, Beca pulled Ashley closer and softly said, "I love you too my adorable weirdo."

Then Ashley pecked her girlfriend one more time, and Beca dragged with teasing tone, "So... sushi?"

"I want pizza." Ashley said with a shy smile. "Veggie pizza."

"Veggie pizza it is, my lady." Beca said with a smirk before walking away, taking her phone to order the pizza.

Then they just sat at the balcony, waiting for the pizza. Ashley was snuggling up onto Beca's chest, rubbing her left chest gently, while Beca was playing with Ashley's hair and humming a song lightly.

"I had a bad day." Ashley finally spoke up.

"Hmm."

"Work has been crazy lately." Ashley said weakly. "I failed three auditions, and I saw a magazine stating that you're having an affair."

Instead of laughing at her or debating about the rumor, Beca pulled her closer, kissed her hairline, and then mumbled, "It's going to be okay, Hon."

At that moment, all of her worries vanished into thin air. Ashley believed what Beca said; that it's going to be okay. Ashley hugged Beca tighter, and kissed her gently under her jaw. Suddenly, Ashley knew what she needed to do, and she put it in her mind to do it as soon as possible.

"And I'm not having an affair, girlfriend number three." Beca said nonchalantly.

Ashley slapped her chest playfully, earning a laughter from the brunette.

"The number one and two would be Olive and Walter." Beca said playfully, and Ashley chuckled lightly.

That night after dinner, Ashley showed just how much she appreciated Beca's effort to make her smile again. Eagerly and repeatedly.

And you know what I'm talking about.

_**End of Flashback.** _

* * *

After watching Ashley ignoring her puppies for an hour and just staring at the ceiling with a goofy grin on her face, Troain sits next to her on the couch in the living room.

"Have you gone crazy, Ash?" Troian teases her best friend, trying to cheer her up. "The last time I checked, healthy people don't just laugh on her own. I prefer the moping Ashley than the crazy Ashley. That is, if you aren't crazy enough yet."

Ashley just rolls her eyes and sighs deeply.

"It's not usual to see you ignoring your kids, Ash. Come on, spill."

With a heavy sigh, Ashley says, "Beca hasn't called yet."

Troian stares at Ashley in half-annoyance and says, "We've been through this, Ash. If you want to call her, then call her. You don't need to wait for her to call you."

"But-"

"But you broke up with her, and you don't have any reason to call because it won't make this easier for the two of you." Troian cuts her off with bored-look. "You've told me the same thing thousands of times before."

"It's not only that, you know." Ashley says in half-annoyance.

"Oh, there's something new." Troian says with a mocking tone. "What is it?"

"She said she's going to visit, but she hasn't."

Troian is taken aback for a second before she asks, "Beca said she'll visit? Are you two getting back together?"

"No, silly." Ashley scoffs sadly. "Three weeks ago, when I called to tell her that I wanted to take Olive and Walter, she said she'd want to visit them. But she hasn't come or at least ask about them."

"Oh." Troian responds. After a moment of silent, she adds, "Maybe she's busy."

"Yeah, I know."

"You do?"

"Yeah, I do."

"For sure or hypothetically?" Troian narrows her eyes, rubbing her chin, mocking a serious face.

Ashley chuckles and says, "For sure. Emily told me. She's been taking care of Beca. Making sure that Beca eat, sleep, and take her meds properly."

"She's talking to you then."

"Nope." Ashley says dejectedly. "I don't blame her though. I left her in that restaurant. But I'm sure she will take care of Beca without me asking her."

After a moment of silent, Troian looks at Ashley, who seems to be deep in thought, and says, "If you keep doing this, you know that in the end you'll only have yourself to blame, right?"

"I know." Ashley says tiredly. "And not this again, Troian. I've had enough lectures from Patrick and Emily."

"I can see that they don't work. So I need to do a more extreme intervention." Troian says nonchalantly, picking up walter from the floor onto her laps.

Doesn't know what to say, Ashley simply sighs heavily. They fall into another silent moment until eventually, Ashley says, "Everybody keep telling me that it's gonna be okay."

Troian chuckles and mockingly says, "How rude of them."

When Ashley says nothing but giving her a tired deathly glare, Troian says, "How about this? I'm gonna tell you that it's not gonna be okay, and everything's all screwed up. Does that make you feel any better?"

Again, Ashley simply sighs sadly and shakes her head.

"See?" Troian retorts while petting Walter. "Nothing's gonna make you feel better until you make a decision."

Ashley holds her breath under her cheeks and puffs it out harshly before saying, "If you haven't known yet, I've already made one. I broke up with her."

"Nu uh." Troian counters Ashley casually. "You broke up with her wasn't a decision. It was an impulse."

Feeling confused, Ashley asks, "What impulse?"

"I don't know." Troian shrugs. "Why don't you tell me?"

"Troian." Ashley says with a warning tone.

Troian sighs deeply and says, "Look. I've known you for years. Twice longer than Beca. And I kinda know you better than you do. And we both know how you respond to stress. You usually fight for it. But this time, you chose flight."

"I think it's for the best." Ashley says weakly.

"I think you should tell her, Ash." Troian says softly.

"About?"

"The uh..." Troian is cautious. "You know. About the things you're conflicted about. The things that only I know about you."

Ashley closes her eyes and says, "She will hate me. And not just hate me, but _hate me_ hate me. And I don't think I can handle that."

"I know." Troian says softly. "For once in your life, you finally have something to lose."

"I just..." Ashley breathes out in frustration. "If I tell her, I'm more than sure she'll think that... everything in the last five years is just a lie. That everything she's been through, that we've been through, is built based on lies."

"Well," Troian presses her lips tightly. "I think it's her right to judge. You need to let her make the decision for that on her own. And in order to do that, you have to-"

"Tell her about it." Ashley finishes her sentence in defeat. "All about it. I know. I just don't know how. It's been years, Troian. Years. I don't even remember when or where it started."

After a long heavy sigh, Troian says, "Well... for the record, I did warn you about this years ago."

"But-"

"I know what you did has never harmed her in any way." Troian says calmly. "And seeing how it's been going so far, I understood why you're so conflicted to tell her. It's been eating you up for years. And after you told us about Chloe, and the fact that she's back now... we both know that you'll just become more and more anxious about it."

"But if I tell her," Ashley exhales stubbornly. "She'll be broken Troian. She'll feel betrayed. And I'm dreading if she'll... go back to the way she was before us. And it will be my fault. It _is_ my fault. I know. I shouldn't have let this happen for years. But... I just can't lose her that way. I love her too much Troian."

"And she loves you too." Troian says softly. "Patrick said that she's been trying to get you back. I don't know how. But if you want to be with her, and I know you do, maybe... it's time for her to see the other side, Ash. If you decide to go back with her, you can't keep this from her. At some point you'll blow up, and it won't be pretty. Far from it."

"Urgh..." Ashley rubs her face harshly. "This is all so messed up."

"Now you admit that it's all messed up." Troian says matter-of-factly.

Ashley rolls her eyes and rambles, "Of course I know that it's all messed up. I mean, I thought it would be okay. That... I can just... keep it to myself. That I can live with that. But after she told me about Chloe three years ago, I just... God! Was I terrified. And now with Chloe here, and they kissed... I just... I thought that it would be the perfect moment, the perfect reason to... just leave it like that. I've never thought that it would be this hard. Losing her is so damn hard."

"I know that." Troian says matter-of-factly. "Like I said. For once in your life, you actually have something to lose. Her. And we, the normal residents of this universe, call this the rock bottom. I know you're not familiar with that term."

"Shut up." Ashley says in annoyance.

"Now, why don't you tell me something I don't know."

Ashley sighs deeply and says in despair, "I love her, Troian."

"Thanks Miss Benson." Troian says, and again, still matter-of-factly. "Please continue to point out the obvious."

While Ashley is glaring at her, Troian nonchalantly says, "And for the record, the way you're feeling now isn't love. You are not feeling in love with her."

Ashley furrows her eyebrows and asks, "What?"

"You heard me." Troian says, not holding up at all.

"Troian, if you're trying to get me play puzzle with you, now is really not a good time." Ashley warns in half-annoyance.

Troian scratches the back of her ear, pursing her lips and then says, "Here is a clue. Try to read between the lines of what you just told me."

Ashley just put her palms on her forehead, pressing it so hard as if it would've popped the answer out from the back of her head. After a while of struggling but not finding any answer, Ashley gives up the thinking process. Instead, she closes her eyes, choosing to take her mind off of the matter, and takes a few deep breaths.

She simply puts her attention on her steady breath for a while, reading into what her tense body is trying to tell her, and then letting her tense body ease down from the tension. Eventually, she says in barely a whisper, "I'm scared."

"Of?" Troian asks without making a big deal out of it.

"Of loving her and leaving her."

"And?"

"That's what you're trying to tell me." Ashley says with a light scoff. "I love her. But right now, it's not the feeling in love that's been driving me to do all of this. I'm scared of loving her, yet also scared of losing her."

Upon seeing the relief look on her best friend's face, Troian sighs in relief too before smirking smugly toward her best friend as she says, "Finally."

"What now?" Ashley asks, suddenly feeling clueless again.

"What now?" Troian asks in a tone that's saying _isn't it obvious_. "You make a decision. Duh! You need to stop sitting on a fence."

"But..." Ashley says worriedly. "But I've made one, Troian. I broke up with her."

"And I've already told you." Troian says nonchalantly, holding walter in front of her face, brushing their nose together before saying, "It wasn't a decision. It was an impulse. You did it out of fear. You took the easy way out."

"I know what I have to do, Troian." Ashley says dejectedly. "I know the right thing to do in this situation. But... if I lose her this way, with her hating what I've done, I don't think I'll ever be able to pick myself up."

"You don't know that." Troian says matter-of-factly. "Just because you've never been under the rock bottom, it doesn't mean you don't know how to crawl up from it. You'll learn."

Upon seeing how torn and miserable Ashley is, Troian sighs sympathetically and says, " _Falling is scary, but good practice for life. We must fall. In love. Out of love. Into new life experiences. Out of old habits. Deeper and further into ourselves. We must fall. Life is falling ever forward. The only choice we have is how we let go_."

Ashley scoffs lightly and asks, "Who said that?"

"Me." Troian replies with a light smirk.

Ashley chuckles lightly and says, "Of course you do." Then she sighs deeply for the umpteenth times before dejectedly says, "She's so gonna hate me so much. Why wouldn't she? I mean, even I hate myself for letting this happen for years."

With a sympathetic look, Troian pats Ashley's shoulder gently and says, "Fortunately, what or how she feels don't matter, Ash."

Ashley raises an eyebrow and stubbornly says, "Of course it matters, Troian. It's all that matters. She is everything for me."

"Umh... Nope. Not really." Troian explains patiently. "I mean, of course her feelings means a lot to you. But it doesn't have anything to do with your decision. The only thing that matters in your decision making is you, how you feel about it, and how you deal with it. You _know_ this. _Crystal clear_."

"Haha. Very funny." Ashley says in mock annoyance. Then she sighs again and says, "Knowing and actually believing in something are two different things, Troian. And I'm way out of my depth here. Can you just tell me what I have to do?"

"Hmm..." Troian takes her time to compose the words before saying, "Regardless of how she feels or whatever that might happen, you need to look into yourself and ask, which one that you're ready to do. Letting go of your love to her, or letting go of your fear. You can't stand in between. Either way, there will always be consequences."

"I know." Ashley blows out a long frustrated breath through her mouth and says, "And I know about the consequences. I just... what if-"

"You can list as much as what if that you can find. But you will need to make that decision to answer them anyway." Troian cuts her off matter-of-factly. "And by the way, the possible consequences that you have in mind might not always be the one that happen."

"And what if it's worse than what I already have in mind?"

Troian smiles and says, "Then you make another decision." When she sees that Ashley is going to be stubborn, she quickly adds, "Life is a series of decisions we make, Ash. It all comes down to one question; which one that you're ready to let go of. In your case, if you choose to let go of your love to her, well, you're already broken up with her. So you have to move on without her. It's definite. But if you choose to let go of your fear, telling her the whole truth, like she did to you years ago, then there's a possibility that you can move on with her. Simple."

"According to you." Ashley says in half-annoyance.

Surprisingly, Troian chuckles and says, "Yeah. According to me. Because I've experienced it in my life. So I can tell you that it _is_ simple. I've done it before. I've been through your phase. And I was in the same place. More or less. The difference between us is that I've come out to the other side, and you haven't."

Ashley looks at the brunette sympathetically and asks, "How was it? Was it easy?"

"Easy?" Troian scoffs. "Hell no. It was simple. But never easy. However, it's hard either you choose to jump to the other side or not. So why not choose instead? Something's got to give, Ash."

Ashley is taken aback by the truth in Troian's words. Then she leans her back on the couch, letting the words sink in, mixing it with the conversation she had with Emily three weeks ago.

Knowing that her best friend needs time to deal with it on her own, Troian puts Walter down on the floor, pats Ashley's shoulder, and then stands up, walking away from the blonde.

However, she stops halfway when something comes up into her mind. "By the way, Beca called me earlier. She asked me to tell you that you need to listen to the radio tomorrow at lunch."

"Why?"

"My guess is as good as yours. I have no idea." Troian replies before walking upstairs to her room.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that, would be chapter 16. I've put more breadcrumbs like I always have. Ashley's story will be revealed in chapter 18. She will confide to Beca about everything. Before that, feel free connecting the dots.
> 
> For the next chapter, you'll see how Beca spend the last three weeks, mostly working and have dinner in The Posen-Conrad's house every night. As usual, there will be Chloe, Beca, Aubrey, Stacie, and Emily. It will also shows what Beca do to get Ashley back on her deadline day, October 27th.
> 
> Until then, sit tight and make good choices.
> 
> Thank you for reading :)
> 
> P.s. The quote Troian said in this chapter, the one I wrote in italic, she actually said that in real life. Check it on the internet, Troian Bellisario's quote.


	17. Holding On and Letting Go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey :D
> 
> To all of the silent readers, the people who favor and follow the story, thank you so much. Really hope you enjoy the work :)
> 
> Now for the story. In the last chapter, you've read about Ashley. And yea, another puzzle to solve. Well, in this chapter, we'll see that three weeks have passed from previous chapter. Mostly talking about Chloe's feeling of having Beca back in her life, and also Ashley's feeling of Beca trying to get her back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will a couple of songs in this chapter, but I don't put the lyrics all down. Only a couple of significant lines that necesarry. Other than Rock Bottom that actually sang by Hailee Steinfeld and DNCE, the other songs are written with the actual singers.
> 
> I don't own Pitch Perfect, neither the songs and all of the characters in this. Hope you enjoy. Let's dig in :D

 

**October 26th 2025, The Posen-Conrad's House: Dinner Time**

Chloe walks down the stairs with a smile on her face, humming lightly to Passenger Seat by Stephen Speaks. She is wearing a light blue dress, not a fancy one, but it also isn't a dress to wear on a regular dinner either.

"Wow..." Aubrey teases once the red head reaches the living room. "Aren't you dressed up nice for a dinner in the house."

"Am I overdressed?" Chloe asks almost in panic.

"No. Of course not." Aubrey says instantly. She subtly shots her wife a short worried look, and then turns her attention back to Chloe with a smile as she says, "You look beautiful, Chloe."

With her cheeks flushing red, Chloe mutters, "It just feels nice to dress up a little bit."

"Hmmm..." Aubrey puts her index finger on her chin, mocking a thinking face and says, "Yeah. I can see the sudden need to dress up for casual dinner in the past few weeks."

"Shut up, Bree." Chloe scolds her best friend shyly, and Aubrey simply chuckles in return.

Stacie, who's been watching the conversation, sighs deeply. Beca and Emily have been having dinner in their house in the past three weeks. She doesn't mind having her friends over. In fact, she couldn't have been happier, and Bella is beyond glad to see her aunts every day. Chloe's also almost seemed to be like her old self again, like back in college.

However, Stacie can't help but worrying about where this will leave the red head if she finds out how Beca has been trying to get Ashley back with a grand gesture. They all know that fact except for Chloe, and it has come to an unspoken agreement to not mention about Beca and Ashley in the house, knowing how sensitive the matter for the red head.

"Chloe..." Stacie starts cautiously, wanting to talk to the red head again about not getting her hopes up, but the bell from the front door cuts her off.

"It must be them." Chloe says as she stands up instantly and rushes to the front door.

Beca hasn't even stepped into the house yet when Chloe jumps and hugs her tightly as she says in relief, "Becs."

"Omph." Beca exaggerates. She's already gotten used to this greeting from Chloe in the past few weeks, though it still confuses her. It's quite like the happy bone-gripping hug in college, but spiced up with something that feels like relief. But Beca brushes it off, thinking that maybe because Chloe is afraid that she won't come back.

"Hey, Red." Beca pats her back gently.

"Hey, _Mom_." Emily teases Chloe. "Guess being the only aca-child doesn't come with a perk of getting a bone-breaking hug.

Chloe chuckles lightly, pulling away from Beca and hugs Emily with a less bone-breaking hug. "Hey, Legacy."

"You look nice, Chloe." Emily pulls away, smiling softly when she asks, "Going somewhere?"

Again, Chloe's cheeks turn red. She shakes her head lightly, stealing a shy glance toward Beca as she says, "Just want to look nice, I guess."

"Emily's right." Beca smiles, tilting her head to look at Chloe, who are fixing her eyes on the floor. "You look nice."

"Thanks." Chloe mutters with her cheeks flushing red.

Then Chloe links her arm with Beca's, and pulls her inside with Emily following them from behind. The linked arms doesn't go unnoticed by Aubrey and Stacie once the three Bellas are in the living room.

"Shorty, Legacy, come and help me in the backyard." Stacie says, eyeing them both to comply. "I'm setting a garden party for our reunion next week."

Instantly getting a cue, Emily nods and says, "Right-io leggy sister."

"It's next week, and you're setting it now?" Beca asks in confusion. Emily elbows her subtly, making her realize the true reason, and then she adds, "Oh. Sure. Better be prepared."

Bella jumps into Emily's arms and asks her brunette mother, "Mama, may I come with you?"

"Of course you can come with us Bells." Stacie pokes her daughter's nose.

"I'll help too." Chloe chips in.

Stacie eyes her wife, who immediately understands and pulls Chloe's hand as she asks, "Why don't you help me with dinner, Chloe?"

At first, Chloe looks back and forth between Beca and Aubrey with torn expression, but then she sighs and says, "Okay."

"Come on." Aubrey says, pulling the red head toward the kitchen while the others heading to the backyard.

Once they are at the backyard, Stacie let Bella play in a house shape balloon. Then she walks back into the kitchen to grab two bottles of beer for her and Emily, and a juice pouch for Beca. When she walks back to the yard, Beca is playing hide and seek with Bella.

"Shorty, a word?" Stacie calls out.

Beca leaves Bella to play by herself, and walks to sit with Emily and Stacie on the patio. After taking the juice pouch from Stacie, she asks, "What's up?"

"What the hell are you doing?" Stacie asks harshly.

Confused by the sudden upset confrontation, Beca looks back and forth at Stacie and Emily with furrowed eyebrows before saying, "I'm uh... playing hide and seek? With Bella?"

"I mean with Chloe." Stacie says firmly.

"What about Chloe?" Beca seems to be at lost.

"Beca, don't play with her feelings!" Stacie snaps, and Beca is taken aback, speechless from the sudden anger from the tall brunette. But Stacie keeps going, "You don't know what-"

"Stace." Emily cuts her off firmly, and rests her hand on Stacie's thigh.

"What do I not know?" Beca asks, seems to be confused but also upset and offended. "And what do you mean by don't play with her feelings?"

Stacie sighs in annoyance and gives Emily a knowing look, but it doesn't go unnoticed by the tiny brunette. Then she asks, "What is it Em?"

When Stacie opens her mouth to say something, Emily stops her by giving her a warning glare. It's so obvious, and Beca says with warning tone, "Emily."

Emily turns to her former captain, trying to be calm as she says, "It's just the way you act around Chloe."

"Hm?" Beca raises an eyebrow and crosses her arms on her chest.

After huffing out one hell of a long defeated breath, Emily says, "You've made your decision Pop. And we all know that you're trying to get Ashley back."

"So?" Beca nods, still looking upset.

Emily steals a glance toward Stacie, and then turns her eyes back to Beca to say, "So you need to stop uh... acting like you're giving a chance to Chloe."

"Huh?" Beca becomes more confused, "I don't-"

"Beca..." Stacie cuts her off tiredly.

With her eyes widen in a complete _I have no idea_ manner, Beca shakes her head and says, "I seriously don't Stace. And you both know how hard I've been trying to get Ashley back."

"Oh come on Shorty." Stacie says stubbornly. "The sleeping on the same bed, the lingering hugs, the holding hands. What are those things then?"

Now Beca feels more than upset, and she hisses, "We slept on the same bed _one time_. In fact, I didn't even sleep that night. The hugs and the holding hands? What do you expect me to do? Just shove her away?" When Stacie is going to say another thing, she quickly adds, "It makes me feel uneasy, okay? But I can't just brush her off."

Stacie massages her own forehead, while Emily sighs deeply, and Beca clearly sees how conflicted her best friends are.

"Look. I didn't know that it looked like I was giving her a chance. I just..." Beca seems to be frustrated, and she exhales harshly before she states, "You both know how uncomfortable I am with physical contact other than with Ashley."

Then the two tall brunettes nod, and Beca continues, "But I just can't shake off this odd feeling that Chloe's been..." She pauses; trying to comprehend her feeling before she continues, "She seems different."

"Different how?" Emily asks instantly, biting her bottom lip worriedly.

"Hmmm..." Beca presses her lips tightly, seems to be unsure about the things she's been feeling as she says, "She's been clingy? Needy? I don't know, insecure? I mean, the Chloe I knew was bubbly, confident, and independent. So I don't really know how to act around the... now Chloe."

"She's changed, Beca!" Stacie raises her voice, failing to hide a hint of anger. "Just like you!"

When Beca glares at Stacie angrily and seems to be ready to snap back, Emily puts her hands on each of her seniors' arm and says, "Okay. Everybody calm down."

Beca takes a deep breath and says, "Sorry, Stace. I'm freakishly tired, and I barely sleep at all over these past month."

"I'm sorry too, Beca. I'm just worried about Chloe." Stacie says in regret before stealing another glance at Emily.

"Okay. I saw that." Beca firmly says. "You've been stealing glances at each other. There's something you're not telling me."

Just as Stacie is going to explain, Aubrey shouts from the house, "Dinner's ready!"

"One second Babe!" Stacie shouts toward the house, and then she eyes Emily before walking away to take Bella into the house.

Then Emily turns to Beca and hurriedly says, "Look Pop. I think you need to warm Chloe up with the fact that you're trying to get Ashley back. Also, try nicely to avoid acting like you were still in college. You and Chloe can't keep sleeping on the same bed, holding hands, linking arms. Especially if you and Ashley get back together."

"Are you saying that I need to avoid her?" Beca asks in upset, jumping into a conclusion.

"No." Emily replies firmly. "But you need to slowly draw a line. We're not a bunch of students anymore, Beca. We're adults that have personal boundaries. If you keep letting her invading your bubble like in college, then you'll end up hurting her and Ashley. Again."

With a long defeated sigh, Beca nods lightly, and then she asks, "You talk to Ashley yet?"

"No." Emily replies tiredly with a slight hint of annoyance. "She needs to pull her head out of her ass. And I'll let her do that in her own pace. But..." She is hesitant for a second, but decides to go with it. "Are you sure you're still gonna do this even though there's a huge possibility she won't come back to you?"

"You said so yourself, Em." Beca says with a sad smile. She's already heard about Emily and Ashley's meeting three weeks ago. "I have to at least try. She deserves more than a coward me. So... I'm doing it."

"Okay then." Emily says with a reassuring smile, squeezing Beca's hand gently to show her support. "Let's go inside."

Beca nods, and then they walk back into the house, directly into the dining room. Usually, Beca would sit next to Chloe just like the first time they had breakfast together. But this time, Beca opts to sit next to Emily. Although she can see how Chloe looks at her in confusion, Beca pretends that she doesn't notice.

"Becs, why are you sitting over there?" Chloe asks.

With a nonchalant shrug, Beca smiles toward Bella across the table and says, "Just want a different angle so I can look at smurfette over there."

Chloe doesn't seem to buy it, but Bella grins from ear to ear and says, "I love you too, Bec-Bec."

Everybody look at the little blonde fondly as Beca says, "Yeah. I know."

Then Emily stands up to get Beca her dinner, but Chloe stops her halfway and softly says, "Let me, Em."

Upon getting a warning look from Stacie, Beca stands up, taking the plate from Chloe's hand gently and playfully says, "You all reeeally need to stop treating me like a child. I can get my own food."

Chloe chuckles and tries to take the plate back as she says, "I'm not treating you like a child, Becs. You seem to like it when people do things for you. And it's okay with me."

However, Beca holds the plate and starts putting pasta on it. She can feel Chloe's eyes on her, so she clears her throat, and without looking at Chloe, she says, "I like it when _Ashley_ did it to me. You know, because she was my girlfriend." Then she turns to Emily and says, "So Em, you also need to stop doing things for me. I'm more than capable to take care of myself."

"But-" Chloe wants to debate, but Emily cuts her off by apologetically says, "Sorry Pop. Won't happen again."

"Thanks." Beca replies with a tight smile toward Chloe and Emily.

Aubrey seems to catch that her wife and the other two brunettes didn't have a casual talk in the back yard. So to clear up the tension, she hurriedly says, "Bells, why don't you tell your aunts about the day we just spent at the aquarium?"

"You went to the aquarium?" Beca asks in comic surprise.

"Yes, Bec. I did. And I had so much fun." Bella says excitedly.

"I bet you did." Beca responds with equal excitement.

They spend almost the whole dinner listening to Bella's story. By the time Aubrey takes out the dessert, Stacie has taken Bella to bed, leaving Beca with Emily and Chloe around the table.

"Pop." Emily shoves a spoonful of ice cream into her mouth and muffles, "I forgot to ask you about the MTV Awards. Have you made your decision yet?"

"I took it under certain conditions." Beca replies nonchalantly, sipping her tea before saying, "And I've told Donna a week ago."

"You're going to perform for MTV Awards?" Chloe asks with wide eyes and a grin.

"Yeah," Beca blushes, but she tries to play it off with a nonchalant shrug. "No biggie."

Chloe takes her hand and squeezes it gently as she says, "You should be proud Beca. I am so, so proud of you."

Seeming nervous, Beca gently pulls her hand back and says, "Thanks, Chlo."

The act clearly confuses and hurts Chloe. So Beca clears her throat and says, ""I uh... need to go back to the studio."

"So fast?" Chloe pouts without hiding her disappointment.

"Yeah." Beca replies without looking at Chloe, pretending to check her phone instead. "Still need to work on things for tomorrow."

"I'll come with you Pop." Emily chips in.

"Sure. Let's go." Beca replies hurriedly, then everybody start to get up from the chairs and walk to the front door.

"You're heading out already?" Stacie asks as she walks down the stairs.

"Yeah." Beca responds.

"I'll send you out." Stacie walks with them to the front door, and her wife join them.

Once they are already on the front porch, Chloe asks, "What is it for tomorrow?"

Beca glances at Stacie and Emily, sighing and then answers, "I've been working on songs for Ashley, and tomorrow is the finishing part."

"Oh." Chloe comments with a hint of hurt, but she quickly puts on a not so quite megawatt smile. "Just like you made mixes for me in college."

"Yeah." Beca smiles nervously, then she cautiously adds, "Except I uh... actually wrote those songs this time. Not only... you know, mixing songs from other people."

Chloe averts her eyes to the floor, trying to hide the water that starts pooling in them. But Emily catches that fast and says, "Pop, we better get going."

"Yeah." Beca says before turning her attention to Aubrey. "Thank you for dinner, Bree."

"Thanks, Bree." Emily smiles toward the blonde.

Aubrey smiles lightly and says, "We're happy to have you for dinner. Just tell me if you're coming tomorrow so I can do some grocery shopping."

"Oh," Beca smirks slyly. "Look at Mama Posen. Taking care of her babies."

"It's Posen-Conrad." Aubrey corrects her with playful tone, earning a light laughter from the others.

"I won't be joining you all tomorrow." Emily explains while pulling Stacie in a hug. "Andre will be back from New York, and we'll have a date night."

"Say hi for him from us." Stacie says softly.

Emily nods before pulling Chloe in a hug, and then she hugs Aubrey. On the other hand, Chloe pulls Beca into a hug, and Beca pats her back gently before pulling away rather quickly.

"Alright. Let's go Pop." Emily says, and then they leave.

After Beca and Emily have left, Chloe, Aubrey, and Stacie stay in the living room to watch a movie. They sit on the long couch in front of the TV. Aubrey is snuggling up on her wife, while Chloe sits on the other end of the couch.

Suddenly, Chloe breaks the silent by asking, "Is it just me, or Beca seemed different today?"

Stacie clears her throat and responds, "Different how?"

"She seemed... more distant." Chloe replies unsurely.

Stacie and Aubrey change look but say nothing, while Chloe doesn't seem to notice as she explains, "I mean, in the past few weeks, she's always had dinner here. But other than that, she rarely replied my text or picked up my phone call. She didn't even stay long after dinner. And today, she became more distant."

"She's been busy, Chloe." Aubrey tries to reason cautiously. "You've heard about the project she and Emily have been working on."

"It's different, Bree." Chloe says stubbornly. "Beca has always been busy. Even back in college with the radio station, the Bellas, classes, and the internship, but she always had time for me. We texted all day, sent voicemails to each other, left sticky notes around the house, dropped mixes and my favorite everything all the time."

When the couple don't say anything but staring at her sympathetically, Chloe weakly says, "I don't mean to be needy or something. It's just..." She sighs deeply. "Ever since I got her back, I just wanted to be with her all the time. Like back in college. But it seems to me I don't have a place in her life."

Aubrey pulls away from her wife, and wraps Chloe's shoulder from aside as she softly explains, "It's been ten years, Chloe. We all have our own life now that involve more than classmates, roommates, and the Bellas."

"We're growing apart." Chloe says sadly.

"No, we're not. We're just..." Aubrey is in lost of word, trying to find a way to tell Chloe without hurting her, but she is stuck. So she looks at Stacie, hinting the brunette to support her.

"We're growing up, Chloe." Stacie says softly. "We have more on our plates now. You know, responsibilities and priorities." She takes a deep breath, and hesitantly adds, "We also have people in our life that also need our attention other than the Bellas."

"You mean like wife or husband?" Chloe asks.

After a moment of collecting her thought, Stacie elaborates, "Well... Aubrey and I got Bella. You were with Kristen and you got your students. CR and Denise got Reina, George, and Ellie. Fat Amy and Bumper got August and Julius. Jessica and our Ashley got their twins, Irene and Briana. Flo and Randy got Ernesto, Emily has Andre, and Lily has Donald. And uh... Beca has her Ashley."

Trying to soften the edges, Aubrey softly says, "And every single one of our plus ones got their own significant others. Not to mention that we've also found new friends on our own all along."

"But the three of us are still best friends even after ten years." Chloe says stubbornly. "Look at us. We're still living together like back in Boston."

"Yes. The three of us, the other bellas, and now Beca too." Aubrey patiently consoles her best friend. "We still, and we will always have each other. Because we're family. Now our family has gotten bigger."

Chloe sighs deeply and says, "I'm afraid Beca won't have time for me anymore."

Stacie and Aubrey change look again, but Chloe's eyes are on her laps and she doesn't notice. Then she dejectedly asks, "What am I gonna do, Bree?"

Aubrey kisses Chloe's temple and says, "She will have time for you, Chlo."

On the other hand, Stacie glares at her wife, subtly reminding her about operation not-getting-Chloe's-hopes-up. Then she clears her throat and says, "Well, just like Aubrey said, she will have time for you, Chloe. But... maybe not as much as in college. I mean, we haven't been in her life for ten years. It will take time to adjust. And she does have a job and uh... girlfriend."

"And she also has Donna, Harvey, and Stephan." Aubrey adds hurriedly.

It's like Aubrey doesn't say anything at all because Chloe instantly and firmly says, " _Ex_ -girlfriend, Stace."

Stacie sighs deeply, taking her time before replying softly, "She loves Ashley, Chloe."

"Yet, they're still broken up." Chloe replies in upset. "Meanwhile, I have times to be close with Beca again."

"Chloe, I thought you already let her go." Stacie says, raising her voice just a tiny bit in confusion.

"I did." Chloe says stubbornly. "But it doesn't mean that anything won't change. Who knows? Maybe Beca will change her mind after some times."

This time, Stacie looks back at Chloe and sympathetically says, "I care about you, Chloe. But you need to face the reality, or otherwise you will end up being hurt again. You need to accept the fact that... Beca chose Ashley."

Aubrey looks at her wife with her eyes widen in disbelief, but Chloe stands up abruptly and snaps, "I didn't wait ten years just to give up on her in three weeks after we reunited! True love takes time, Stace! And I will wait as long as it takes! Besides, don't bother. _I_ , can take care of myself!"

With that being said, Chloe stomps her feet to her bedroom, while Aubrey glares at her wife furiously and snaps, "You just have to say that!"

"What?" Stacie responds tiredly. "I'm just telling her the truth, Bree."

"Seriously?!" Aubrey snaps. "By throwing that to her face now?!"

"You need to stop coddling her!" Stacie snaps back at her wife harshly.

Aubrey stands up immediately, placing her hands on her hips and yells back, "Do I need to remind you about what happened to _my_ best friend the last time _your_ _fucking_ best friend left?!

"Oh, will you stop, blaming, Beca, over, everything?!" Stacie says angrily, raising her voice with every word with her eyes glaring at her wife.

"Of course you will take her side." Aubrey scoffs sarcastically.

"I'm not tak-"

"You can sleep on the couch tonight." Aubrey cuts her wife off sharply before walking upstairs to their bedroom and slams the door hard.

"Damn it!" Stacie groans loudly, feeling angry of the situation. At first, she tries to take a few deep breaths to calm herself, but it doesn't work. So she walks to the kitchen and pours herself a glass of wine.

After three glasses of wine cool her down, Stacie decides to apologize to her wife. She walks upstairs to their bedroom and knocks it gently. Without waiting for a respond, she opens the door and walks in slowly. She can see through the dimmed light that Aubrey's back is facing her. She approaches her wife and notices that Aubrey's shoulders are shaking. Her wife is crying.

Gently, Stacie gets on the bed, wraps her arms around Aubrey from behind, and softly says, "Babe. I'm sorry for yelling at you."

Aubrey sniffles and turns around to hug her wife before saying, "I'm sorry for yelling at you too."

Then Stacie kisses her wife all over her face repeatedly, mumbling _I love you_ over and over again, making Aubrey chuckles. After pulling back slightly, Stacie says, "On our wedding day, I vowed to you that I would never let anything come between us."

Aubrey cups Stacie's cheeks and nods, and then Stacie kisses Aubrey's lips chastely before saying, "It's been too long I let our friends' problems come between us. But from now on, never again."

With a fond smile and teary eyes, Aubrey kisses her wife gently and says, "I will always love you Anastasia Regina Posen-Conrad."

"I love you too Babe." Stacie replies softly before pulling her wife into her arms. Then they simply lay on bed in silent. After a while, Aubrey says, "Babe."

"Hm?"

"I'm so worried about Chloe."

Stacie kisses her wife's hairline and mumbles, "Me too."

"What should we do?"

Stacie turns the gears in her head, trying to find a solution that won't damage her two best friends more than it already has. But nothing comes up and she tiredly says, "I honestly don't know. All we can do right now is... be there for her. Especially tomorrow... it will be harder."

"Why?"

"Tomorrow Beca will release renditions on radio for Ashley." Stacie explains weakly. "Let's just make sure Chloe doesn't listen to the radio at lunch. You know how she spends her free time listening to it."

Aubrey pulls herself up a little bit to look at Stacie and asks, "Do you think Ashley will take her back?"

"I..." Stacie sighs deeply, knowing that either way, one of her best friends will be crushed. "Honestly, I hope she does. I just... I don't think I can have another broken-hearted friend."

Aubrey sighs and lays back down on Stacie's chest a she says, "I'll ask Chloe to have lunch together, and I'll make sure she doesn't listen to the radio tomorrow."

"Thanks, Love."

"Your welcome, wife." Aubrey says before kissing her wife.

* * *

**Monday, October 27th 2025: PLL Set, Lunch Time**

"Lunch break everybody!" The director shouts, and then Ashley hurriedly walks to her dressing room. She's surprised to find Troian and Shay are already in there.

"What are you two doing here?" Ashley asks curiously.

Troian chuckles and says, "Like we're gonna miss this."

"Not for the world." Shay says with bored-look.

Ashley rolls her eyes, walking to plug her phone on a speaker. She sets the frequency on the radio station before sitting with her friends on the couch and listening to the radio.

_David: "Happy lunch time folks! Welcome to our beloved radio station KFWB! This is me David. This afternoon we have a very special program. Last week, a very talented music producer called us and asked for a favor. She is... drum rolling... DJ Mitchell! That's right folks! The big BM, who just produced six songs in the past four weeks, asked us to get into this program. Crazy right?! Well, not for her. And today she's gonna be with us through a phone call to talk about these songs. Here we go. Hey DJ M, it's good to have you here with us today. How're you doing?"_

_Beca: "Hey Dave. I'm fine. And uh... thank you for having me."_

_David: "It's such an honor for having you. You rarely accepted interview requests before, yet you asked us personally to be here today. What's changed?"_

_Beca: "Drastic times call for drastic measures, I guess."_

_David: "And why radio? I'm sure any TV stations would be more than thrilled to have you in their show."_

_Beca: "Well, I tend to be nervous in front of audience. And obviously, on the TV, people can actually_ _**see** _ _me being nervous. So... radio it is. Where people only get to_ _**hear** _ _me being nervous."_

Ashley chuckles upon hearing Beca's lame joke, and so does Troian, but not Shay, who simply scoffs.

_David: *chuckle sound. "Good choice. Our gain. So tell us about these songs. Writing and producing six songs in four weeks. Tell me, do you have a genie or something like that?"_

_Beca: *light laughter sound. "Something like that."_

_David: "Really? Now you need to tell us what's this something like that."_

_Beca: "Just a blonde blue eyed weirdo."_

The mention of her appearance makes Ashley blush, while Troian smiles knowingly, and Shay just rolls her eyes in annoyance.

_David: *laughing sound. "Smooth DJ, smooth. I suppose we all know this certain weirdo you're talking about. Maybe someone from a certain teen series?"_

_Beca: "Maybe."_

_David: "Just to be clear here, can I mention her name?"_

_Beca: "Sure you can, I guess. Well yeah. This is your show. Do as you wish."_

_David: "That is right. Her name starts with an A, am I right?"_

_Beca: "Point for David."_

_David: "I believe all of our listeners know very well that you have been in a very long loving relationship with Ashley Benson from PLL."_

_Beca: "I don't know that."_

_David: "You don't know that you've been in a relationship with Ashley Benson for five years?"_

_Beca: *snorting sound. "No, silly. I didn't know that everybody knew."_

_David: "Of course that one. It would've been weird if you didn't know that you're in a relationship with someone, not to mention someone that famous, for five years."_

_Beca: *laughing sound._

_David: "I heard that the both of you just celebrated your 5_ _th_ _anniversary. Is that right?"_

_Beca: "True. A month ago actually."_

_David: "And rumor has it that you serenaded her in a karaoke bar."_

_Beca: "Uh... Yeah, I did."_

_David: "Do you often sing and write a song for her?"_

_Beca: "Well... to be honest, since we're together, I've dedicated every single song I've written and produced for her. And to answer the former question, yeah, I do sing to her a lot. But just not in public. A month ago was the first time actually."_

_David: "Wow. All of them?"_

_Beca: "All of them."_

This revelation makes Ashley blush even more, and she covers her eyes with her hands shyly.

_David: "Will you sing to her in public again?"_

_Beca: "Uh... We'll see."_

_David: "Alright. So it's safe to say that these songs are some kind of messages for Ashley, aren't they?"_

_Beca: "You just_ _hit the nail on the head, dude."_

_David: "Will you let us know the message you slip through these songs then?"_

_Beca: "Not really. Well, I will tell you just a glimpse, because if I tell you all of them one by one, we'll be done by Friday, in 3 weeks."_

_David: *laughing sound. "Not a fan of subtlety I see."_

_Beca: "Nope. Besides, the thing that makes a song special is that everybody get a chance to interpret the song on their own experiences."_

_David: "Couldn't be more agree. Well, I'm holding a piece of paper of the songs list. Like I said before people, there are six songs. Let's see. There are Out of My League by Stephen Speaks, Half a Heart by One Direction, Somewhere Love Remains by Lady Antebellum, Rock Bottom by Emily Junk featuring DNCE, If You Stay by Joseph Vincent, and the last one is Mirrors by Justin Timberlake. Is that all?"_

_Beca: "Yep. That's all."_

_David: "Whew... Is it hot in here? Haha. So DJ, what are you trying to say through these songs, especially for Ashley?_

_Beca: "Hmmm... I just... those songs talk about how I find her, fall in love, being hit by love, and fight for love, and most importantly, stay in love. I believe Ashley will find every single thing I want to say about how I feel in between the lines."_

_David: "Wow. Where do you get these inspirations, especially in such a short time?"_

_Beca: "It's uh... not that hard when you hold your source of inspiration close to your heart. I guess."_

_David: "Really?"_

_Beca: *chuckle sound. "Really."_

_David: "And here I am, trying to compose a single romantic sentence to my girlfriend, yet end up with a grocery list."_

_Beca: *laughing sound. "I guess it's one of my knacks. I mean, I do this for a living. And don't worry, you'll find yours. Maybe you can dedicate a 24 hours program where you can talk all about your girlfriend."_

_David: *laughing sound. "Thanks for the suggestion."_

_Beca: "Anytime."_

_David: "Now, before we start playing the songs, anything you want to say to Ashley?"_

_Beca: *clearing throat sound. "Ashley, I love you, and uh... You knew the tattoo I got after we moved in together. Please do it with me, this time."_

Ashley can tell that Beca must be blushing right now; declaring her love through the radio. She smiles softly as the tattoo on Beca's left hand comes into her mind.

_David: "Wow, very cryptic. Care to elaborate? What tattoo?"_

_Beca: "Sorry man. It's just for me and Ashley to know._

_David: "Alright then. Thank you very much DJ M for being here, by phone. It's been great having you here, and we all wish you all the best."_

_Beca: "Thank you."_

_David: "Alright people, I know you're already over the edge to hear the songs. So here we go."_

Troian says, "Did she just.-"

"Shush..." Ashley cuts her off immediately because she wants to focus on listening to the songs.

Troian chuckles lightly while Shay rolls her eyes in annoyance. They listen to all of the songs, and after it all ends, Ashley sighs sadly and leans her back onto the couch.

Trying to cheer her best friend, Troian says, "Okay, let's see what we got."

"You take a note?" Ashley asks in comic surprise.

Troian simply gives her a look that says, _Obviously. Have you met me?_

On the other hand, Shay laughs lightly and says, "Troian, you're so Spencer."

Cheerfully, Troian says, "Let's not focus on me or Spencer. Let's focus on what you get from those songs, Ash."

"I got her messages Troian." Ashley turns back into her sad mode.

"Of course you did." Troian says in mock annoyance. "Duh. It was for you. But I want to know if I can read that smurf's mind. So you have to tell me if I'm right."

"Do I have to?" Ashley says tiredly.

"Yep." Troian reads the note she's written. "It's a payment for staying in my house this past month."

Ashley sighs heavily and says, "Looks like I don't have another choice."

"Exactly." Troian chimes with a huge grin.

"You don't have to do that, Ash." Shay says nonchalantly. "It's not like you will just forgive her for kissing that red head only by releasing six cheesy songs on the radio."

When Ashley doesn't say anything but staring at her laps blankly, Shay's eyes widen in disbelief and she retorts, "Wait, you're not falling for that right?"

However, Ashley doesn't say anything at all. So without hiding her annoyance, Shay says, "Don't tell me you're taking her back just because she's done the lamest thing in the history of apologizing."

Ashley shrugs hesitantly and says, "I..." She sighs. "I don't know. I mean, the songs are amazing, and I love them. But..."

"But you're stupid." Shay scolds her best friend. "That's what you're being right now."

On the other hand, rooting for Beca, Troian says, "Don't listen to her, Ash. She needs to get her foot out of her mouth."

"It's not only about the songs." Ashley says while her eyes glued to her hands on her laps. "It's just... I've been thinking a lot. And I just... maybe... it isn't right to just break up with her without explaining everything."

"She cheated on you!" Shay exclaims, and Ashley cringes. "What do you need to explain?!"

Troian slaps Shay on her arm and scolds, "She doesn't need a constant reminder, Shay! Stop bringing that up."

Shay sighs angrily but doesn't say anything else, while in contrary, Troian turns to Ashley, squeezes her shoulder, and then says, "It's okay, Ash. You don't have to make any decision right away."

Ashley nods lightly, and then Troian cheerfully says, "Actually, I can give you a better thing to do. Let's decipher those songs."

Although she's in no mood to do nothing else but sulking in desperation, Ashley nods and tiredly says, "You will make me a glass of hot ginger milk tonight."

"Consider it done." Troian says, grinning from ear to ear. "Let's start with the first song, Out of My League. I got the part where she is the awkward girl, and you are the one that makes her slack-jawed. Oh, and-" She sings out the part, _"Cause she's all that I see and she's all that I need and I'm out of my league once again._ It's about she's choosing you."

"Hm." Ashley approves weakly. "Yeah, that and this part." She sings out, _"Cause it's frightening to be swimming in this strange sea but I'd rather be here than on land."_ Then she adds, "It's about the tattoo."

Shay narrows her eyes and asks, "And what's that about?"

"Well... Beca used to say that I was the only person that could ever pull her out from her reclusive destructive self. That I was her leap of faith in humanity and love." Upon seeing the disbelief look on Troian's face, she adds, "Cheesy. I know. And I totally don't deserve it. But after we moved in together, she got this tattoo on her left hand that said take a leap of faith."

"I'm not saying that you don't deserve her adoration, Ash." Troian says sympathetically. "I'm just finding it hard to believe that Beca could've said something so sweet."

With a smile so fond, Ashley says, "She _is_ sweet. And by the way, your guess is right. She is the awkward person in the song."

"I'm partly right!" Troian pumps her fist up, earning a light laughter from Ashley and another eye roll from Shay.

"Next. Half a heart." Troian says, reading the lyric that she's written and then adds, "I think this one is pretty obvious. She's miserable since you left, and she's asking for a chance to talk to you because she believes that you both can work it out."

When Troian looks at Ashley smugly as if challenging the blonde to debate her, Ashley rolls her eyes playfully and says, "Yep. Pretty much. I believe the beginning part-" She sings out, _"So your friends' been telling me, you've been sleeping with my sweater, and that you can't stop missing me._ It must be the part that she got after Patrick _accidentally_ told her about the navy hoodie over the phone."

"Yay!" Troian exclaims. "One and half point for Troian."

"Lame." Shay mutters under her breath, but her two other friends don't care and choose to ignore her instead.

"What's next?" Ashley asks tiredly, obviously not too thrilled.

Troian looks at her list, biting the pen cap and says, "Somewhere Love Remains."

Then Ashley starts to explain, "Alright. This is about-"

"Phe phe phe phe phe..." Troian cuts her off immediately. "My game, my guess. You just have to confirm my interpretations."

Ashley rolls her eyes and nods lightly. Then Troian reads her note with narrowed eyes and pursed lips; pressing the pen cap on her own chin. "I think she's trying to retell your talk the night you broke up, but in a short way." She shows Ashley the note, and points out the part as she says, "It's like the verse is your part, and the chorus is hers, and then it's yours again, but then she had the bridge and coda." She looks at Ashley again and asks, "Am I close?"

With a teasing smile, Ashley says, "Shay was right."

Thinking that Ashley finally see how worthless those songs are, Shay grins and asks, "I was?"

"You're so Spencer, Troian." Ashley says toward Troian.

Shay drops her head down and groans, while Troian and Ashley laugh lightly. Then Troian wiggles her eyebrows playfully and asks, "So, I'm right then?"

"Point to Troian." Ashley says with a shrug.

Troian squeals and excitedly says, "Next! Next! Next! Rock Bottom. Whew, Junk really rocks this song."

"Yeah. She has such a great voice." Ashley chips in, and when Shay snorts harshly, Ashley harshly says, "Hey! It's true. Be nice Shay."

"Ignore her, Ash." Troian says, glaring at Shay. "She's just jealous because you're close to Emily."

"Am not!" Shay glares at Troian.

"So are." Troian says, raising an eyebrow knowingly.

"Guys..." Ashley says tiredly. She somehow knows that Shay secretly has a crush on her since the beginning of the series. However, before Beca, Ashley didn't even know that she could be attracted to girls.

Shay throws Troian another glare but leans back onto the couch and crosses her arms on her chest silently, and then Troian puts her attention back to her note.

"Alright. Rock Bottom." Troian furrows her eyebrows, pursing her lips and then she sighs in defeat. "I don't really get this one. Is she saying that you hate each other but love each other at the same time?"

"Hmmm..." Ashley purses her lips. "Well, being completely honest with each other wasn't easy. We hit rock bottom so many times in our relationship. But we didn't give up on each other, because no matter how hard it was, we knew we wanted the same thing; us, together. Hence the plastic gun; the fight, it can't hurt us."

"Wow. Good one." Troian says in awe.

"Beca is really good with metaphors." Ashley explains with a soft smile. The more they talk about these songs, the more she wants to see Beca. "Most of the times, I would find notes on my bed side, or my purse, or just anywhere, and then a couple of months later there would be a song she produced with the words she'd written for me on those notes."

"Aw... how sweet." Troian coos, earning another snort from Shay before she mutters, "Super lame."

"You don't have to be here if you don't enjoy this, you know." Ashley says toward Shay surprisingly calmly. Ex or not, she won't have someone belittled Beca. Especially in front of her.

Then Shay gives her an apologetic smile and remains silent.

Sensing the tension in the room is raising, Troian clears her throat and quickly says, "Next. If You Stay." She takes her time to read her note, trying to find the message on this song before she says, "I think this is quite obvious. She's asking you to stay." Then she adds, "Oh this part is good." She sings softly, _"And I know that I found so true, you are to me as I am to you. And I know though we can't just stay. Even though we ain't together, our love still remains_. _"_

"Actually, last week she gave me a note through Emily. Here." She points a part of the song in Troian's note. "She wrote me this part." Then she pulls out a piece of paper from her purse and shows it to Troian.

After reading the note, Troian says, "She's so sickening sweet. How come we've never seen this side of Beca?"

Ashley chuckles and softly says, "That's just how she is. She's a closeted romantic person. She's charming and such a gentlemen in the crowds though she shows it in an awkward way. But when we're alone, she can be so silly, and ridiculous, and cheesy, and corny, and romantic all at the same time. And it makes me feel so special to be the only one who gets to see the whole package of Beca Mitchell." She smiles contently. "Every day feels special with her."

"Let me see." Shay says with obvious annoyance. When Ashley stares at her accusingly, Shay rolls her eyes and says, "Relax. I just want to take a look."

Hesitantly, Ashley hands the note to Shay, and then Shay reads it. She seems to be struck, but says nothing other than scoffing very lightly. Upon seeing Shay's reaction, Troian simply laugh while Ashley smiles smugly.

"Now, the last one." Troian reads her list. "Mirrors."

"JT, my favorite." Ashley responds.

"After Beca." Troian teases.

"No one trumps Beca, Troian." Ashley smiles smugly. "Obviously."

"Thought so." Troian chimes in. "This one is... beautiful. How that snarky little one wrote something like this? I mean, take a look at this, could it be more genuine? No cryptic words, no metaphor, just simply the truth." Then she sings the chorus.

_Cause I don't wanna lose you now_  
_I'm looking right at the other half of me_  
_The vacancy that sat in my heart_  
_Is a space that now you hold_  
_Show me how to fight for now_  
_And I'll tell you baby, it was easy_  
_Coming back here to you once I figured it out  
_ _You were right here all along_

"And then this part?" Troian points to a particular part. "I would trade ten Patricks with one her for saying things like this. Admitting without being dramatic how vulnerable she is without you. Not everyone can and willing to do that, Ash." Then she sing, _"I couldn't get any bigger with anyone else besides of me."_

"Uh... I think so." Ashley replies hesitantly.

"Nu uh. Not I think so. This is a fact." Troian says matter-of-factly.

"Troian..." Ashley says tiredly. "You know that... She'll change her mind if she finds out."

"Find out about what?" Shay asks curiously.

"Nothing." Ashley quickly replies, but Shay stares at her with furrowed eyebrows.

"What are you gonna do now?" Troian changes the subject hurriedly.

"I don't know..." Ashley says dejectedly.

"Talk to her, Ash." Troian softly says, squeezing Ashley's hand gently. "Trust me on this. Whatever reaction or decision she'll make, you know you'll sleep better at night if you tell her how you really feel about yourself."

"I know..." Ashley says in frustration. "I just... I'm not ready for those whatever reactions or decisions she'll make."

"You'll never be." Troian says matter-of-factly.

"Wait." Shay cuts them off with confused look. "What are you guys talking about? Beca was the one who cheated. Why would Ashley feel afraid at all?"

"Nothing you need to be worry about." Troian says nonchalantly.

"Ash?" Shay turns to Ashley, who just gives her a sheepish smile. So Shay rolls her eyes in full annoyance and leans back onto the couch again. They remain silent for a while until a staff calls them to get back to work.

It's hard for Ashley to concentrate on work when her mind is filled with Beca. However scared she is, she clearly knows that Troian is right, and for Ashley, doing the right thing is necessary no matter how hard it is. That is how she sleeps better at night, by doing the right thing.

After they're all done at work around five, Troian comes to Ashley and asks, "What do you want for dinner?"

With a long defeated sigh, Ashley says, "I think I'm gonna go home."

Troian is surprised, and she blurts out, " _Home_ home, or _my_ home?"

When Ashley looks at her hesitantly, she hurriedly adds, "Not that I mind having you around. But I kind of know this one part where she said she couldn't wait to get you home in that song."

Ashley simply let out a sad smile, and then Troian softly says, "You know you can always count on me Ash. Whatever happens, you can come back to my house. And we'll have your favorite ice cream all night long."

After taking a moment to make up her mind, Ashley nods and says, "Thanks Troian."

"No problem at all Ash." Troian smiles. "Go home to her."

After Ashley walks out of the set, Shay comes to Troian and asks, "Is she really that stupid? Going back to that cheating bastard?"

"You need to stop talking about Beca like that." Troian says in upset. But then she looks at Shay sympathetically and says, "I know how you feel about her. You love her."

With her eyes widen, Shay swallows hard and says, "I don't-"

"Don't bother to lie." Troian cuts her off. "Even a blind can see that. And Ashley knows too."

When Shay slumps her shoulders and sighs deeply, Troian squeezes her shoulder and says, "It's been more than 5 years Shay. And she's happy. Beca makes her happy."

"You mean to say that I should let her go and be happy with Beca?" Shay raises her voice.

"No. I'm saying you should let her go and be happy yourself." Troian says matter-of-factly before walking out from the set.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, that would be chapter 17. Just as the tittle, Chloe is holding on, but Ashley is letting go of her fear to tell Beca about the truth. Obviously, the next chapter will be about Ashley telling Beca the truth that's been conflicting her in years, and there will also be a little part of how Stacie and Aubrey tell Chloe about the renditions.
> 
> I have a surprise for you in the next chapter. Until then, sit tight and make good choices.
> 
> I'd love to hear your opinion about my work. Thank you for reading :)


	18. Having Her Back Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oey! :D Hope you all well.
> 
> In the last chapter, we ended with Ashley decided to go home to Beca. And we'll start this chapter with their talk. There will be a very tiny part for Chloe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own Pitch Perfect and the characters in this story. Hope you enjoy, and let's dig in :D
> 
> WARNING! There will be smut somewhere along this chapter. It's soft core. But still, it's the first time I've written something like that, and I'm not completely comfy myself. So if you don't feel like reading it, I've put down a line as a warning so you can skip the smut part. But if you're okay with reading it, please let me know what I need to improve through PM. And no, the surprise I mentioned in the previous chapter wasn't about the smut.

 

I just want to be sure. Have you read the warning above? If you haven't, please read it first before scrolling down further. If you have, let's get to the story :)

**Ashley and Beca's Mansion: October 27** **th** **2025, Evening**

It's only six in the evening, but Beca feels so worn out from the day, so she decides to go home earlier. She is beyond surprised to find Ashley at the balcony of their bedroom, sitting on the couch, staring at the Pacific Ocean.

"Hon?" Beca calls out hesitantly from behind, still not real sure that Ashley's home.

Ashley whips her head, and looks at Beca over her shoulder before standing up, and nervously says, "Becs..."

Without holding herself back, Beca paces forward and pulls Ashley in a searing kiss. And just like that, Ashley loses her self-control and kisses Beca back eagerly, forgetting about the purpose of her coming home in the first place.

On the other hand, for a split second, the kiss sends spark, an electrical sensation all over Beca's body, and when the wave washes her down, she's left with this contented feeling. It gives her such steadiness to stand up straight and tighten her grip around Ashley's waist to keep kissing her boldly.

After a while, they pull away from each other, panting and grasping for air. They simply rest their forehead together with their eyes closed, savoring the feelings that kiss has left behind. A moment later, Beca says in relief, "You're back."

Suddenly, all of the anxiety hits Ashley back, and she pulls away instantly before stuttering weakly, "I... I'm not."

The answer certainly spikes up Beca's heartbeat. So she takes a deep breath, swallows hard, and retorts in fear, "You're not?"

Ashley becomes more nervous as fear and guilty feeling raise up into her chest. Without looking at Beca, she mutters, "We need to talk. I uh... I have to tell you something."

"Are you..." Beca swallows hard. She can't seem to finish her sentence, and not aware that she's been holding her breath.

"Let's sit down, okay?" Ashley says weakly, and the only respond Beca can muster is a nod. Then they take a seat on the couch, sitting next to and facing each other with respectable distance.

Beca can see that Ashley is beyond nervous, and it makes her nervous too, jumping to the worst scenario, but she say nothing.

After a moment of fidgeting and bouncing on her seat, Ashley says, "I need to tell you something. And you might not like it. I think you'll be furious. But it's okay. You have the right to be angry."

Doesn't know how to respond, Beca simply nod again. But her heart is racing so fast, and she thinks that she might have a cardiac arrest in a couple of seconds. So as hard as it is to do, Beca takes a few deep breaths to calm her nerves.

On the other hand, Ashley is also dealing with her own anxiety and trying to compose herself before she cautiously asks, "You know Papa's past right?"

The first question isn't scary, and it confuses Beca. But she ask, "About him being a junkie?"

After getting nod from Ashley, Beca says, "I do. And I respect him for that. He was a junkie, and he almost died by the age of 19 from overdose, but he didn't. And since then, he's turned his life upside down and become who he is today. I know that."

"Yeah." Ashley responds weakly. "He is my hero. Papa... he makes me who I am today Becs. He and mom love Shaylene and I unconditionally. For whoever we are. All of our life lessons are from his sage advice. He is a perfect father in so many ways because he's been through hell and back. Like you."

"Yeah?" Beca doesn't have any idea of where this is going. So she simply stares at Ashley with furrowed eyebrows. "Is he okay?"

"He's fine." Ashley says hurriedly. Then she continues with a light smile, "Papa... He's so collected and kind, with such powerful position, being respected by most people, a great role model, and just... a great man. He can change people's life. In fact, he has been in a very long time. Being his daughter is a blessing."

"Yea?" Beca retorts in confusion.

"But uh..." Ashley bites her bottom lip nervously and sighs deeply before saying, "Having such a perfect father also come with a downside. I... well, Papa and Mom have never pushed us to be anything but ourselves, to love nothing more than ourselves. But the people around us, who have the best intention of course, have been patting our back, saying how lucky we are for having such a great father, telling us that we should be just as perfect as Papa, reminding us to be in our best behavior at all times for his honor. And it was..."

"A lot of pressure." Beca finishes her sentence, finally catching a glimpse about the matter.

"Yeah." Ashley nods lightly, looking distresses. "It was hard. For years, Shaylene and I, we lived in constant insecurity and anxiety that we might not live up to his honor. But we've got used to it over time. Everything that Papa has taught us, we believe him 100% without question. That no problem is bigger than us, that we can overcome whatever that may come our way. So after I've made peace with myself, for years, I've lived my life without worry. Believing that as long as I know what I want, and willing to take responsibilities of every decisions I make, then I'll be eventually fine."

"Okay?" Beca becomes uncertain again.

Ashley takes a deep breath and continues, "And I knew no matter how hard life is, I'd always believed that I would have my safety net. And that is Papa and the lessons he's taught me all my life. So I've taken every challenges in my life lightly, and I've never taken any hard time hardly. I just... go with it."

Still, Beca just stares at her with narrowed eyes, becoming more and more confused of the purpose of this talk. And Ashley sees through her. So she says, "I know you're confused. Just bear with me please."

"Okay." Beca nods with a light smile.

After blowing out a long nervous breath, Ashley says, "But the problem is, in my life, everything is easy Becs. Life goes easy on me. I was born in a loaded family with the best parents ever, I was in a private school that had zero tolerance of bullying so I'd never been bullied before, then I went to college and graduated as the best without so much of difficulties, and after that I even got my dream job. And at the top of that, I found you. Everything has been going smoothly in my life. Almost no rough turbulence. Sure there had been bumps here and there, but nothing I couldn't handle."

"I don't..." Beca shakes her head in confusion. "I'm not sure where this is going. Are you saying that you feel bad for having such a great life?"

"No." Ashley shakes her head in frustration before taking a deep breaths and says, "Don't see it Becs?"

"See what?" Beca is in complete lost.

"In our relationship," Ashley becomes more nervous now, starting to bite her thumbnail as she mumbles, "In the past five years, I've given you everything Papa has taught me. Every wise words, every sage advice from his experiences, everything that you've been holding close, making you want to be better, and making you think that I'm perfect... But-"

It's hard to tell the truth, so Ashley swallows hard and takes a deep breath before she continues, "But... it wasn't me. It was all Papa. And I... I don't have the... personal experience to be wise enough to say those things. It was all empty words coming from me. That's why every bad stories you've told me about your childhood... I took it easily. And... sometimes I even belittled them. Because I've never been there."

"So?" Beca says, still with furrowed eyebrows.

A single track of tears is running down Ashley's face, and she wipes it instantly before she cracks out, "I'm not who you think I am Becs. I am not your... center of universe. I'm not your gravity. I'm just... a person who tells other people what her father has taught her. And there's nothing special about it at all."

Beca scratches her head in confusion that's now combined with frustration, and then she says, "I don't see a problem there."

"The way you see me..." Ashley is sniffling softly now, but she keeps going with shaky voice. "The way you love me, the person you love... I just... I don't think I deserve that much of adoration and love from you. I don't think I've earned such a perfect image. But it wasn't a huge problem, as long as you got better. And that was all I needed from you. For you to get over your insecurities, and be with me. But then you told me about Chloe..."

"What Chloe has to do with this?" Beca cuts her off.

Ashley wipes her tears and weakly says, "Since you told me about her, about the things she'd overcome in her childhood, about how she was still the happiest and bubbliest person you've ever met even after everything she'd been through, about she'd changed your life in a way that you'd never expected before, and she managed to make you fall in love with her... about how perfect a person she was, I just..."

"You just what?" Beca asks impatiently.

"I felt like a fraud." Ashley blurts out with tears running down her face. "I felt like... you see and love the perfect image I put in front of you. The person that you thought was able to pull you out from your destructive phase. And I'm not. I'm far from any of it. And now, the real perfect woman, your first love is back, and I don't think..."

Finally connecting the dots, Beca becomes speechless for a second, and Ashley sees that. So she wipes her tears and clears her throat, trying to be strong when she dejectedly says, "Now you don't have to chase me back. I understand that she's much better than I am, with real problems that has molded her in the most perfect way. And if you tell her that she is your sun, it will be right. It's what she deserves, because she's been through hell and back. Like Papa. Like you. And she loves you. And... I just want to tell you that."

Upon seeing Beca's dumbfounded face, Ashley has prepared herself for the inevitable anger. However, instead of being angry, Beca laughs, so hard until her face red and she's out of breath, and it certainly confuses Ashley.

"That- that's it?" Beca manages to say between her laughter. "That is yo- your darkest secret? That you've been... feeding me with armchair advices? And here I thought you wanted to tell me that you don't love me anymore."

"I'm scared, okay?" Ashley cries, though feeling relieved of Beca's unexpected reaction. "Since you've come into my life... you've become my safety net... and I- I just couldn't take it if you'd broken up with me. And this is Chloe we're talking about... How you talked about her... She's so perfect in many ways... And I just... I was scared. And I felt insignificant and worthless compared to her."

"Aw..." Beca says with torn expression, half-sympathetic yet also amused. Then she wraps Ashley in a hug, kisses the crying blonde on the temple, and says, "Hon... I love you. I love every single bits and pieces of you. And your armchair advice? It's number... 1089 on the list of why I love you. And I know that you're such a princess in your life, but it doesn't mean you know nothing about life."

"It's silly..." Ashley cries out. "I know... But I was scared... I was scared that you'd think I lied to you. That everything you've overcome are based on lies I've told for years. And I was terrified that you'd choose her over me. I mean, you said that she's the definition of rainbow and sunshine and everything in between. So I left. So I broke up with you. I love you too much, and for once in my life, I'm scared more than life to lose something. And I've never been there before. I was terrified of the huge possibility that you'd leave me for her."

Again, Beca just laughs and exclaims, "God! You're so adorable!"

Still with tears running down her face, Ashley slaps Beca's back gently before scolding with damp voice, "And you're a jerk for laughing at me."

Beca pulls away slightly, wipes the tears on Ashley's face, and softly says, "Honey, Babe... You are right to be afraid. I understand. I mean, if you have told me three years ago, maybe I would've left. But you've put up with all of my shits for so long. Do you really think that I'll be mad because you've told me... what? Empty words, armchair advice that actually have made me a better person?"

"But you are a realist..." Ashley cries again, this time with a pout, that still looks cute on her even though she's crying according to Beca. "And I've yelled out one hell of insults just to keep you by my side. Because I've read enough psychological theories and journals since my childhood to know how to deal with... someone with the personality types like you. And I needed you by my side, so I learnt. I learnt how to deal with you. Theoretically. So I thought that you'd feel betrayed and lied to. All just because I needed you in my life. And it was selfish."

When Beca laughs at her again, Ashley scolds half-heartily with a pout, "Stop laughing at me."

Then Beca tries to compose herself by taking a few deep breaths before she asks, "Do you love me?"

"More than anything."

With a soft smile, Beca asks, "Did everything you tell me about the Lego house, about treating our emotions equally, about choosing the right thing, about living our life in the present, were it all lies?"

"No..." Ashley says with shaky voice. "It's the truth. Papa taught me that. And I believe him. But I also didn't know any better. Because I've never been through hell and back. So it was easy for me to say. And much harder to implement. But I tried. I swear I've tried. And I'll keep trying my best."

"I know Hon." Beca mumbled on Ashley's forehead, and then she chuckles again. "You are so, so adorable. And I love you. I knew you didn't know any better. You've lived your life above the weather. I knew that. But you've brought me here. Better than ever. And you were right. No matter how much we know about life, all we can do is trying our best. And you do. You always have. You've always tried to walk the talk."

"So, yo- you're not fee- feeling betrayed?" Ashley hiccups.

"No." Beca says instantly in a manner that says _are you crazy?_ "Is this why you've never taken any credit and my compliments about how perfect and how wonderful you are to me? Is this why you've always brushed it off with a joke if anybody tell you that you're such a great person? You thought you didn't deserve it? And you thought that you were being selfish?"

Ashley simply nods, still sniffling in tears, and then Beca chuckles and says, "Hon... What would I do with you? You are... not perfect. Certainly. You are loud, you love scolding me, you love pranking me and it drives me crazy sometimes, you are pushy, sometimes you can be inconsiderable toward other people's problems, you are easily jealous, and when you're clingy you can be so much to deal with..."

With a pout, Ashley slaps Beca's arm playfully, but followed with a damp chuckle. Then Beca continues, "And believe me. I can go on with so many things. But you are perfect for me. To me. You... your crazy fits mine. Perfectly. I know your life's story Hon. From Papa, Mom, Shaylene. And years ago, Troian has warned me that you've never been hurt way too bad in your whole life, and if I dare to be the first one to hurt you, then she'll bury me like Alison in PLL."

Ashley chuckles and says, "She is my best friend. Around ten years ago, I told her about my anxiety to be the perfect daughter. She happened to have the same experience. She came from a loaded and famous family, and it drowned her, made her have eating disorder for so long. But she survived it. Impeccable. Listening to her story helped me a lot. I learnt a lot from her. And I was grateful that I didn't fall too far. But it also opened my eyes that insecurity could be dealt with so many ways."

"How you dealt with yours then?" Beca asks curiously.

"I've meditated long enough to know how to regulate my emotions." Ashley shrugs. "But when it becomes too much, I will take my time to drown in the heaviness. You know, let myself feeling the emotion until it's out of my system. Sometimes I even binge-eating, but I know better to work out after I recover."

"That's why you've always seemed so collected." Beca states calmly. "Because you know how to put your emotion aside before giving it times to let it sink into yourself. You know how to regulate your emotion."

"More or less." Ashley says weakly.

"Hm." Beca nods absentmindedly, seeming to be deep in thought. "So... you're telling me that you broke up with me because you were afraid I would've left you for Chloe? Because she was perfect in so many ways, and she deserved to be labeled as perfection? Because you felt that you were not good enough for me compared to her?"

"Yea." Ashley replies weakly. "I mean, it's you we're talking about. And I love you way, way too much than I can handle if I ever have to lose you. I wasn't supposed to love anybody more than myself. I'd be doomed. But with you, I did. I fell too deep than I could crawl back up. I know I should've told you about my insecurity over Chloe and how I felt like a fraud since three years ago. But I was scared you wouldn't love the imperfect me. The one that you haven't met. The insecure part of me."

"Hon..." Beca says sympathetically yet still with a light chuckle. "I knew you were insecure about some things. You're insecure about your job, about the way you love me, about being the man under the storm. I knew all of that. Why would you think that I wouldn't love you?"

"You've always thought that you are a damaged good." Ashley says helplessly. "And you didn't want to be my burden. It took you two years to open up to me. And after that, every time I felt too much, and I felt like pouring it all out to you completely, I couldn't. Because for you, I'm supposed to be perfect. I'm supposed to be the strong one. The one who could bring you back to reality."

"Hmmm..." Beca purses her lips, nodding absentmindedly. "Because you love me."

"More than anything." Ashley says firmly, still with tears in her eyes.

Beca remains silent for a while, and it scares Ashley, but she doesn't push. At some point, Beca says, "Let's re-build our Lego house. This time, let me fix you too. This time, you can count on me."

"I don't understand." Ashley says in frustration. "Don't you think that I've been lying to you? Pretending to be someone you could love?"

"You're not pretending Hon." Beca says patiently. "You're doing your best to love me. You've learnt how to deal with me, you've learnt how to pull and push me just in the right time, and I hope I haven't ruined you much."

"No, you're not." Ashley says with a light smile. "It's my decision. And I can live with that. I've lived with that. What I can't live with is losing you. So here I am, surrendering all."

"Huh." Beca laughs lightly, still can't shake off the feeling of how adorable Ashley is. "I think... if you weren't you, and you hadn't done what you'd done to me, or if we were broken all at the same time, then maybe we wouldn't have come this far."

"What do you mean?" Ashley wipes her tears away.

"Maybe it's all just right on time Hon." Beca shrugs nonchalantly. "If I'd known this years ago, maybe we wouldn't have survived our relationship. I would've been too angry with you, like you've said. I would've felt betrayed and lied to. But I've grown. And a big part of it happened because you stayed with me. You've loved me unconditionally without letting me let up on myself. So this time, it's my turn to put up with your shit. No more armchair advice. No more pretending to be okay when I'm not okay. You are allowed to be not okay. You are allowed to be not collected all the times. And _I,_ will love you anyway. I've loved you anyway."

"Are you sure?" Ashley asks with teary eyes, smiling fondly toward the tiny brunette.

"More than anything." Beca replies without hesitation, smiling fondly toward her supposedly girlfriend before kissing her.

Ashley returns the kiss in the same favor, and they lose themselves in that prolonged kiss for a while.

After they pull away from the kiss, Beca softly says, "And about Chloe... She is an amazing person. But I loved her in the past, Hon. You are the one I want to be with now. So, please don't worry or second guess my love for you. I love you more than anything too."

Ashley sniffles softly and says, "I will tune my insecurity down a notch." Then she pouts and says, "But you have to let me be jealous when you're with her. Because she's back into your life now."

"Yes Ma'am." Beca still tries to suppress her laughter upon seeing how adorable Ashley is. The she says, "So let me ask you. Are you back?"

Ashley smiles, still with tears in her eyes as she says, "Isn't it obvious?"

"You're back." Beca grins goofily.

"I am." Ashley brushes her nose on Beca's.

"You're back." Beca's grin becomes wider. "And you're snotty."

Ashley slaps her arm playfully with a mock angry glare, and Beca chuckles before saying, "Now you're back."

"I am." Ashley replies softly, and then Beca kisses her again chastely before saying, "I've missed you. So much."

"I've missed you too." Ashley replies as soft, but just as she's leaning closer for another kiss, Beca's stomach roars loudly. Then Ashley stares at her with an eyebrow raised, clearly upset as she asks, "Have you eaten anything at all today?"

"I uh..." Beca seems nervous. "No. Not yet. I was uh... busy."

"Beca Mitchell!" Ashley slaps her arms harshly.

"Aw!"

"I told you to take care of yourself." Ashley scolds her some more, but Beca just smiles at her goofily. So Ashley scolds again, "Do not think that I will let you off the hook with that dorky smile on your face. Now go take a shower, and I will ask Nina to prepare dinner for us."

Still, Beca just stares at her girlfriend goofily, so Ashley scolds louder, "Now!"

"Yes ma'am." Beca smirks and stands up, but then she looks over her shoulder and says, "And just so you know, you're cute when you scold me with that red snotty nose of yours."

"Shower!" Ashley scolds with her cheeks as red as her nose, and Beca laughs as she walks to their bedroom and into the bathroom.

Then Ashley calls their maid, telling her to make Beca's favorite dinner and order Beca's favorite dessert before preparing Beca's suit on the bed. After Beca gets out of the bathroom, Ashley greets her with a chaste kiss before she says, "I've prepared your suit on the bed. Go change and wait for me in your sanctuary. Nina is preparing our dinner. And I, will go shower now."

"I can take another shower." Beca suggests playfully. "With you."

Ashley laughs and says, "No. We'll never have our dinner if you join me in the shower."

Then Ashley walks toward the bathroom, swaying her hips way too much from necessary, and Beca shouts, "You are mean!"

"You love me!" Ashley shouts back as she closes the bathroom door, and Beca chuckles before replying, "I do!"

Then Beca decides to call Stacie and tell her that she won't come for dinner tonight because Ashley's home. She calls Donna too, to tell her about the same thing. She also shots Emily a text to thank her and tell her that Ashley has come home.

After that, she puts on the clothes that Ashley has prepared for her; a white V-neck shirt, with a royal blue suit and a pair of matching color pantsuit, and then puts on a light make up.

When she's done, she walks into her closet and opens her watch drawer, taking out her Breguet Tradition Minute Repeater Tourbillon that Ashley's given to her as a birthday present two years ago.

Beca flips it to read the words on the back, _you are my once upon a time. -AVB_. Beca smiles softly and wears the watch. She rarely wears this watch, afraid of scratching, breaking, or losing it from her own clumsiness. But this isn't just any other day.

* * *

**Posen-Conrad's House: Dinner. The Very Same Day.**

"Babe, dinner's ready!" Aubrey calls out from dining room.

"A second!" Stacie yells from their bedroom.

Once Stacie is already in the kitchen, Chloe asks, "Shouldn't we wait for Beca?"

Stacie glances at her wife before she says toward the red head, "She uh... she's not joining us tonight."

"Why?" Chloe asks curiously.

"She didn't say the reason." Stacie says without looking at Chloe. "Maybe she's having dinner with Donna and Harvey."

Aubrey quickly says, "And Emily is having dinner with Andre. So let's start dinner then."

They have dinner almost in silent because of last night's fight. Other than Bella's usual chitchat about her day at school, the adults don't talk much to each other. After dinner, Stacie takes Bella to bed, while Aubrey cleans up with Chloe, and then the three of them sit in the living room.

Aubrey takes a seat next to Chloe, taking the red head's hand in hers and says, "Chloe, we need to tell you something. But I need you to stay calm. Okay?"

"Is something happened to Beca?" Chloe asks in panic. "Is it her heart?"

"No. Nothing like that." Aubrey replies instantly. "You need to breathe."

Chloe is confused, but she takes a deep breath nevertheless before saying, "Okay. What is it?"

Aubrey turns to look at Stacie and nods lightly. Then Stacie sighs and says, "Chloe, I'm sorry for last night. I shouldn't have said those things to you."

"It's okay Stace. I'm the one who's supposed to be apologizing. I know you're just worried about me." Chloe says calmly, smiling lightly as she adds, "I'm sorry, Stace." Then she turns to Aubrey and says, "I'm sorry too, Bree. I heard you two fought last night because of me. But Stacie was right; you need to stop worrying about me."

"Our fight wasn't your fault." Aubrey says with a reassuring smile. "And I will try to lessen my coddling."

"Thank you Bree, Stace." Chloe smiles lightly. "Is that it?"

"No." Stacie takes a deep breath and adds, "It's about the reason Beca didn't have dinner with us."

Chloe looks back and forth between her best friends in confusion.

"She's having dinner at home." Stacie says cautiously.

With her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, Chloe asks, "Alone?"

Again, Stacie glances at Aubrey, and her wife nods lightly. So she nervously says, "She called me earlier. She told me that she would be having dinner with Ashley tonight. At their house."

Instantly, Chloe's face turns white, and she loses her ability to speak for a moment, only able to feel cold all over her body. When she finally finds her voice back, she asks, "When did they contact each other again?"

Then Aubrey squeezes the red head's hand gently and hesitantly says, "Today?"

Without hiding the accusation in her voice, Chloe asks, "Does it have anything to do with you coming to my school for lunch today?"

Aubrey gives her an apologetically look as she answers, "Yes."

Then Chloe turns to Stacie and says, "And you must be in this too."

Stacie nods and cautiously explains, "Yesterday, Beca said that today would be the finishing part of her project." She pauses to look at Chloe's reaction, and when the red head doesn't say anything, she continues, "She released six songs for Ashley on the radio at lunch."

Chloe closes her eyes, swallowing hard and croaks out, "Are they back together?"

"Well," Stacie squirms on her seat uncomfortably. "We're not sure. But if they're having dinner together tonight... I think it's safe to assume that... they are."

This time, Chloe gives in to the tears and sobs with her shoulders shaking. Then Aubrey pulls her in a hug and says, "I'm so, so sorry Chloe. That's why I came to your school. We didn't want you to find out about it on your own."

Oddly, Chloe shakes her head lightly and says with cracked voice, "I want to listen to it."

"Listen to what?" Stacie asks with furrowed eyebrows.

"The songs." Chloe says as she wipes her tears away.

"Are you sure?" Aubrey asks worriedly, and Chloe nods.

"Chloe..." Aubrey says softly. "I don't think it's a good idea."

"Either you let me listen with you, or I'll find out myself." Chloe says firmly.

After taking minutes of consideration, staring at Stacie as if discussing the matter through eye gazing, Aubrey finally nods lightly. She knows better than letting Chloe finds out about it herself.

Then Stacie pulls out her phone and downloads the songs from the internet, and they listen to it together. When it's done, Stacie softly says, "Chloe, I know this isn't what you want to hear right now. But... I think it's time to let go and move on."

"I know." Chloe smiles sadly with teary eyes. "It's long past overdue, Stace. But... I don't know how."

"We'll help, Chloe." Aubrey softly says.

"Maybe it will be good if you spend some times away." Stacie suggests softly while glancing at her wife.

"It's a very good idea." Aubrey chips in immediately. "We can go to The Lodge and have some quite time there. Just us. Stacie, you, me, and Bella. It will be great."

Chloe shakes her head instantly and says, "I don't want to be away from her, Bree. Not again. I'll take whatever she will give to me."

Aubrey seems helpless when she says, "Chloe... I think it will be good for you to take your ti-"

"No, Bree." Chloe cuts her off firmly. "I can't be away from her when I'm barely back into her life. This is my decision."

"Are you sure?" Stacie asks worriedly, and when Chloe nods without hesitation, she says in defeat, "Well then... you'll have us. Whatever you need and feel, you have to let us know. We are here for you Chloe."

Chloe nods again, and then they remain silent for a while until Chloe says, "I'm going to bed."

"Do you want me to stay with you tonight?" Aubrey asks softly.

"I can sleep without my wife for a night or two." Stacie tries to light up the mood. "Maybe more, considering how she loves to hog my blanket."

But Chloe simply shakes her head weakly and walks upstairs to her bedroom. The couple just let the red head go, don't want to push her more.

* * *

**Ashley and Beca's Mansion: Dinner**

After getting ready, Beca goes up to her sanctuary. Their maid, Nina, is preparing a dinner for two at the balcony, just a simple pasta primavera, served with Beca's favorite tea, silver needle. All of the sudden, she feels so nervous like they are going to have their first date all over again.

Then Beca stands by the railings, sipping her tea to calm her nerves, and after a while, a pair of arms sneak, wrapping around her waist from behind.

"I'm sorry to keep you waiting." Ashley softly says before kissing Beca's cheek over her shoulder.

"It's okay." Beca teases, remembering the conversation they had on their first meeting. "It's not like I have other things to do anyway."

Then Beca turns around to kiss Ashley chastely on the lips before taking her time to stare at Ashley's appearance. The blonde is wearing a strapless white dress that falls just until her mid-thighs, wrapping her body all in the right places, and her hair is pulled up in a messy exotic bun.

After studying her girlfriend, Beca softly says, "You take my breath away Ashley Benson."

Ashley kisses Beca's lips chastely and says, "Well thank you Beca Mitchell. And so do you."

Then they walk hand in hand to the dining table, and Beca pulls out a chair for Ashley.

"Thanks, my Casanova." Ashley says while taking her seat.

"Anything for you, my adorable weirdo." Beca smirks.

They have dinner in comfortable silent, just enjoying each other's company. Beca keeps staring at Ashley tenderly with her eyes beaming in happiness, and a face-splitting smile.

"Babe, your dinner is getting cold." Ashley smiles shyly over the way Beca is looking at her.

"I don't mind." Beca says with a huge grin.

Ashley rolls her eyes playfully, smiling as she says, "But I _do_ mind. I want you to have it the best way. Warm and yummy."

"This is the best way." Beca says fondly. "With you by my side."

With her cheeks blushing red, Ashley mutters, "Dork."

"Still your dork." Beca replies, making the blonde blush even more.

After they finish dinner, Ashley takes out Beca's meds from the container on the table, and hands it to her girlfriend. Then Beca takes it immediately before she says, "It feels so good to have you taking care of me again."

Ashley rolls her eyes in mock annoyance and says, "You're too spoiled. Emily must've had a hard time taking care of you in the past few weeks."

With a smug smirk, Beca responds, "It's on you. Not me. You were the one who asked her."

After chuckling lightly, Ashley says, "Wait here, I'll take the dessert."

"Don't go." Beca says with a slight pleading look. "We don't need to have dessert. I just want you here with me."

Ashley pokes her nose and teasingly says, "Even if I tell you that it's your favorite dessert?"

"Tiramisu? Well, what are you waiting for? Go get it." Beca replies playfully, earning a playful slap from the blonde on her arm. And then Beca barks out a laughter before she softly says, "Kidding Hon. Stay. We can have it tomorrow."

"Nope. Just wait a second, I won't be long." Ashley stands up, but Beca holds her hand and tries to pull her back down. Then Ashley kisses her lips chastely and softly says, "It's just in the fridge in your sanctuary's pantry. I won't be long. Promise."

Reluctantly, Beca relents and presses another kiss on Ashley's lips before letting her hand go. Then she walks to sit on the couch, looking at the ocean view while waiting for Ashley to come back.

Not long after, Ashley comes back with a plate of tiramisu and then sits next to Beca. They enjoy eating the dessert, feeding each other, and then Ashley smears a spoonful tiramisu across Beca's cheek. Then Beca's mouth falls open with her eyes widens while Ashley is giggling upon seeing her girlfriend's expression.

With wide eyes, Beca says, "You did not ju-"

Ashley cuts her off by smearing more tiramisu across her face.

"Oh, you're so gonna pay for this." Beca exclaims as she pinches a bit of tiramisu with her index finger, and try to smear it on Ashley's face but Ashley grips her wrist strongly while squealing.

They wrestle for a while in laughter, and Beca fails to put a finger on her girlfriend. Gradually, the laughter unwind, and they look at each other fondly.

A warm ticklish sensation raises up into Ashley's chest, and she bites her bottom lip shyly before licking away the tiramisu on Beca's finger.

Beca's breath hitches and she pulls Ashley closer, wanting to kiss her, but Ashley nips the tiramisu on her face with her lips instead as she slowly moves herself to sit on Beca's lap. When Beca's face is free from dessert, she looks into Beca's dilated blue eyes for a second and closes the gap between them.

With her thumb rubbing a circle on the small of the blonde's back, Beca tightens her arms and pulls Ashley closer on her laps. They lose themselves in a heated make out session, but at some point, Beca reluctantly pulls away with a shred of self-control she has left to say, "Hon, I think we need to talk first."

"Nu uh." Ashley hovers on her lips. "There's something I prefer to do with you now."

"You sure?" Beca asks after finding Ashley's eyes.

With her bottom lip between her teeth, Ashley nods lightly.

* * *

**Smut starting from here.**

That is enough for Beca to throw what's left of her self-control out of the windows, and pulls her girlfriend into another searing kiss. Ashley kisses her back with the same desire, letting her fingers roam through Beca's hair. Then she grasps Beca's hair, and pulls her head back gently to nip her jawline.

" _Fuck._ " Beca curses under her breath before pushing Ashley gently to the side, stands up, and pulls her girlfriend toward the bed in the sanctuary.

Once they are near the bed, Beca kisses Ashley again, slowly trailing her hands to the zipper on the back of Ashley's dress and pulls it down, letting it drop effortlessly on the floor, leaving Ashley only in a pair of matching soft pink underwear.

The brunette steps back a bit and let her eyes wander on her girlfriend's body, and then Ashley pushes the blazer out of Beca's shoulder. They start to undress each other slowly and steal kisses in between. Every light touch leave an electrical sensation that makes them crave for more.

Beca can feel her heart skips a beat when she pulls down Ashley's hair bun, and sees her girlfriend's naked figure like she's never seen it before. Ashley with her smooth skin, shining even under the light. How contrast her reddish flushing cheeks compared to her white skin. Only by looking at Ashley makes her shudder. But she doesn't rush to have her way.

Just like every other things, Beca loves to take her time in making love too. She steps backward, pulling Ashley with her and then sits down on the edge of the bed with Ashley standing between her legs.

Beca starts slowly by trailing her fingers up from Ashley's feet, rubbing the back of her knees, drawing her way up to Ashley's inner thigh but stops just under her V area and then round to her butt cheeks, staying to explore the area for a while, sending electrical sensation all over Ashley's body.

On the other hand, Ashley rests her hands on Beca's shoulder, trying to hold herself up from the waves that make her knees weak.

Meanwhile, Beca draws her index finger slowly from the blonde's back up to the area under her ear, and then down to the small crook of her chest before trailing further down to her stomach, making the blonde shuddering under her touch.

Then Beca trails her fingers slowly to the side of Ashley's body, drives them up, and stops on the side of her breast, making the blonde's breaths hitch. She moves the tip of her index finger, running circle slowly around Ashley's breast, inching closer to the nipple, and then stops just right before the peak to tease.

Ashley has to close her eyes, breathing through her teeth, biting her bottom lip; revels in the pleasure of what Beca's touch can evoke on her body. It feels like her head is filled with air, and tight, and throbbing, and all of her body is heating up.

All the while, Beca fixes her eyes on Ashley's face, taking the pleasure from making the blonde pouring out the lusty breaths, and moaning in desire while her fingers have their way around Ashley's body, drawing out the most breathtaking expressions from the blonde.

When Beca's finger reach the spot in the middle of Ashley's hip, she moans softly and breathes out hoarsely, " _Babe..._ "

Beca smirks and kisses Ashley's stomach before standing up and gently pushes her girlfriend to lay her back on the bed. Then she lays herself on Ashley, staring at her face, holding herself up with one elbow while Ashley pulls her down for a searing kiss.

To drive the brunette crazy, Ashley trails the tip of her fingers on Beca's back, making the brunette grunting in pleasure. But it doesn't stop Beca from rubbing a circle with the tip of her middle finger gently on Ashley's nipple, and Ashley presses her fingernails on Beca's back while moaning louder.

Then Beca kisses her way down through Ashley's jaw and neck, sucking her pulse point, biting it gently and giving it a lick before pulling down to attend Ashley's vacant breast that's not being touch with her hand. She brushes the harden nipple softly with the tip of her nose, breathes out a warm air before nipping it gently, pulling it a bit with her lips, and then bites it gently before finally stroking the tip of her tongue on it and takes it into her mouth.

Ashley moans harshly, arching her back, scratching her fingernails down on Beca's back, unveiling the pleasure she can't convey with a word, and it makes Beca growls from her throat in pleasure. How Ashley relishes the moment Beca is on top, taking control, being the dominant.

" _Babe..._ " Ashley pants out harshly as she pushes Beca down gently to her core, asking her to do more.

Beca complies by pulling down slowly, drawing kisses, brushing her nose, and taking her time exploring Ashley's stomach with her lips and tongue. She stops to nip and bites the part under the blonde's belly button, making the blonde clenches her jaw, grasping the bed sheet tightly, growling from her throat, and arching her back all at the same time.

Gently, Beca puts herself between Ashley's leg, ghosting the tip of her nose up and down slowly just a little bit over Ashley's core, blowing out warm air through he lips, making the blonde shuddering and moaning harshly. Then she nudges Ashley's clit gently with the tip of her nose before brushing her tongue on it. She starts with just the tip of her tongue, and then pushes harder, making Ashley moaning out her name loudly, begging her for more.

Then Beca just keeps exploring with her tongue, licking and flicking the clit before biting Ashley's inner thigh gently. It's gentle yet bold all at the same time, and it sends electrical sensation all over Ashley's body. Her senses are overwhelmed, and she can feel how soft and warm Beca's tongue on her damp core.

With her hands clenching the sheet beside her head tightly, Ashley pants out, " _Babe... please..._ "

Beca pulls herself up to stare at Ashley's blue eyes and her rosy cheeks, feeling her girlfriend's chest heaves heavily under hers. Then she places one hand under Ashley's neck to hold herself up while the other hand find its way down to the part that Ashley has been helplessly waiting.

When Beca explores Ashley's earlobe with her tongue, and her thumb presses the blonde's clit gently, rubbing it in circle, Ashley cries out, " _Babe, I can't..._ "

"Patience love." Beca whispers over Ashley's ear, driving her to the edge. She loves teasing her impatient girlfriend.

Ashley pulls Beca's face, kisses her hard, and bites the brunette's bottom lip gently before pulling it in between her teeth just as gentle. Then Ashley arches her back so high, revealing her desperation. And when she can't hold it anymore, she croaks out in frustration, _"Babe, I... just... please..."_

Beca knows that it's time. So she pulls herself up a little bit, and gently pushes one finger into Ashley's core, making the blonde moaning in relief. Slowly, Beca thrusts her finger in and out, and then she pushes another finger, earning a loud moan and hard scratches on her back from her girlfriend.

On the other hand, Beca's lips are busy exploring Ashley's breast, nipping and biting in the same rhythm with her fingers inside Ashley, twirling, curling their way over the spots that weave the blonde up and down in the waves of desire.

To gain a little control, Ashley grasps Beca's hair, pulling her up to kiss her neck before chanting Beca's name over and over again as Beca brings her up higher and higher, changing the pace, driving her over the edge.

They are moving in harmony, fitting each other's movement naturally. And when the blonde reaches the peak of the wave, when it feels like her body finally explodes, Ashley bites Beca's shoulder, bellowing from her throat, and plants her fingernails deeply on Beca's back with her toes curled out so widely.

Then as the waves slam down, Ashley drops down onto the bed effortlessly, out of energy, out of breath. And Beca slows down her fingers, helping Ashley easing down from the high.

When Ashley's grip on her back has loosen, Beca pulls her fingers out slowly, smears her wet fingers on Ashley's thigh, and then brings her hand up to cup her girlfriend's cheek.

**End of smut.**

* * *

With a fond smile, Beca brushes away Ashley's tousled hair from her face, kisses her sweaty forehead, her fluttering eyelids, and her slightly parted lips. After that, Beca pulls away a little bit, smiling so tenderly toward her girlfriend who is still panting hard, trying to catch her breath.

"You are beautiful Hon." Beca whispers the one honest thing she's never skipped to say every time she makes Ashley coming undone under her touch.

When Ashley finally evens out her breath, she glares at Beca, slaps her arm repeatedly, and scolds in between the slaps, "And, you, are, such, a, jerk, Beca Mitchell!"

Beca laughs whole-heartily and says, "Thank you will be suffice."

"It's been more than a month, and you took the stairway to heaven?!" Ashley yells out her frustration. "Really?! You could've killed me!"

Again, Beca laughs lightly, rolling her eyes playfully and softly says, "You loved it."

When Ashley says nothing but blushing awfully red while biting her bottom lip, Beca smirks smugly and says, "Your welcome."

Then Ashley smiles and pulls her girlfriend down for a prolonged kiss before fondly says, "I love you, Babe. Always."

Beca grins from ear to ear and replies between kisses, "I, love, you, too, Hon. Always."

With a devilish smirk, Ashley flips their body, pressing her body on Beca's as she teases, "Your turn. And this time, I'll take you through the highway to hell. Karma's a bitch, Babe."

Beca chuckles and responds, "Can't wait."

Then they go down the same road, taking turns over and over again, releasing their need for each other that is long past overdue. When they're done, Ashley lays on her stomach with half of her body on Beca.

In silent, Ashley rests her head on Beca's left chest, listening to her steady heartbeat while Beca trails her fingers up and down Ashley's back, humming a song that Ashley recognizes as Mirrors.

"Babe." Ashley calls softly.

"Hm?"

"Let's have the talk you wanted."

"Now?" Beca asks uncertainly.

"Hm." Ashley responds calmly. "It's about Chloe, isn't it?"

Beca stops her moving hand on Ashley's back for a second, tilting her head down to look at her girlfriend who naturally peeks up. Upon seeing the hesitation in Beca's eyes, Ashley rubs Beca's chest gently, smiling fondly as she says, "It's okay."

With a light nod, Beca casually says, "I'd talked to her around a month ago after I came back from Atlanta. I've told her about my decision."

"How did she take it?" Ashley asks, still as calm.

"She took it uh... Honestly, I'm not so sure." Beca answers, and then she tells Ashley everything that happened that night, including the fact that she and Chloe have shared a bed, then also how Chloe has been acting strange.

Ashley listens calmly without interrupting Beca at all, letting her telling the whole story. Then after the story ends, she asks, "Do you think she's gonna be okay?"

After blowing out a long breath, Beca says, "I honestly don't know. I mean, she's been acting strange. But uh... I hope so."

"Hmmm..."

"Are you okay, Hon?" Beca asks cautiously.

Ashley pushes herself up to look at Beca, smiling tenderly and kisses Beca on the lips before saying, "I'm more than okay, Babe."

"I love you Hon." Beca says with a fond smile. "Always. And I don't ever want to live without you."

"I love you too Babe. Always." Ashley replies contentedly.

Then Ashley lays herself back on Beca's chest, while Beca resumes humming softly with her eyes closed. This is the most peaceful they feel after the morning of their 5th anniversary. Not long after, they fall asleep in each other's arms.

Beca wakes up at dawn and finds that Ashley isn't by her side. She jumps up as fear creeps up into her mind, thinking that Ashley has left her again. But she sighs in relief once she notices through the glass door that her girlfriend is leaning on the railings at the balcony, looking at the ocean view, wearing the white shirt Beca has worn last night

Then the brunette walks into her closet, and puts on a grey hoodie and shorts before opening the drawer to pull out a tiny blue box. She smiles contentedly, gripping the box in her hand tightly, finally knows what she's going to do. She shoves the tiny box into her shorts' pocket and walks out to the balcony.

When she's already standing behind Ashley, Beca wraps Ashley's waist from behind, kisses the back of her shoulder gently, and smiles onto it. Then Ashley immediately laces their fingers on her stomach and tilts her head to kiss Beca chastely over her shoulder.

After they pull away, Beca presses her lips on the back of Ashley's shoulder again, and mumbles, "I'd thought you'd left."

Ashley chuckles and turns around slowly, putting her arms on Beca's shoulders while Beca's arms find their way to wrap her waist. Then she kisses Beca chastely on the lips again, smirking as she says, "You're not gonna get rid of me that easily Babe. You're stuck with me. Forever."

"Gladly." Beca chuckles lightly. Then she pulls Ashley into another gentle kiss, and rests her forehead on Ashley's before she softly asks, "Do you trust me?"

"With my life." Ashley replies without hesitation, and Beca grins from ear to ear.

Trying to compose herself, Beca looks around her, realizing that the sun is rising, and the sky is getting brighter. Suddenly, she can feel the heat raising up from her bottom spine to the back of her neck as the anxiety tries to chew her up.

But she takes a step backward, huffs out one hell of nervous air, and shakes her hands to shake off the nerves. Then she remembers the pep talk she's given herself on the night she has asked the blonde out for the first time.

_It's now or never, Mitchell._

"Okay. Here we go." Beca says with her eyes closed and then she exhales harshly. Meanwhile, Ashley is just staring at her in confusion.

It's nerve wrecking, but when Beca looks into Ashley's blue eyes and finds nothing but love in them, she smiles in relief. Just like that, and she catches a grip of herself, feeling her feet standing up firmly and her heart beating in a steady rhythm. There is this warmth filling in her chest, and she knows, she has never been so sure about anything in her life like this.

Still with her eyes staring into Ashley's fondly and smiling so warmly, Beca takes Ashley's hand in hers and says, "I've been meaning to do this for over a year. Waiting and trying to find the best way to do this perfectly. With a grand gesture in the perfect moment. But I uh... got tired of waiting. Every single moment I spend with you is perfect. So bear with me please?"

After getting a confused nod from Ashley, Beca kisses her girlfriend's hand and pulls out the tiny box from her pocket. Then she gets down on one knee, holds up the opened box in front of Ashley, revealing a unique musical clef patterned white gold ring with a main blue diamond on the center of it, and a series of smaller diamonds on the pattern.

Ashley gasps, covering her mouth while her eyes widen and become teary as the realization hits her.

Then Beca clears her throat, smiling lightly as she says, "Hon, more than 5 and a half years ago, I spilled my drink on you. To be honest, if I'd known that this day would come, I wouldn't have said I'm sorry back then. I've never been so thankful in my life for being a klutz. Taking your invitation for a drink is the best decision I've ever made in my life." She pauses a bit and then adds, "Or the best decision Donna has ever made for me to be precise."

Ashley chuckles lightly, blushing so red from her cheeks through the tip of her ears. Then Beca continues with a fond smile that never leaves her face. "Anyway, since then, for more than five years, you have loved me so selflessly, and you've given me so much and then some. And all this time, I thought that I had loved you the same way you loved me. Turns out, I've never been so wrong."

Ashley can't help but furrowing her eyebrows slightly in confusion, but she doesn't interrupt.

After taking a long steady breath, Beca continues, "Like I said, you bring the best out of me. I am who I am today not only because you love me, but also because you let me love you as an excuse to be a better person. And I've taken your love for granted for way too long. Now I finally realize how selfishly I've loved you for my gain."

Knowing how untrue it is, Ashley simply rolls her teary eyes playfully. On the other hand, Beca just fixes her eyes on Ashley's, chuckling lightly before saying with bold voice, "From now on, if you'll have me, I want to love you for you and for your gain too. I want to show you a love so unconditional, that you don't have any other choice but to be better. A love that will take you further than you've ever imagined. Like the way you've loved and showed me. Ashley Victoria Benson, will you take another leap of faith and marry me?"

After the main question being popped, Ashley pulls Beca up instantly, and crashes their lips together. She wraps her arms behind Beca's neck, kissing the brunette with so much passion, savoring every single drop of happiness in this very moment and let it sinks into her chest, creating a warm ticklish sensation down into her stomach. And it feels so fulfilling.

When air becomes an emergency, they pull away to catch their breath, resting their forehead together, smiling contentedly with their eyes closed.

Then Beca opens her eyes, and when she finally finds Ashley's teary blue eyes with a fond smile that matches hers, she whispers, "I take it you say yes?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Ashley replies with a fond smile and rosy cheeks while her eyes glimmering under the first yellow light of the day.

Instantly, Beca's heart roars in happiness, in victory, bringing tears in her eyes, and she let out a relieved sigh through a light laughter. Then she takes out the ring, tilts it to the side to show Ashley _my leap of faith_  that's engraved on the inside of the ring.

While reading the words, Ashley smiles with tears running down her face, while Beca holds up her girlfriend's left hand and pushes the ring into her ring finger before kissing it.

Then Ashley pulls Beca closer and kisses her again, longer this time, until the need of air comes between them. After they pull away, Ashley suddenly pinches the side of Beca's stomach.

"Aw!" Beca yelps. And Ashley pinches her again, harder this time.

"Aw!" Beca rubs her stomach. "What was that for?"

Glaring in mock upset, Ashley scolds, "You _just_ have to do this when I'm half naked, only in my underwear and your shirt, without any makeup on my pillow sleepy face."

Beca barks out a loud laughter before she says, "I did say that I couldn't wait anymore." Then she presses a kiss on Ashley's lips, gazing lovingly at her and asks, "Do you want a do over? I can do this again in any way you want."

With a smile so fond, Ashley shakes her head lightly and softly says, "Not even for a milky way. This is perfect."

Beca grins goofily from ear to ear and pulls Ashley in her arms, kissing the side of her head, inhaling the warmth of Ashley's natural scent. Suddenly, Ashley pulls away and hurriedly says, "Wait here Babe."

Before Beca can even say anything, Ashley has gone into the house. A couple of minutes later, Ashley comes back with a tiny black box in her hand. Then she stands in front of Beca and opens the box, showing a black ice carbide ring with blue diamond circling as a straight line in the middle of the ring, and a rectangular black diamond planted in the center of it.

Beca's eyes widen in surprise because not once in her mind she's ever thought that Ashley would propose to her. She's always thought that she's going to be the one who propose.

I mean, let's just all agree that Beca is the guy in this relationship.

So, Beca is stunned and speechless with her mouth hung open, and Ashley chuckles lightly before she asks, "Do you remember around four months ago you came home and found me under the blanket, sulking because I had a bad day?"

"Hmmm..." Beca purses her lips with narrowed eyes, digging her mind for a moment before she nods.

"That night, you sang ridiculously silly for me." Ashley teases, earning a playful eye roll from her girlfriend. "Then I told you the things that made my day unbearable."

After getting another nod from her girlfriend, Ashley's smile grows wider and she asks, "Do you remember what you said to me after that?"

"Hmmm..." Beca furrows her eyebrows, her pupils move to from side to side as the gear in her head turns to collect the memory. After a couple of second, she sheepishly says, "I uh... don't really remember."

Patiently, Ashley says, "You held me tightly in your arms, kissed my hairline, and then said, _it's going it be okay, Hon_." She pauses to take a deep breath and adds, "The moment you said those words... It was the moment of realization for me. The awakening moment as people said."

Beca looks at her girlfriend questioningly, yet a smile appears on her face. Then Ashley continues, "In that moment, I've finally realized how true those most common words people have said for thousands of years, with thousands of languages, in so many situations. In that exact moment, I've finally believed that everything is going to be okay, as long as I'm with you. _You,_ are the essence of my happiness. The _K_ to my okay." Then she smirks. "Without you, my life will only be left with an O."

Upon hearing the lame joke, Beca chuckles lightly, while Ashley smiles shyly, biting her bottom lip as she asks, "So... will you be the K to my okay forever and always, for the rest of our life?" She pulls out and tilts the ring slightly to show _the K to my okay_ , engraved on the inner side of the ring with gold.

Then Beca takes Ashley's hand and puts it on her left chest before she asks, "Do you feel that?"

"U huh." Ashley smiles ever so fondly. "It's beating steadily."

"That's my answer." Beca says without hesitation. "With every beat of my heart."

Beaming in happiness and warmth vibrating all over her body, Ashley takes Beca's left hand in hers, and then slips the ring into her ring finger.

After that, Beca kisses Ashley's forehead and says, "I," then kiss the tip of her nose. "Love," and then kisses her lips. "You."

Ashley presses a bold kiss on Beca's lips again before she says, "I love you too Babe."

With their eyes looking into each other's, they softly says in unison, "Always."

Then they just stand by the railings, looking at the ocean view with Beca hugging Ashley from behind. The sun is already up but they can still feel the chilly wind on their face.

"We're engaged." Ashley says in awe as if the reality just hit her.

Beca chuckles lightly and teasingly says, "Judging from the rings in our fingers? I think it's safe to say that indeed we are."

Ashley rolls her eyes, turns around, and looks at Beca with devilish smirk. "I believe this calls for a celebration."

"I couldn't be more agree, Miss Benson." Beca replies with a smirk.

"It's Mitchell to you from now on." Ashley says with a shy smile.

Beca's eyes widen in comic surprise, and she blurts out, "You'll take my silly last name?"

"Hmmm..." With her index finger on her chin, Ashley mocks a thinking face before she says, "Ashley Victoria Mitchell does have a better ring on it."

"I agree." Beca says with a goofy grin.

"So, about that celebration..." Ashley trails the end of the sentence teasingly, and then Beca pulls her inside without saying anything anymore.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that, would be chapter 18. I know, I know, I know. I've been putting so much pain on Chloe. And yeah, Beca and Ashley are engaged. But this isn't the end folks. We still have a long way to go. There will be Bella's reunion in two or three chapters, and that's where the story really got twisted.
> 
> And the smut part is probably a mess. But I've got to try. Hopefully it's not too weird. Please give me some suggestions to improve my writing skill.
> 
> In the next chapter, we'll see how Beca and Ashley spend the first three days of their engagement, and how Chloe spends the first three days of her shattered broken-hearted phase. As you can expect, it will be so contrast. And most of you will hate me. And it's okay. I understand.
> 
> Until then, sit tight and make good choices. Thank you for reading :)


	19. The Broken and The Mended

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey :D Good day you all.
> 
> The last chapter was about how Beca got Ashley back. And in this chapter, we'll see how Chloe, Beca, and Ashley spend the first three day after that. And brace yourself, especially for those who root for Chloe, things will get harder. But I can promise you one thing. At some point, Chloe will get what she wanted, just not what she needed. Yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own Pitch Perfect, and I also put two songs in this chapter that don't belong to me too. They are Unbreakable by Jamie Scott and You Can by David Archuleta. Incredible songs, and if you haven't listened to them, I really recommend you to. I also don't own the characters in this story. Let's dig in :D

 

**Tuesday, October 28th 2025. Chloe's Experience.**

It's another morning where Chloe has breakfast with her best friends. But it's not just another day for Chloe. She looks lifeless, and it's so obvious.

"Chloe?" Aubrey calls softly, but Chloe doesn't seem to hear her. So Aubrey takes her hand and squeezes it gently, and then Chloe turns to look at her blankly.

With a soft smile, Aubrey says, "Let's skip work today. Let's go do something fun."

But Chloe shakes her head weakly without saying anything. So Stacie chips in, "All of us can skip work and school today. Let's go to the park, and we can have a little picnic there."

Again, Chloe shakes her head weakly and mutters, "I need to go to school. My students need me."

"They can have a substitute for a day or two, Chloe." Aubrey says patiently.

"No." Chloe says weakly. "I can't disappoint my students just because I have a personal problem."

Then Stacie takes a deep breath and says, "It's okay to want some down time for yourself, Chloe. Come on. It will be fun."

"Come on Aunt Chowee." Bella chimes in cheerfully.

This time, Chloe smiles weakly toward her goddaughter and says, "I'm sorry sweetie. But Aunt Chloe has to go to school."

"Hmph." Bella pouts.

"Come on..." Stacie teases. "You can't ignore that cute pout you've taught her so well, Aunt Chowee."

But Chloe simply sighs deeply and plays with her food instead. Then Aubrey says, trying to hide her worried tone, "I'll call your school and tell them that you're staying at home for a couple of days. I'll stay with you, okay?"

"Don't." Chloe says flatly. There is no trace of any emotion in it, and it certainly spikes up Aubrey and Stacie's worries.

"Chloe... sweetie..." Aubrey persuades softly. "Tell me what you want to do, what you want me to do, and I'll do it. Please..."

"I just want to go to school, Bree." Chloe says, still as flat.

Subtly, Aubrey sighs deeply, at lost of how to console her best friend, and then she says, "But let me drive you to school, okay? I'll pick you up too later."

Without putting any fight, Chloe simply nods.

Feeling afraid of Chloe's condition, Stacie cautiously says, "Chloe, maybe... do you think maybe you need to see a pro-"

But she is cut short by her wife's deathly glare, and Stacie shuts her mouth instantly. Getting Chloe to see a therapist has always been conflicting for Aubrey. The blonde is afraid that it will affect Chloe's self-esteem even more.

"I just want to go to school." Chloe says flatly.

"Okay then." Aubrey replies with worried look. "We can go together."

Then they finish breakfast, and Aubrey takes Chloe to school while Stacie takes Bella to pre-school.

After Aubrey and Chloe have arrived, the blonde walks with Chloe to the school building, and softly says, "Call me when you're done. I'll come pick you up."

Chloe simply nods and walks into the building, and the blonde makes sure that the red head really gets into the building before she goes to work herself. But it turns out, Chloe has another plan.

After making sure that Aubrey is gone, Chloe pulls out her phone, dialing a number and asks, "Can you pick me up at school?"

When she gets a confirmation, Chloe goes to the office and tells her colleague that she has a family emergency to attend. After that, she waits for the person she's called by the park next to the school.

Not long after, a familiar silver mercy comes, and Chloe gets into the car. Upon seeing how empty Chloe seems to be, Kristen asks, "Everything alright, Chloe?"

Chloe nods and says, "Take me to your place."

Although she is taken aback, Kristen complies nevertheless, knowing how Chloe can be when she's in a certain state. She drives her car slowly, with the window down so Chloe can feel the wind on her face. But it doesn't seem to change the red head's mood.

After they've arrived at Kristen's place, the brunette asks, "Anything I can get for you? Water? Have you had breakfast?"

Instead of answering Kristen, Chloe kisses her on the lips, and Kristen kisses her back for a split second before pulling away and asks in confusion, "What are you doing?"

"I needed to feel something." Chloe says flatly.

"Chloe..." Kristen cautiously puts her hands on Chloe's shoulders. "Are you okay?"

"I just need to feel something." Chloe says again before leaning forward and kisses Kristen. This time, even though she is confused, Kristen complies and kisses her back. Then they move their _extracurricular activity_ to the bedroom.

After doing Chloe the favor time and time again, Kristen kisses the red head's forehead, and stares at Chloe's blank face before softly asks, "What's wrong?"

Again, Chloe simply says, "I needed to feel something."

"Did you?" Kristen asks not in a smug way, more in a worried way because she's known Chloe's history.

"I don't know." Chloe says flatly.

Kristen takes a deep breath and says, "Does Aubrey or Stacie know where you are?"

"No." Chloe mutters weakly.

"Do you want me to call them?"

"No."

"What can I do to make you feel better?" Kristen sounds slightly frustrated now.

"I just needed to feel something." The same words, and the same flat tone.

Kristen sighs deeply, kisses Chloe's forehead again, and hugs the red head tightly without saying anything. By midday, Kristen let Chloe in the bedroom alone so she can prepare something to eat.

Then they eat together. Chloe barely eats at all, but Kristen pushes her to eat at least half of the meal. After that, they lay on the bed again in silent while Kristen hugs Chloe tightly from behind. None of them is sleeping, but they also don't talk at all. From time to time, Kristen simply kisses Chloe on the back of her shoulder.

By three in the afternoon, Chloe flatly says, "Take me back to school."

Without any argument, Kristen says, "Okay."

Then they get dressed, and Kristen drives Chloe back to school. Without Chloe knowing, Kristen waits in her car with respectable distance until she finds out that the red head is being picked up by Aubrey. Then Kristen drives back home.

On the other hand, after Chloe gets into Aubrey's car, the blonde asks, "How's your day, Chloe?"

"Fine." Chloe says still as flat as this morning.

"Any story about your minions?" Aubrey tries to lighten up the air by asking about her students.

But Chloe just fixes her eyes, looking forward blankly and says, "Nothing."

"Okay." Aubrey says in defeat, and the rest of the drive goes in silent. Once they've arrived at the house, Chloe heads to her bedroom immediately.

Aubrey rakes her mind, thinking of the way to cheer her best friends up before going to the kitchen, grabs a tub of Chloe's favorite ice cream, and takes a bunch of musical movies before heading to Chloe's room.

"Chloe?" Aubrey calls out as she knock on the door, and when she doesn't get any respond, she opens the door and walks in hurriedly. Upon seeing that Chloe is laying on the bed in silent, the blonde sighs in relief, and cheerfully says, "I've got your favorite ice cream. And look what's in my hand?"

When Chloe doesn't say anything, Aubrey forces a more cheerful voice, saying, "La La Land! You love this movie! Let's watch it together!"

However, Chloe doesn't even look at her. So Aubrey sighs again and puts on the movie before joining Chloe on the bed.

"Ice cream?" Aubrey offers the ice cream in front of Chloe, but the red head simply shakes her head. Again, Aubrey can only sighs in defeat. Then she puts away the ice cream, pulls Chloe in a hug, and just stay with the red head without anymore word to say.

As the movie plays out, at some point Chloe falls asleep in Aubrey's warm embrace. On the other hand, Aubrey is raking her mind, trying to find a way to help her best friend out of this situation.

However, try as hard as she might, she doesn't find anything that doesn't include choking Beca to death, and it's probably not a good idea either for Chloe's sake. Not long after, the blonde also falls asleep, still hugging Chloe tightly.

Around 05.00 PM, there is a soft knock on the door before Stacie walks into the room. Upon seeing her wife and best friend are asleep, she switches off the TV, and decides to prepare dinner for all of them.

After the dinner's ready, Stacie takes her daughter to wake the other two women up. Just as they get into the room, Bella climbs up the bed, sneaks herself in between her blonde mother and her godmother before exclaiming, "Dinner's ready!"

The two women startle and wake up abruptly. While Aubrey is glaring at her wife in annoyance, Chloe sheds some tears on her face, and Bella quickly wipes the tears away as she asks, "Why are you crying Aunt Chowee?"

With a light smile, Chloe kisses the toddler's cheek and says, "I'm just a little sad sweetie."

Then the little blonde kisses Chloe all over her face and says, "That's what Mama usually do to cheer me up when I'm sad."

Chloe's smile grows slightly wider and she says with restraint voice, "I feel better already. Thank you sweetie."

With a grin so wide, Bella kisses Chloe again on the lips and says, "Your welcome Aunt Chowee. Now let's have dinner."

On the other hand, Stacie and Aubrey can breathe slightly in relief upon seeing that their daughter can cheer Chloe up a little bit. Then they go downstairs and have dinner together.

Again, Chloe doesn't eat much, but Aubrey manages to make her eat enough. After dinner, Chloe goes straight to her bedroom again, leaving Aubrey, Stacie, and Bella in the living room.

"I'll stay with her." Aubrey says toward her wife.

"Yeah." Stacie says with a sad smile. "Go be with her Babe."

Before Aubrey reaches the stairs, Stacie calls, "Babe."

"Hm?" Aubrey turns back around.

Stacie seems nervous as she asks, "Do you think maybe we should call Beca and ask her to come? I mean, just for a couple of hours."

"No." Aubrey says firmly. "It will bring no good at all to Chloe. She'll think that she has a chance, and then hang on to Beca again. We need to let her be broken-hearted for a while, but she will get better. Chloe is strong. Even without Beca. We need to make her see that."

Although Stacie is torn between her wife's right opinions, but she's also worried about Chloe's condition.

"Don't you dare calling Beca, Babe." Aubrey says firmly.

After letting out a long defeated sigh, Stacie says, "Okay."

Then Aubrey walks upstairs to Chloe's bedroom. Just like earlier, Aubrey simply hugs her red headed best friend until both of them fall asleep. The Wednesday morning, they have breakfast together, but Chloe's condition doesn't seem to improve.

Just like yesterday, after Aubrey drops her off at school, Chloe calls Kristen to pick her up. They go to Kristen's place again, and this time, Kristen doesn't ask any question when Chloe starts to kiss her even before she closes the front door.

They take it up to the bedroom, and after a couple of rounds of love making sessions, Kristen simply hugs Chloe on her chest tightly. At some point, Kristen starts to sing softly with her slightly off tune voice.

_She finds it hard to trust someone,_  
_She's heard the words cause they've all been sung._  
_She's the girl in the corner,_  
_She's the girl nobody loved._  
_But I can't, I can't can't stop thinking about you every day,_  
_And you can't, you can't, you can't listen to what people say._  
_They don't know you baby,_  
_Don't know that you're amazing,  
_ _But I'm here to stay._

_When you lose your way and the fight is gone,_  
_Your heart starts to break_  
_And you need someone around now._  
_Just close your eyes while I put my arms above you,_  
_And make you unbreakable._  
_She stands in the rain, just to hide it all._  
_If you ever turn around,_  
_I won't let you fall down now._  
_I swear I'll find your smile,_  
_And put my arms above you,_  
_And make you unbreakable.  
_ _I'll make you unbreakable._

At this point, Kristen feels her chest is wet, and she pulls away slightly to find that Chloe is crying silently. The brunette sighs in relief. If the choices are between the emotionless Chloe or crying Chloe, she prefers a crying Chloe. It means the red head is feeling something. Then she continues to sing.

_Cause she's the girl that I never had,_  
_She's the heart that I wanted bad._  
_The song I heard on the radio_  
_That made me stop and think of her._  
_And I can't, I can't, I can't concentrate anymore._  
_And I need, I need,_  
_Need to show her what her heart is for,_  
_It's been mistreated badly,_  
_Now her world has started falling apart,  
_ _Falling apart._

_When you lose your way and the fight is gone,_  
_Your heart starts to break_  
_And you need someone around now._  
_Just close your eyes while I put my arms above you,_  
_And make you unbreakable._  
_She stands in the rain, just to hide it all._  
_If you ever turn around,_  
_I won't let you fall down now._  
_I swear I'll find your smile,_  
_And put my arms above you,  
_ _And make you unbreakable._

Although her heart is also aching to see Chloe so broken, with a smile so fond, Kristen keeps singing while caressing Chloe's cheek gently and let the red head pouring out her tears. Sometimes she presses a couple of kisses on Chloe's wet eyelids or forehead, and she can feel Chloe's hand grips the side of her stomach tightly, trying hard to hold the sobs.

_You need to know that somebody's there all the time,_  
_I'd wait in line, and I hope it's yours._  
_Can't walk away 'til your heart knows,_  
_That it's beautiful.  
_ _Oh, I hope you know, it's beautiful._

_When you lose your way and the fight is gone,_  
_Your heart starts to break_  
_And you need someone around now._  
_Just close your eyes while I put my arms above you_  
_And make you unbreakable._  
_She stands in the rain, just to hide it all._  
_If you ever turn around,_  
_I won't let you fall down now._  
_I swear I'll find your smile,_  
_And put my arms above you,  
_ _And make you unbreakable._

Then Chloe smiles weakly, and it manages to flutter Kristen's heart, but she doesn't stop singing. Like she'd always do when they were still together to cheer the red head up.

_Cause I love, I love, I love, I love you darling._  
_Yes I love, I love, I love, I love you darling._  
_And I'll put my arms around you,  
_ _And make you unbreakable._

After Kristen finishes the song, Chloe weakly says, "Your voice is awfully off tune."

Then the brunette laughs lightly and says, "It must have been so bad that it makes you cry."

"True." Chloe says, still with the weak smile while Kristen wipes her tears away and kisses her forehead. Then Chloe leans closer and kisses Kristen, and this time, the brunette can feel something more. Slightly, but it's there, a light desire from the red head.

They make love again until it's time for Kristen to take Chloe back to school so Aubrey can take her home. Just like yesterday, Chloe doesn't know that Kristen waits until she gets on Aubrey's car before she leaves.

As soon as Chloe gets into the car, Aubrey can sense something different on her best friend, and she cheerfully says. "You seem better."

"Maybe." Chloe says not as flat as this morning.

"I'm glad." Aubrey says softly. "Anything you want to share?"

Chloe just shakes her head lightly, turns on the radio, and hums lightly to a song from the radio that Aubrey doesn't recognize or pay any attention to. Even though they don't talk much, but Aubrey is slightly relieved that at least Chloe is listening to the radio again.

To be honest, Aubrey is still worried because the mood changes can be rapid. She still can't just let Chloe on her own. Looking slightly better doesn't always mean getting better in Chloe's case. But right now, the blonde is cautiously relieved.

Just like yesterday, Aubrey stays with Chloe in her room before and after dinner, until the red head falls asleep in her arms, and she herself falls asleep too. The next day, on Thursday, Aubrey drops Chloe at school again, and then Kristen comes to pick her up.

But this time, Kristen doesn't take Chloe back to her house. The brunette takes the red head to a dog shelter. Seeing the red head smiles while playing with the puppies, even with a smile so light and her eyes only slightly have their spark is more than enough for Kristen.

Then they go to the Griffith Park to have lunch while sitting by the side of the lake. After lunch, Kristen wraps Chloe in a hug from aside tightly. They don't talk, but Chloe is humming softly to a song that Kristen doesn't recognize. But she doesn't care. All she cares about is that the read head seems slightly better compared to two days ago.

Surprisingly, Chloe even initiate to make love in the backseat of the car before Kristen drops her off at school. Again, Chloe doesn't know that Kristen waits until she gets in Aubrey's car.

In the car with Aubrey, Chloe still doesn't say anything at all but listening to the radio. Aubrey can see that Chloe is even slightly better than yesterday.

Later that night, just before they fall asleep, Chloe softly says, "Bree."

After having two nights silence, Aubrey is taken aback, but she tries to play it off, afraid of scaring the red head. So she simply responds, "Hm?"

"I want to be unbreakable." Chloe softly says.

With a softly smile, Aubrey kisses her forehead and says, "You are unbreakable. You are titanium, remember?"

"Hmmm..." Chloe remains silent for a while, but then she says, "I will be unbreakable."

"You will." Aubrey replies, and then they fall asleep.

* * *

**Tuesday, October 28** **th** **2025\. Ashley and Beca's Mansion.**

It's the afternoon after the proposal. Ashley wakes up around noon in Beca's warm embrace. Then she does her routine, kissing Beca with prayers.

Ashley is already on the last part, which is kissing Beca's left chest and says, "Thank you for this little yet strong beating heart that keep my happiness alive."

"It's beating for you, you know." Beca says hoarsely with her one eye slightly open.

"You heard that?" Ashley asks with wide eyes.

Beca chuckles lightly and kisses her now fiancé on the lips before she says, "Most of the times. But usually I was too sleepy to decipher what you were saying."

"All this time?" Ashley exclaims with higher note, failing to hide the surprise in her widen eyes.

"Well," Beca shrugs. "Like I said, most of the times. Besides, I just heard a faint sound of your voice, Hon."

"Why didn't you say anything, Babe?" Ashley asks shyly.

After kissing Ashley's forehead, Beca says, "I know you love to do it. And it seems to me that you don't want me to know. So..."

Ashley chuckles lightly, kisses Beca's lips, and mumbles against her lips, "You're the best. I love you."

"I love you too, Ashley Benson soon to be Mitchell." Beca replies teasingly, earning a light chuckle from the blonde. Then Ashley pulls Beca in a kiss that slowly become heated as she sits on top of Beca, straddling the brunette and starts to trail kisses down her neck.

"You're killing me, woman." Beca whines over-dramatically. "I need food in my system before I can go at it again."

Ashley laughs lightly upon seeing her fiancé's childlike behavior, and then she playfully says, "Look, whiny Beca is here. I think I need to reconsider my decision to marry you."

"Oh, we both know that you love whiny me." Beca says smugly.

"Hmmm..." Ashley mocks a thinking face and says, "I think it's about time for me to find another K to my okay. You know, the less whiny one."

"Feed me, woman." Beca whines some more. "I'm so hungry, I could die."

Ashley shuts her up by pressing her lips on Beca's before she says, "I'll ask Nina to make us some food. Anything you want, Babe?"

"Anything you want." Beca says as she flips to lay on her stomach

As Ashley gets up to reach Beca's shirt, she chuckles lightly upon seeing Beca's reddish-full-of-scratch-and-bite-marks back and shoulders. Then the blonde sits back down next to Beca, trailing her fingers gently on the marks she's made this morning.

Beca turns her head over her shoulder as far as she can to see the damage on her back. With a smirk so smug, she says, "My pleasure."

With a playful eye roll, Ashley takes a lotion for the marks in the bedside drawer, and smears it gently on Beca's back and shoulders.

It's funny how different the way they enjoy making love, yet they've always satisfied each other and never grown bored with each other. Beca likes to take her time, slowly drawing Ashley up over the edge, taking the pleasure of Ashley's helpless condition.

Contrarily, Ashley is the adventurous one. The one that find the thrill in the spur of the moment. That is the reason they've done their deed on so many thrilling rendezvous such as at the beach, in the car, in the studio, on the set of PLL, in the movie theater, in their jet, on Azure's lid, in the DJ booth.

They've done a lot of explorations throughout their relationship. But at the beginning, it took time for Ashley to find out that Beca enjoyed a bit of pain when it came to making love. Just the simple things like biting, scratching, or pinching. It drives the tiny brunette over the edge, especially when it's done on her back.

Beca will get what she wants after the amount of frustration she puts Ashley through in a slow building up sex, and especially when they have angry or make up sex. Thankfully, they both have agreed that they can enjoy sex better without any additional equipment other than what they already have on their body.

After Ashley's done, Beca pulls herself up to sit, and cups Ashley's cheeks before she says, "It's okay Babe." Then she smirks devilishly. "You know I like it a little bit rough."

"Don't I?" Ashley says with a smirk, and Beca laughs lightly.

There was a time when Beca was embarrassed by her unusual preferences, but as the time went by, she accepted it because Ashley never minded about that. Instead, they started to learn about each other's preferences in order to satisfy each other's desires.

"Tuna sandwich or chicken salad?" Ashley asks Beca after she puts the lotion back into the drawer.

"Tuna sandwich, chicken salad and two pieces of tiramisu as dessert." Beca replies instantly.

Ashley chuckles lightly, thinking that she must have worn out her fiancé more than usual that the brunette asks for that many meals for lunch.

Then Beca adds, "Hon, don't forget-"

"Ice chocolate mocha milk." Ashley finishes her sentence, knowing the beverage Beca always craves for after they make love. "I know."

With a goofy grin, Beca says, "How lucky I am."

"Tell me about it." Ashley rolls her eyes playfully, kissing Beca chastely before walking to Beca's desk to call their maid from the landline phone in Beca's sanctuary.

Beca uses that time to look at her engagement ring. Ashley knows well that the brunette isn't a jewelry person. That's why Beca is more than glad that her ring is simple and elegant. She reads the _'the K to my okay'_ repeatedly until the words are most likely engraved in her brain.

"Do you like it?" Ashley asks when she sits back down, laying on her stomach, facing Beca.

"Like it?!" Beca exclaims. "I love it! You know me way too well."

"Glad to know."

"When did you get it anyway?"

"The day after you told me that it's gonna be okay." Ashley explains nonchalantly. "I went to a jeweler and asked him to make it exactly like that."

Beca's eyes widen in comic surprise as she asks, "You designed this?"

"Nope." Ashley pops the P. "Not really. I just told them what I wanted, and they made it right."

"This is so cool." Beca says without holding back the proud in her voice and face.

With her cheeks flushing red, Ashley says, "Thanks Babe."

"No." Beca kisses Ashley's tip of nose. "Thank you, fiancé."

"Fiancé..." Ashley purses her lips before grinning from ear to ear. "I like the sound of it."

"Me more." Beca replies.

"Hmmm..." Ashley trails her finger down the crook on Beca's chest and huskily says, "As much as I love to see you without clothes, I do have a concern about our maid's psychological well-being when she walks up here with our food, and see you naked."

"Let her." Beca replies playfully, and the blonde chuckles lightly.

"But I will be so upset because..." Ashley trails her end of the sentence with devilish smile. "I'm the only person who get to see you naked, Babe."

"Huh." Beca smirks. "Possessive. I like it."

"Only with you." Ashley says cheerfully.

Beca laughs as she gets up to put on the grey hoodie and shorts before jumping back onto bed, and Ashley immediately snuggles up on her chest and laces their left hands together.

"When do you think we're supposed to tell our people?" Ashley asks softly.

"Hmmm..." Beca purses her lips before she says, "When do you go back to work?"

"Thursday."

"Well," Beca takes a couple of second to think some more before she says, "We can tell them on that day. We can call your folks together in the morning, then I can go to the set with you to tell Troian and Patrick over lunch, and then in the afternoon I'll tell The Bellas. After that, we can have dinner with Donna and Harvey. How about that?"

"Sounds like a plan." Ashley says nonchalantly. "I do like it that we have two days in our bubble before other people know, or the media finds out, and then all hell break loose."

Beca laughs lightly, stroking Ashley's hair gently and says, "It's going to be okay, Hon."

Ashley kisses Beca's chest and mumbles, "I know."

"I'll call Donna now to tell her about the dinner." Beca says, getting up from the bed to call Donna from the landline. She tells Donna that she will take a break until Thursday, and then Donna reminds her about a meeting on Friday, and the reunion on Saturday.

After she ends the call, Beca walks back to the bed and wraps Ashley again on her chest. And then she calls, "Hon."

"Hm?"

Nonchalantly, Beca says, "I forgot to tell you that I'm gonna have The Bellas 10th reunion on Saturday."

"Hmmm..." Ashley purses her lips. "Do you want me to come with you?"

In comic surprise, Beca asks, "You will do that for me?"

"Of course I will." Ashley chuckles and teasingly says, "What kind of fiancé do you think I am to let my fiancé go to a reunion by herself?"

Beca laughs lightly and replies, "I was afraid you wouldn't come with me."

After pushing herself up and holding herself with her elbows, Ashley looks at Beca fondly and says, "If you want me to be there, then I will be there. No biggie."

"Thank you, Hon." Beca says softly says.

Then Ashley clears her throat and cautiously says, "But I think you need to make sure that the other Bellas are okay for having me there."

"What do you mean?" Beca raises an eyebrow. "Emily, Stacie, and Fat Amy will be happy to see you there. And I believe the other Bellas will too."

"Babe." Ashley says with a sheepish smile. "Your friendship with them is still a little bit rocky. Especially with Chloe. The reunion can be the moment to mend it. I just don't want to add unnecessary tension."

Beca sighs deeply and says, "You're right. I'll ask them on Thursday."

"Great."

They have their lunch inside the room, and then take a shower together. After showering, they spend the evening on the bed in sanctuary where Beca half-seated, leaning onto the headboard with Ashley snuggling up on her chest.

"So, how do you want our wedding to be?" Beca asks as she fiddles their joined fingers.

"How do you want it?"

Beca scoffs and says, "Hon, I'm not that type of women who have their wedding planned ever since they could talk. So, we'll do anything you've dreamed of. Huge party? Thousands of guests? Blinding spotlight?"

"I'm thinking we can have a small ceremony in our garden over the cliff." Ashley says nonchalantly. "We will invite our family and close friends. Just a simple wedding will do."

Beca is taken aback for a second, and then with narrowed eyes, she asks, "Are you sure? I mean, you know we can afford any kind of wedding you want. We can even have a wedding up in the air on a plane, or at the ocean on a yacht, or we can take our guests to Greece because you love it there."

"No." Ashley says without hesitation. "I just want a simple ceremony where we can be with the people we love without tiring us too much."

"You've never ceased to amaze me, Ashley Benson." Beca softly says.

With a nonchalant shrug, Ashley says, "I just don't see the point of having a huge party with the people we barely know, while we can enjoy an evening laughing around the people that matter to us. What do you think?"

"Well," Beca says with a teasing smile. "If it's up to me, we'll be going to elope somewhere quiet in the middle of nowhere. We even can put that little island we have into used, and get married just the two of us. But I'm more than glad if you want a simple small wedding. Not to mention in our backyard. I knew we bought this huge chunk of land for something."

Ashley chuckles and says, "You, and your huge need of personal space."

"Not with you." Beca says softly, making her fiancé's eyes become teary. Then she cups Ashley's cheek and caresses it gently with her thumb before saying, "I don't want to be anywhere without you. I know I'm not the easiest person to be with, let alone to be loved. So I'm glad you choose me, I'm happy you stay."

Ashley beams at her fiancé with the softest warmest smile when she says, "Babe, I know that it was messy and complicated with us. But I wouldn't want to have it in any other way. I love you Beca Mitchell. All with every single bits and pieces of you."

"I love you too Ashley Benson. Forever and always." Beca cracks out, trying to hold the tears, and Ashley sees through her, so she jokes, "And who says I'm easy to deal with? Yesterday, someone told me that I'm clingy, easily jealous, love to scold..."

It makes Beca laugh, and then the brunette's eyebrows raise suddenly when she remembers something. Then she clears her throat and says, "I have an engagement present for you."

With her eyebrows furrowed, Ashley asks, "What is it?"

"A song." Beca replies, and then she starts singing softly.

_Take me where I've never been,_  
_Help me on my feet again._  
_Show me that good things come to those who wait._  
_Tell me I'm not on my own._  
_Tell me I won't be alone._  
_Tell me what I'm feeling isn't some mistake._  
_cause if anyone can make me fall in love,  
_ _You can._

_Save me from myself, you can._  
_And it's you and no one else._  
_If I could wish upon tomorrow,_  
_Tonight would never end._  
_If you asked me, I would follow._  
_But for now, I'll just pretend._  
_cause if anyone can make me fall in love,  
_ _You can._

Upon seeing how Ashley is smiling ever so fondly and sighing contentedly, Beca can feel her heart fluttering as the warmth of that smile filling in her chest. And she keeps singing.

_Baby when you look at me,_  
_Tell me, what do you see?_  
_Are these the eyes of someone you could love?_  
_Cause everything that brought me here,_  
_Well, now it all seems so clear._  
_Baby, you're the one that I've been dreaming of._  
_cause if anyone can make me fall in love,  
_ _You can._

_Save me from myself, you can._  
_And it's you and no one else._  
_If I could wish upon tomorrow,_  
_Tonight would never end._  
_If you asked me, I would follow._  
_But for now, I'll just pretend.  
_ _cause if anyone can make me fall in love..._

At this point, the spark in Ashley's glimmering eyes pull Beca deeper in love. How Beca ever could live alone for four years, ever thought about living her life alone when there was someone who could love her this way, she herself would never know.

_Only you can take me sailing in your deepest eyes._  
_Bring me to my knees and make me cry._  
_And no one's ever done this,_  
_Everything was just a lie.  
_ _And I know, yes I know_

And Beca's voice becomes soften as she softly sings the next part. The part that makes Ashley's heart filled with warmth, rushing, fulfilling, and bringing tears in her eyes.

_This is where it all begins,_  
_So tell me it will never end._  
_I can't fool myself,_  
_It's you and no one else._  
_If I could wish upon tomorrow,_  
_Tonight would never end._  
_If you asked me, I would follow._  
_But for now, I'll just pretend._  
_If anyone can make me fall in love,  
_ _You can._

_Show me that good things come to those who wait._

Ashley watches and listens to Beca singing in a bliss. How Beca can tell their love story in a song will always be an enigma to her. She's got tears in her eyes, feeling the raw honest emotion of love in every single word of that song, working its way with every beat of her heart, traveling to the tips of her fingers with her blood, giving her such a warm feeling that make her chest burst in happiness.

Then Beca wipes Ashley's tears away from the corner of her eyes gently, and kisses her forehead before she calmly says, "I mean every single word. You saved me from myself. You pulled me out of my wall, and helped me become the best version of myself. You are my dream come true, Hon. So, wherever you want to go, just tell me and I'll follow. No question ask."

"Babe..." Ashley finally burst in tears after hearing Beca's speech. She just want to show her fiancé how much she loves her, but it feels like words are not enough. No word seems to be able to convey how much feelings she has for her fiancé. So she shows it all with an act. She kisses Beca, and she doesn't even care if the kiss is wet from tears.

Then they make love, the best kind of lovemaking. It's raw, emotional, passionate and fulfilling. They end up staying in the sanctuary until Thursday morning, just the two of them; relishing and savoring the love they have for each other.

* * *

**Ashley and Beca's Mansion: Thursday Morning, October 30** **th** **2025**

As usual, Ashley wakes up before Beca. After she's done with her routine, Ashley starts rubbing Beca's arm to wake her up.

"Babe, wake up."

Beca groans lightly, making the blonde chuckle. Then Ashley kisses Beca on the lips gently, slowly nipping her lips until the brunette kisses her back. It doesn't take long until the kiss becomes heated, and they end up having a morning sex.

Once they're done and finally catches their breaths, Beca narrows her eyes in mock upset and says, "You are a mean, mean, woman. You lured me out from my slumber with a hot steamy morning sex. You knew I couldn't resist that."

Ashley gasps mockingly and says, "Don't you have any self-control, Mitchell?"

"Have you seen you?" Beca rolls her eyes with a playful glare.

After laughing whole-heartily, Ashley says, "It wasn't the complaint I heard when you were so determined to make me moaning your name. In fact, other than smirking and saying _patience love_ , you didn't say anything at all. Your lips were too busy-"

Beca cuts her off with another searing kiss, to which Ashley returns with the same favor. They pulls away breathlessly, panting hard to catch their breath with Ashley lying half on top of Beca.

"Babe," Ashley tries to speak between her ragged breaths. "I- it's not that I don't want this. But I... reeeaally need to shower and go to work."

"But the sun hasn't even out yet." Beca whines.

Ashley chuckles, kisses Beca's shoulder blade, and says, "Babe, you know I have to be early to put the makeup on." Then she smirks devilishly, inching closer to Beca's face and says, "Besides, I didn't say that you couldn't join me in the shower..." She pauses, smirking and brushing her nose on Beca's in every syllable as she says, "Fi. an. cé."

After she sees Beca swallowing hard with her eyes wide open, Ashley stands up, leaving the blanket and sheet behind, and then walks to the bathroom, naked.

"I'm up, I'm up!" Beca exclaims, jumping off the bed, rushing to the bathroom.

"Works like a charm. Every single time." Ashley sings out cheerfully, earning a playful eye roll from the brunette.

After she has showered and changed into a casual outfit, Ashley looks closely into the blue diamond on her ring. She can see that there is something in it, just a hint of glint, not too bright, and people can only recognize it if they looks real close.

"What is it, Hon? You don't like the ring?" Beca asks playfully as she walks into Ashley's closet.

"No, silly." Ashley replies without moving her eyes from the ring. "It seems like there's something in it. But I can't see it clearly."

Beca chuckles lightly and says, "That was fast. I thought you'd never find it."

When Ashley looks up at her in confusion, Beca says, "Wait a second."

Then the brunette leaves Ashley for a couple of minutes before coming back with a magnifying glass in her hand. Then she takes Ashley's left hand, puts it under the magnifying glass, and says, "Look closely. Can you see a couple of white dots in it?"

Ashley squints her eyes, looking intensely at the diamond before she nods.

While staring at the ring, Beca casually says, "It's the part of constellations that could be seen from my house on the night you were born. You know, because you are the star that lighten up my night."

Then Beca explains more about the piece of constellation she's chosen, and the meaning of it, pointing with her little finger over the glass to show how the stars line up.

Meanwhile, Ashley is staring in awe and adoration at her fiancé's lighten up face as the brunette talks about the things she loves.

"I asked the jewelers to make it specifically like that." Beca ends her explanation with a nonchalant shrug. When she sees that Ashley is staring at her with glimmering eyes and a fond smile, Beca asks, "What?"

"You have a beautiful mind, Babe." Ashley says softly. "And I'm truly blessed to be the one you choose to share it with."

With her cheeks blushing red, Beca rubs the back of her neck and shyly says, "It's nothing. I'm just a nerd who likes nerdy stuff. I spent years looking up to the sky and a lot of money on the telescopes. So it's time to put it into a good used."

"Well," Ashley smiles teasingly. "You are my nerd. And I love your nerdy side. With all of your nerdy stuff. I love and adore every single nerdy bits and pieces of you."

When Beca's cheeks can't be more red, Ashley chuckles and kisses Beca chastely. But then she narrows her eyes as she says, "I can't wear it at work. And I don't want to leave it at home. But if I carry it around in my purse, I'm afraid I might scratch it. Or worse, lose it."

Beca smiles softly, she undo Ashley's necklace, and puts the ring in it with the initial B pendant before putting the necklace back on Ashley's neck. "Here. Problem solved."

"Thank, Babe." Ashley smiles sheepishly. "But what if there's a scene that shows my neck?"

"Then I'll hold it for you." Beca replies, putting on her leather jacket.

"Everyday?"

Beca chuckles and says, "Well, starting from tomorrow, you don't have to hide it anymore. You can wear it wherever you want. Or just leave it at home. Where it's safe."

With her cute light pout, Ashley says, "Then I won't have my engagement ring with me."

Beca laughs lightly and kisses the pout away before she says, "Hon, we'll still be engaged whether you wear the ring or not." When Ashley is going to interrupt, Beca quickly adds, "And if you scratch it, then I'll order another one."

"I don't want another one." Ashley says stubbornly.

"Huh." Beca purses her lips, thinking of a way out before she says, "Wait here."

Then Beca walks into her own closet, taking a small plastic container she uses to keep her meds, and then walks back into Ashley's closet.

As she hands the container, Beca says, "Here. Put it in this, and then put this container in a small compartment in your purse. That way it won't be mixed with your other stuff, it won't be scratched, and nobody would've thought that there's a jewelry in it."

Ashley grins from ear to ear, doing just what Beca's said before saying, "My hero."

After putting the container into her purse, the blonde puts her arms on Beca's shoulders, and closes the gap between them. Then after she pulls away, Ashley cheerfully says, "Let's go. We'll grab some coffee and sandwiches on the way."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew... That's it. Chapter 19. Not too long, but I hope it's enough. Just as the tittle, this chapter is about Chloe, who's broken, and Beca, who's mended. And... Kristen is back!
> 
> For the next chapter, it will be about Beca and Ashley tell their friends and family about the engagement; Ashley's parents, Beca and Ashley's best friends Troian and Patrick, The Bellas who live in L.A. which are Stacie, Aubrey, Chloe, and Emily, and then Harvey and Donna.
> 
> Until then, sit tight and make good choices. Thank you for reading :)


	20. Telling Them The Big News

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oey! :D
> 
> Sorry for the delay. But I'm up again.
> 
> Thank you for all of the reviewers, folks who favor, followers, and silent readers :)
> 
> Now back to the story. In the last chapter, you've seen how Chloe and Beca live the first three days as the broken and the mended. In this chapter, Beca and Ashley will tell their best friends and family about their engagement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own Pitch Perfect and the characters. Let's dig in :)

 

Ashley and Beca are on their way to PLL set, and Ashley can't deny that she loves it when Beca comes to the set with her. It rarely happened because they both are busy. So she always appreciates Beca's effort to come to the set. The same thing applied the other way around.

Spending time together while they both have very demanding jobs is hard. That's why they made an agreement to pick each other up when whoever's done first. It also helps that they have the same circle of friends so they get to spend time out of work together with the people closest to them.

"I really like it when you come with me to work." Ashley says while searching for a song from the audio set.

"So you can show off my BMW i8?" Beca teases.

Ashley chuckles, rolling her eyes before she says, "Obviously. And it's not bad at all having your girlfriend around the set. You know, to show people how lucky I am for having her."

With a smile so fond, Beca takes Ashley's hand in hers and says, "But you can't do that anymore."

Ashley turns to look at her fiancé with furrowed eyebrows and asks, "Why?"

"Because you have a fiancé to show off now." Beca says in mock nonchalant. "It won't be fair for your girlfriend."

"You smartass Mitchell." Ashley slaps her arm playfully, while Beca just keep fixing her eyes on the road, trying to hold her laughter. "I hate you sometimes."

Beca laughs lightly and says, "Aw... Hon. I thought we already agreed that you love me."

"Who said so?" Ashley retorts teasingly.

"This ring on my finger." Beca wiggles her left hand to Ashley.

"You wear it?" Ashley asks with a grin so wide.

Beca scoffs lightly and says, "I'm never taking it off. It's imprinted on my body already."

"But you don't like wearing jewelries."

"Hon, this is not just any other jewelries." Beca seems nervous now and her cheeks become red. "This is uh... you trusting your life and your love in me uh... for the rest of our life?"

Beca certainly can't see Ashley, but the sound of Ashley clearing her throat suggests that the blonde is tearing. So the brunette clears her throat. "I promise that I will always wear this ring, _and_ our wedding ring for the rest of my life. Except when I'm taking a shower."

"You better keep that promise." Ashley says, wiping the tears in the corner of her eyes subtly.

After kissing Ashley's hand again, Beca says, "Let's call your parents Hon."

"Right. We can video call them..." Ashley pauses, touching the screen on the dashboard to call her parents. "From here."

Not long after, the blonde couple pick up the video call, and they are happy to know that their daughter is finally engaged after five years with Beca.

"Oh sweetie, we're so happy for both of you." Shannon, Ashley's mother says in tears.

"Finally, Kid! I was starting to think that you'd changed your mind." Ashley's father says jokingly.

"Never Jeff." Beca replies with a playful eye roll.

"Can't blame me. You asked me for my daughter's hand more than a year ago."

"You asked Papa?" Ashley asks in surprise.

Beca clears her throat nervously before she says, "I uh... I wanted to do it right."

"She's a keeper. Make sure you keep her, Ash." Shannon tells her daughter.

"Already on it." Ashley replies with a grin. Then they keep talking with Ashley's parents for the rest of the drive.

Once they've arrived at the set, almost all of the casts greet Beca happily, except for Shay. Beca has heard from Ashley that Shay has had a crush on the blonde since forever. So the fact that Beca and Ashley are back together must have upset the tall brunette.

While Ashley is doing her job, Beca is sitting by the corner of the room. After giving some of the crews her autographs and taking pictures with them, Beca decides to check her unattended phone in the past three days.

There are a lot of missed calls and messages. Most of them are from Donna, updating her about work; and Stacie and Emily left a couple of messages too. Beca immediately calls Stacie and Emily, telling them that she needs to talk to them that afternoon. They agree to meet up at Stacie's house at 05.00 PM.

When she's finally checked all of the messages, she realizes that Chloe doesn't leave any. It certainly raises her concern because Chloe had been texting and calling her in the past month every day, almost non-stop. But Beca shrugs it off, thinking that the redhead must've been busy. She spends the rest of her time by writing down some ideas for a new song.

It's already time for lunch, but Beca is still so engrossed with her work, and Ashley walks to her quietly from behind, leaning forward next to her ear and yells, "Babe!"

"Mother fuck- omph!" Beca curses loudly, but Ashley cuts her off by putting her hand on Beca's mouth immediately.

With her heart racing so fast, Beca bites Ashley's hand and Ashley pulls her hand away, laughing so hard upon seeing Beca's reaction.

"What the hell, Hon?!" Beca snaps in upset. "Are you trying to kill me?!"

Then Ashley kisses her chastly, still smiling with no trace of regret when she says, "Sorry Babe."

Without saying anything, Beca simply stares at the blonde in upset.

"Babe, I'm so sorry." Ashley looks at her fiancé with overly dramatic puppy eyes, yet the grin on her face give her away.

With an annoyed scoff, Beca grumbles, "You're lucky that you are Ashley Benson. And she happens to be my fiancé."

Ashley grins from ear to ear, tapping Beca's nose and says, "Soon to be Mitchell."

Still, with an annoyed harsh sighing, Beca rolls her eyes before letting out a smile. "But if I die now, you won't even have a chance to be the widow Mitchell. Because we're not even married yet."

Feeling upset of what Beca just said, Ashley glares at her angrily and slaps Beca's arm hard. After glancing her eyes sharply away from a sheepish Beca, Ashley pulls out her ring from her purse, but when she's going to put it on, Beca stops her.

"Let me." Beca holds up her hand.

Although she is still upset, Ashley hands Beca the ring, and then Beca puts the ring on before kissing Ashley's hand.

"All done, My Lady." Beca says as she laces their hands together.

Ashley kisses her cheek and cheerfully says, "Let's go get lunch and tell our friends that we're soon to be The Mitchells."

Groaning loudly, Beca whines, "We're gonna be one of those couple, aren't we?"

"What couple?" Ashley pretends to look innocent.

"The kind that call themselves The Mitchells." Beca says in mock annoyance.

"Maybe." Ashley replies, still as innocent.

"I am so looking for a new fiancé." Beca mocks a serious look.

"And where are you gonna look?" Ashley narrows her eyes in mock upset.

"Hmmm..." Beca pretends to be thinking before she answers, "I don't know. I'm thinking Walmart is a start?"

Ashley laughs lightly and replies, "Good luck with that."

Then they go out to have lunch with Patrick and Troian at a diner nearby.

"So, you're back together then." Troian asks with a knowing look, smiling toward her Ashley and Beca.

"Yep." Ashley pops the P with a huge grin on her face.

"Whoa!" Patrick teases, holding up his hand to cover his eyes. "Careful Ash. It seems like your smile can blind us."

Ashley simply sticks out her tongue, making Beca chuckle lightly. Then Patrick turns to Beca and says, "It's been a while, dude. How are you man?"

"Never been better." Beca replies instantly.

"I bet." Troian smirks at Ashley. "And I also bet that the make-up sex _really_ paid off that you went MIA in three days."

"More than you can ever imagine." Ashley says with a smirk, earning a bark of laughter from the other couple, while Beca's cheeks become as red as boiled crab.

After the laughter unwind and they've placed their order, Beca looks at the couple across the table and says, "Thank you for being there for us in these past three weeks. I don't know if I could've survived a day without Patrick kept updating me about Ashley every day."

"Yeah." Ashley smiles. "Really. We owe you both for this. Thank you."

"You did the same for us." Patrick says casually.

"Just a trip to France would be suffice." Troian says playfully, causing another bark of laughter from their table.

After the laughter unwind, Beca clears her throat, laces her fingers with Ashley's under the table, and says, "We uh... need to tell you guys something."

Troian gasps over dramatically, "Ashley, you're pregnant!"

While Patrick and Ashley snort, Beca rolls her eyes and asks with bored-look, "And how would we achieve that?"

"Oh, right." Troian sighs overdramatically. "You're lack of a certain equipment."

Ashley and Patrick bark out a laughter, while Beca glares toward the giggling tall brunette. Then Ashley kisses Beca's cheeks before saying, "I think we just let them find out themselves, Babe."

Rolling her eyes in half-annoyance, Beca chuckles lightly and pulls Ashley's left hand up to kiss it.

Troian gasps, covering her mouth with a hand while her other hand is pointing back and forth between Beca, Ashley, and the ring on Ashley's hand as she stutters, "You... uh... Is that?... Are you?"

"Well," Beca gives Troain a smug smirk as she says, "You're not so smartass anymore, are you?"

"Let me see!" Troian exclaims, pulling Ashley's hand in front of her to look at the ring. "Well hello Miss Sunshine." Then she looks up at Ashley and softly says, "It's beautiful, Ash. Beca chose the perfect ring for you."

Ashley turns to look at her fiancé fondly to say, "Indeed she did."

While Troian and Ashley are busy with the ring, Patrick stands up, grinning from ear to ear and pulls Beca in a hug from across the table. "Finally! I thought you'd pawned that ring to buy another car."

Beca scoffs lightly, shoving him away playfully and mockingly says, "Thanks man. For the amount of faith you have in me."

"He knew?"

"You knew?"

Ashley and Troian exclaim at the same time to their own fiancé.

With a look that say _obviously_ , Patrick says, "Who do you think went to look for the so called perfect ring with her for almost a month but then she ended up ordering a costumed one?"

"What?" Troian asks in comic surprise.

"Oh you both should've seen her." Patrick says with wide eyes while nodding his head. "No rings, not even one ring, got a compliment from the whiny Beca Mitchell. Either it was too big, too small, too shiny, too simple, too complicated, too round, too ringy, too stupid. I mean, how could a ring be stupid at all? It's a fucking ring, Mitchell."

Beca rolls her eyes toward the blonde man and says, "It looked stupid. Besides, I wasn't whiny. I was just uh... giving them advice to make a better ring."

It certainly evokes another bark of laughter, and then Troian teases, "Of course it's round, and ringy, and shiny, dude. It's called an _engagement ring_ for a reason."

While Beca is rolling her eyes toward Troian, Ashley kisses her fiancé's cheek and says, "Aw... It's okay Babe. I love whiny you."

Then Beca scoffs before her scowled face turns into a goofy one.

"So," Troian wiggles her eyebrows toward Ashley. "Did you give it to her?"

Ashley grins and looks at Beca, hinting her to show her hand, and Beca smirks, pulling her left hand up and wiggles her left hand in front of the other couple.

After picking up his jaw from the floor, Patrick exclaims, "No way! That is so fucking cool!"

With a smirk so smug, Beca says, "I happened to have a fiancé with a great taste and mind."

"Lucky you." Ashley grins at her fiancé.

"Oh, no wonder you said yes, dude. I would've married her too if she'd given me that ring." Patrick says playfully.

"Hey!" Troian slaps his arm playfully.

"Kidding Babe." Patrick says with a smirk before kissing a pouting Troian on her temple.

Then Troian stands up and pulls Ashley in a hug. "Congrats, Ash. I'm happy for you."

"Thank you Troian, to help me realizing what to do." Ashley hugs the tall brunette back.

"Well, someone have to make sure you don't wear your ass as a hat for too long." Troian says playfully.

After pulling away from Ashley, Troian grabs Beca's hand and pulls her up closer to her face before fiercely says, "Hurt her again, and I will make sure you spend the rest of your life in regret, not only for hurting her, but also for knowing me."

"She's fully serious Babe." Ashley says nonchalantly, trying to hide her laughter.

On the other hand, still stunned by the act, Beca can't find her word, and the only thing she can do is nodding lightly.

Then Troian's eyes soften as she grins, pulling Beca in a hug and says, "Just make sure you treat her right. Though I'm not worried about it. Congratulations, Hobbit."

With a relieved sigh, Beca pats Troian's back awkwardly and says, "Don't worry. I will treat her right. So right."

After the two brunette pull away, it's Patrick's turn. He gets up, pulls Ashley in a hug, and says, "Come on Benzo. My turn to threaten you." And everybody laughs lightly. Then he pulls away slightly, puts his hands on Ashley's arms, and softly says, "Don't hurt Beca's heart. She'd done a pretty good job on literally hurting it years ago."

While Beca is punching her best friend on his arm playfully, Ashley replies toward the blonde man, "Don't worry, I won't."

Then they sit back down and their food arrive. After a while eating in silent, Ashley look at Troian with all seriousness as she says, "Now is the time for the most important question."

Troian furrows her eyebrows, looking at her blonde friend in confusion, and then Ashley smirks as she says, "When can I start preparing the wedding with my maid of honor, the one and only Troian Bellisario?"

With her mouth and eyes wide open in comic surprise, Troain exclaims, "You want me to be your maid of honor?!"

"Duh." Ashley rolls her eyes. "Did you ever doubt that? You are my very best friend. So, are you up for it?"

"Abso-fucking-lutely!" Troian replies excitedly, earning a light laughter around the table.

On the other hand, Patrick is staring at Beca, smirking so smugly without saying anything.

"Damn it!" Beca curses under her breath.

Still, Patrick just keep staring at her smugly, this time with his arms crossed on his chest, and Beca sighs in half-annoyance before saying, "Of course you remember."

When Ashley and Troian look at their own fiancé with questioning look, Beca points her chin toward Patrick, asking him to tell them about the deal.

Patrick leans forward, resting his hands on the table, looking at Beca teasingly as he says, "We had a deal that if I keep the ring a secret to myself until she propose, I will be her groomsman." Then his smile turns into a devilishly one. "And I get to organize her bachelorette party."

Beca groans and whines, "I shouldn't have said that."

"Nu uh. No turning back, Mitchell. I kept my part of the deal." Patrick says smugly, making the brunette sighing overly dramatic and the other two woman laughing lightly.

When the laughter unwind, Troian asks, "Have you told anybody else?"

"We still keep it under the radar." Ashley says with a soft warning tone. "So please keep it to yourself until we decided to let the public know."

"Sure." Troian replies.

"Now, tell us how the hobbit proposed and the wedding plan." Troian says before taking a bite of her sandwich.

After that, they spend lunch talking about the proposal and planning the wedding. Then Beca, Ashley, and Troian go back to the PLL set, while Patrick heads to film Suit in another place.

Just like this morning, Beca waits for Ashley by the corner of the room patiently, playing game with her phone, while from time to time, Ashley would come to steal kisses from the tiny brunette.

It's around 4 PM when Beca comes to Ashley, who is doing her makeup for another scene, taps her shoulder and says, "Hon, I've got to go."

"Now?" Ashley pouts. "It's only 4."

Beca chuckles and says, "Traffic. Pascal will stay here with you. I'll come back and pick you up right after I'm done. And then we can go to Harvey's. Okay?"

"Okay."

Then Beca kisses her chastely before saying, "Love you."

"Love you too Babe."

As Beca turns on her heels, Ashley grabs her hand and says, "Drive safe, okay?"

"Will do." Beca pecks Ashley's lips once again and walks out.

"You two are so sweet." The makeup artist says.

Ashley smiles and says, "Thank you."

* * *

On the way to Stacie's, Beca calls Emily.

" _Pop, what's up?"_

"Em, are you on your way?"

" _Yep. What is it that you want to talk about?"_

"It's about me and Ashley. Do you think it's safe to tell Chloe?"

" _If this is about you getting back together, I think you're already too late. She already knew."_

"She did?"

" _Yeah. Stacie and Aubrey have already talked to her about that."_

"No wonder she hasn't sent me any messages. How did she take it?"

" _She uh... I'm not sure. She hasn't said anything about it, but she sure seems distant lately."_

"Hmmm..." Beca feels a sudden uneasy feeling raising up from her stomach. "There's something you need to know."

" _You and Ashley are engaged."_

"How did you know?"

" _Oh, please Pop."_ Beca can hear the teasing tone. _"Ashley sent me a picture of both of your left hands with rings on it between your sleeping face and her goofy grin on Tuesday."_

Beca chuckles lightly and replies, "Of course she'd tell you."

" _Of course she would. It's her peace offering. Besides, I'm your aca-child. I'm supposed to know first. And by the way, how could you even look angry in your sleep?"_

"That's how a badass sleep, kiddo." That answer makes Emily laugh, and then Beca asks, "Have you told Stacie?"

" _No. I thought you would want to tell her on your own."_

"Yeah, I do. Thanks for not bringing it up this morning when we had that conference call."

" _I know you, Beca."_

"Uh... yeah. Em, how do you think I'm supposed to tell Chloe?"

" _Uh... You'd tell her?"_

"Of course, Em. I want her to hear it from me. Not when the media blow up."

" _Oh."_

"You don't think it's a good idea to tell her." Beca states, feeling her feet suddenly become cold.

" _I don't know Pop. At this point... ... ..."_

Beca can sense Emily's hesitation. So she asks, "Is Chloe okay, Em? And don't lie to me."

" _I uh... I think you better talk to Stacie about this. But I also think that you're right. She has to hear it from you. But talk to Stacie first."_

"Hmmm..." Beca sighs deeply. "Okay. Oh, by the way, do you think The Bellas will mind if I take Ashley with me to the reunion."

" _Hmmm... I'm sure they'll want to know your fiancé. And since Ashley is supple, I think it'll be alright. But you need to tell Aubrey and Chloe first. You know, just so they can uh... prepare themselves?"_

"Hmmm..." Beca nods absentmindedly. "Ashley also said that."

" _Because it's the appropriate thing to do, judging from your situation with Chloe."_

"Okay." Beca says in defeat.

" _Pop, I'm at Stacie's already."_

"Alright, see you in ten." Beca replies before ending the call.

* * *

 

**Posen-Conrad's House: Thursday Afternoon, October 30th 2025**

"Come on in, Shorty." Stacie greets Beca at the door, but Beca pulls the tall brunette out.

"What is it, Beca?" Stacie asks in confusion.

"I uh..." Beca seems to be unsure, but she takes a deep breath and says, "Ashley and I, we're engaged."

With her eyes widen in surprise, Stacie blurts out, "So fast?"

Beca smiles sheepishly and simply gives her a light shrug before saying, "You know what people say. If you love it, you better put a ring on it."

"Wow." Stacie nods absentmindedly without looking at Beca, and then she quickly hugs the tiny brunette and cheerfully says, "Congrats!"

Beca pats her back gently and replies, "Thanks, Stace."

As she pulls away, Stacie puts her hands on Beca's shoulders, smiling warmly as she says, "I'm glad the two of you work it out." Then she smirks teasingly. "And welcome to the land where you'll always be the Mrs. Right to the Mrs. Always Right, shorty."

Beca snorts lightly and sarcastically says, "Can't wait."

"Now, let's go inside and tell the others."

"Stace." Beca grabs the tall brunette's elbow, and Stacie turns around, looking at her with puzzled look, and then Beca simply states, "Chloe."

"Ah." Stacie's face seems worried all so suddenly. "Chloe."

"Should I tell her?" Beca asks worriedly. "I mean, I want to tell her. I want her to hear the news from me. Not a cooked up dramatic story from the media when it all comes out."

Stacie takes her time to think for a while before sighing deeply and says, "You're right. Just uh... let's tell her together."

Again, as Stacie turns on her heels, Beca tugs her elbow and says, "One more thing, Stace."

"What is it?"

"About the reunion," Beca starts nervously. "Do you think it would be okay if Ashley came with me?"

"Uh..." Stacie seems torn, but she's certain when she says, "I'd be glad to have her in our reunion. But I think you should talk to Aubrey and Chloe about that."

"Right." Beca sighs deeply.

"Come on." Stacie pats her shoulder gently several times. "Let's tell them."

Then the two of them walk into the living room. As soon as Beca steps in, Bella rushes her way to the tiny brunette and exclaims, "Bec-Bec!"

"Hey smurfette!" Beca picks the little blonde up before walking to take a seat on the couch with Bella on her laps.

So far, nobody seems to notice Beca's ring but Emily. Maybe people don't think that Ashley would give her an engagement ring at all since it's unusual to exchange engagement rings.

Well, to be fair, Chloe would've noticed, only if she could at least look at the tiny brunette for more than a second without feeling the suffocating heaviness in her chest. But she weakly greets, "Hi Becs."

"Hi Red." Beca smiles nervously, too engaged with her own thought to notice how Chloe doesn't even look at her, and Aubrey doesn't even say anything to her.

To say that the situation can't get any more awkward will be an understatement. And Beca just keep glancing at Emily. It's a good thing that Bella is sitting on her laps or otherwise, her legs would've been bouncing up and down.

"I uh..." Beca takes a deep breath and swallows hard. "I need to tell you all something."

"You and Ashley are back together." Chloe flatly says from the couch in front of the tiny brunette.

After swallowing hard again, Beca takes a deep breath and stutters, "Yeah that. And uh..." She glances toward Emily and Stacie, getting light nods from the two tall brunettes and says, "Ashley and I, we uh... we're engaged."

While Aubrey closes her eyes in total defeat, Chloe is stunned, more likely stung, and unable to react. On the other hand, Emily immediately stands up and puts Bella to sit on the couch before pulling Beca up in a hug as she says, "Congrats Pop. I'm so happy to hear that from you."

"Thanks Em." Beca hugs her back. "I owe you for this. You knocked the sense into Ashley weeks ago."

Emily laughs lightly and pulls away before she says, "Not really. She just needed a little push."

After that, Stacie comes with a warm smile, hugs the tiny brunette, and says, "Again, congrats shorty."

"Thanks Stace." Beca replies.

Then they all are wrapped in this uneasy air, and nobody say anything. Beca just stands on her spot, rocking her feet back and forth with her hands in her pockets.

At some point, Chloe comes out from her stupor and musters the best smile she can before taking a step closer to hug the tiny brunette and say, "Congrats, Becs."

Beca hugs her back and replies, "Thanks Chlo."

After pulling away from Beca, Chloe puts her hands on Beca's upper arms, smiling softly as she says, "I'm happy for you."

With a huge grin on her face now, Beca says with shaky voice, "It means a lot to me coming from you."

This time, Chloe caresses her cheek dearly and softly says, "Why wouldn't I be? My best friend is engaged."

There is this warm rush in Beca's chest, and she feels so happy that her eyes become teary. Then she hugs the redhead again tightly and says, "Thank you Chloe."

After Chloe pulls away, Aubrey comes to the tiny brunette, sighing in defeat with a torn smile before hugging the tiny brunette and says, "Congratulation Mitchell."

Beca pats her back awkwardly and says, "Thanks Posen."

Then Aubrey pulls away and matter-of-factly says, "Though to be honest, I'd never thought there would come a day that you'd be engaged, hobbit."

With a light scoff, Beca replies, "Can't let Stacie be the Mrs. Right all alone in the land where Mrs. Always Right rules."

Aubrey playfully glares at her wife, crosses her arms on her chest as she says in mock upset, "You told her that."

"Yeah." Stacie says nonchalantly. "And it's true."

When Aubrey keeps staring at her sharply, Stacie hurriedly kisses her lips and says, "Mrs. Always Right that is also always beautiful."

It earns the tall brunette a light chuckle from her wife, and then all of them sit back down on the couch. Bella jumps to sit on Chloe's laps before she asks toward Beca, "What is engged?"

While Chloe is diverting her attention by caressing Bella's head gently, Aubrey smiles and asks her daughter softly, "You see Mama and Mommy together?"

After Bella gives her a nod, Aubrey says, "We're married, sweetie."

"I know Mommy." Bella drags her sentence matter-of-factly that makes her look a lot like Stacie. "You can't have me if you don't get mayyied."

Aubrey chuckles lightly while Stacie says, "Well, there will come a day where we explain how biology works. But it's not today princess."

Upon seeing the confused look on her daughter, Aubrey patiently says, "Before people get married, they need to be engaged first."

"Just like when Princess Anna and Prince Hans sing together?" Bella asks innocently. "Is that how people be engged?"

"Hmmm..." Aubrey purses her lips before answering, "More or less. You'd understand when you get older. Okay sweetie?"

"Okay Mommy." Bella replies. Then she turns to Beca and asks, "Who are you engged to Bec?"

"Your Aunt Ashley, of course." Beca replies with a fond smile.

Bella grins from ear to ear as she asks, "You and Aunt Asheey will get mayyied and have a child like me?"

"Huh." Beca narrows her eyebrows lightly, taking a couple of seconds of consideration before she says, "Well, if your Aunt Ashley wants us to have some uh... minions, then... sure. We can have one. Or two. Just... you know, we'd be happy to give you a friend to play with. I think."

It certainly isn't the answer she gave Chloe a month ago. Apparently, being engaged can even change some fundamental things.

Bella claps her hands excitedly, but Stacie notices how Chloe becomes more off than before. So the tall brunette says, "Alright, princess. Now let the adults talk. Why don't you go and get your toys?"

"Okay Mama." The little blonde says as she runs to her toys compartment.

Then Stacie gives Beca a subtle nod, and Beca takes a deep breath before she says, "Now, I need to ask you something. And I need you to be honest with me."

Emily and Stacie certainly know what it is about, but not with Chloe and Aubrey, who are staring at the tiny brunette with puzzled look.

On the other hand, trying to compose herself, Beca exhales out the nervous air and says, "We're having a reunion in two days. And I uh... I was wondering if... it would be okay with all of you if uh... Ashley came with me. You know, I'd like to introduce her to my first family. The Bellas."

Everybody look at Chloe all at once, even Beca, who is holding her breath, waiting for the redhead's reaction anxiously.

Chloe is taken aback by her friends' reactions for a second, but then she looks at Beca, seeing the happiness sparkling out from her steely blue eyes yet being shaded by worries. So Chloe takes a deep breath, puts on the best smile she can muster, and says, "We'd love to have her with us Becs."

Instantly, Beca sighs in relief, and Chloe adds, "Besides, I need to do my duty as your best friend."

Feeling so happy for the redhead's reaction, Beca jumps off her seat, pulling Chloe in a hug with a huge grin on her face. "You're the best, Red. You, are, _the_ , best."

Having a carefree and happy Beca in her arms certainly makes Chloe's chest filled with warmth. So she hugs the DJ back tightly as she says, "Anything for you Becs."

Beca pulls away slightly, still with her arms around Chloe's back and her goofy smile when she says, "Thanks Chloe."

"Don't thank me yet." Chloe teases while pulling away. "Just don't blame me if she gives your ring back after being chewed down by our sisters. You know how savage they can be."

"Oh I won't worry about it." Beca smirks. "Future Mrs. Mitchell is more than capable to handle a couple of awesome nerds."

"She's taking your name?" Emily asks in comic surprise.

Beca turns to look at Emily, moving her shoulders languidly and smugly as she says, "She said so."

Therefore, the tiny brunette misses Chloe's half-sad half-shocked face, but not by Aubrey and Stacie. The redhead drops down on the couch, feeling weak on her knees. It seems like the facade do take a lot of energy to sustain.

Then Aubrey hurriedly clears her throat to pull the attention to her and says, "We'll be glad to have you both here. If she's as great as Stacie told me, maybe we can consider trading her in for you."

"She's the best." Beca says with a light smile. "I'm sure of that."

"Are you staying for dinner, Becs?" Stacie asks.

"I'm sorry, but we'll have dinner with Donna and Harvey." Beca replies as she looks at the clock on the wall.

Chloe looks up at the tiny brunette and asks, "Why would we have dinner with Donna and Harvey?"

Suddenly, Beca feels nervous again, rubbing the back of her neck as she mutters, "We... as in Ashley and I. We're uh... going to tell Donna and Harvey about the engagement."

"Oh." is the only respond Chloe manages to get out.

"Say hi from us to them, Becs." Stacie immediately chips in.

"Sure. I better get going. Still need to pick up Ashley." Beca says as she stands up, and then she says goodbye to all of her friends before walking to the front door.

"Drive safe Pop." Emily tells her on the front porch.

"Will do Kid." Beca replies before she hit the road with Rico's car following hers closely.

After Beca left, all of the adults come back into the living room. Aubrey takes a seat next Chloe and hugs her before asking, "Are you okay, Chloe?"

"I..." Chloe doesn't know how to answer the question. So instead of answering Aubrey, she asks, "Can I ask Kristen to come with me?"

All the three other Bellas are taken aback, stunned even by the question. But Stacie gets her sense back and asks, "Why would you ask her to come? Didn't you-"

"You can do whatever you want Chloe." Aubrey cuts her wife off, earning shocked look from Stacie and Emily, but she ignores them and says, "As long as it makes you happy, then you can do whatever you want."

"Okay then." Chloe says, nodding absentmindedly, staring blankly at the floor.

It takes a while, but then Stacie shakes her head, deciding not to argue with her wife yet asking the redhead, "Chloe... do you want to tell the other Bellas about your situation with Beca? I mean, they would want to know. And uh... I don't think we should keep this from them. I just think that... they need to prepare themselves of what they might see at the reunion."

After taking a long time to consider, Chloe eventually says, "No."

"I'm sorry. What?" Stacie tries to confirm in confusion.

"Don't tell them anything." Chloe says flatly.

"Hm?" This time, the confusion came from Aubrey.

"I just..." Chloe smiles sadly toward her three completely confused friends. "It's Beca's first reunion. If the other Bellas know, then it would put more pressure on her. Let's just have our reunion without them worrying about Beca and me."

"Are you sure?" Aubrey asks worriedly.

Chloe closes her eyes, smiling sadly as she says, "I'm sure."

The other three Bellas change look but don't argue with the redhead.

* * *

 

**Donna and Harvey's Mansion: Dinner.**

"Long time no see, Monkey!" Harvey punches Beca's shoulder playfully when the brunette and Ashley walk into the living room.

"Hey, Harv. Did you miss me?" Beca wiggles her eyebrows.

Harvey laughs and says, "You wished."

Then while Harvey is greeting Ashley, Stephan rushes his way to Beca and exclaims, "Beca!"

"Hey buddy!" Beca picks him up and over-dramatically grunts, "God, you're heavier now."

"Not God. Just Steve." The little boy smirks at his godmother, earning a bark of laughter from the adults around him. He definitely got that snarky knack from his father.

"Now get down, Steve. You're almost as tall as Beca already. You might injure her weak old knees." Harvey jokes.

"Still strong enough to kick your ass." Beca glares at him playfully.

"Language, Babe." Ashley warns her fiancé while ruffling the boy's hair who are now hugging her waist.

Then Beca takes a huge bag from behind, handing it to Stephan and says, "Look what we got you, little man."

Stephan immediately pulls out the content and exclaims, "Radio control!" Then he jumps to hug Beca again and says, "Thank you, Beca."

"Your welcome, kiddo." Beca ruffles his hair. She bought a radio control ship on her way to pick up Ashley, knowing how much her godson wants to be a pirate after watching Captain Hook in Peter Pan.

Then Stephan hugs Ashley and says, "Thank you, Aunt Ashley."

"Anything for you, Steve." Ashley kneels down to let Stephan kisses her cheek.

"Donna is in the dining room already. Let's go." Harvey says as he turns around and walks toward the dining room.

Stephan takes Beca's and Ashley's hand in his, and walks between them. He is close to the couple because he's known them ever since he was still a baby. Besides, Beca and Ashley spoil him more than his parents do.

"Monkey, you're here!" Donna exclaims as she pulls Beca in a hug once the brunette come into the dining room.

"We just haven't seen each other for a four days, Donna." Beca hugs her back awkwardly.

With a soft giggle, the redhead pulls away from Beca and hugs Ashley. "It's good to have you here, Ash. You have no idea how mopey Beca was without you."

"I'm glad that she has you." Ashley softly replies as she hugs Donna back.

"Come on. Let's eat." Harvey takes his seat at the table head.

Once they all take a seat, Donna smirks toward Ashley and teases, "Congratulations are in order."

Ashley, who just put a plate of steamed fish in front of Beca, turns to Donna and asks, "How did you know? We haven't said anything yet."

"I'm Donna." Donna says with a smug smirk. "I know everything."

Harvey scoffs and playfully says, "You're not hiding it from anyone with a rock that big, Ash."

Beca chuckles lightly while Ashley is blushing red.

"My little monkey is growing up." Donna says over dramatically, pretending to wipe invisible tears on her cheek, making Harvey, Stephan, and Ashley burst into a laughter while Beca glares at the redhead.

"So, tell me Ash." Harvey starts with a mock serious look. "Did Beca propose in the best way she could?"

With a fond smile toward her fiancé, Ashley says, "The most perfect way."

Harvey looks at Beca with an eyebrow raised, smirking as he says, "Good. That means she didn't embarrass herself, meaning she didn't embarrass me."

"Of course, _Dad_." Beca rolls her eyes in mock annoyance, and Harvey simply laughs at the tiny brunette.

"When do you plan to have the wedding?" Donna asks.

"Whoa." Harvey laughs lightly. "Slow down there, Love. They've just been engaged for less than a week. I don't think they have planned the whole wedding already."

Ashley clears her throat and sips her wine before saying, "Actually, we have."

Harvey chokes on his food while Donna, Stephan, and Beca laugh at him. Then Donna hands a glass of water for her husband and smugly says, "Thought so."

"So fast?" Harvey asks with hoarse voice after sipping his water.

Beca simply nods because she is too busy chewing her food. On the other hand, Ashley wipes the sauce from Beca's cheek as she explains, "Well, we're thinking to have it in early June next year at our backyard. Only with family and close friends."

"Thanks Hon." Beca says toward Ashley before turning to Donna and says, "It's only 8 months away, Donna. I'm gonna need your help to organize all of this. You and Ashley can do it together."

"Of course, Monkey." Donna states matter-of-factly. "I'll be there every step of the way. I wouldn't want to miss it for the world."

"Thanks, Donna." Ashley smiles softly.

"Well," Harvey sips his wine. "I don't have many experiences with organizing a wedding except for my own. But who am I kidding? Donna did all of the hard work. My only advice for you Monkey, just accept every demands the bride asks and shows up at the wedding." Harvey says with straight face, earning a glare from her wife but making the young couple laugh.

After the laughter unwind, Harvey adds, "But if you need anything, just tell me kid."

Beca looks at Ashley, and the blonde squeezes her hand gently, and then Beca looks at Harvey as she nervously says, "Actually, there's something I need to ask you, Harv."

Harvey sips his wine and replies, "Anything."

"Do you mind to stand by me?" Beca blurts out.

Upon seeing Harvey's taken aback look, Beca hurriedly explains, "I mean, I obviously won't be walking down the aisle; I might trip over my own feet, and then injure myself, or something worse. But I was thinking that uh... maybe you could stand beside me? As my best man?"

Harvey's eyes become teary, but he clears his throat, trying to be nonchalant when he says, "Sure. Someone need to make sure that you won't embarrass yourself by choking in your vow, or saying the wrong name."

The other three adults laugh at Harvey's attempts to look casual, but Stephan says, "I want to help too."

With a fond smile, Ashley looks at the blonde boy and says, "Of course buddy. In fact, you'll have the most important job in this wedding."

Stephan's eyes widen in joy when he asks, "What is it?"

"Well," Ashley smiles teasingly. "You will be the one who brings us our wedding rings, along with Bella. She will be the flower girl."

Stephan's face beams in awe, and Beca smirks at him as she asks, "What do you say? Up for the job, sailor?"

The little boy grins from ear to ear and gives Beca a salute before he exclaims, "Aye aye, Captain!"

The adults laugh again, and then they resume the dinner and talk about the wedding plan before Beca and Ashley excuse themselves around 10 PM.

Once they're at the front porch, Beca says, "Oh, I almost forgot."

"What is it Babe?" Ashley asks.

Beca turns to Harvey and asks, "Do you have my request, Harv?"

Harvey scoffs smugly before walking into the house and then comes back out with a brown envelope in his hand. "Who do you think I am, Kid?"

Beca rolls her eyes in mock annoyance and checks the content before saying, "Thanks Harvey."

"Anytime." Harvey replies. Then the young couple go home after that.

* * *

 

**Ashley and Beca's Mansion**

As soon as they reach the sanctuary, Beca rushes to the bed and drops herself onto the bed face first. Then Ashley sighs with a light smile, sits next to her fiancé on the bed, stroking her brown hair as she says, "Babe, I know it's late. But let's wash up before we go to sleep."

"Do we really have to?" Beca whines.

Upon seeing the childlike behavior from the brunette, Ashley chuckles lightly. This is one of the things that Beca shows only for the blonde. Beca would never act like this in front of anybody else, and it makes Ashley feel special for being the one who gets to see the spoiled Beca.

Then Ashley pulls Beca's hand and says, "Come on."

With a playful groan, Beca complies and follows Ashley to the bathroom. After washing up and changing into their usual sleep attire, Ashley in her nightgown while Beca opts a tank top and short, they climb up onto the bed, and Ashley immediately takes her place on the left side, snuggling up onto Beca's chest.

As her hand caressing Ashley's back gently, Beca says, "I've asked the Bellas, and they said that they'd love to have you in the reunion."

"So, we're going to the reunion on Saturday then."

"Yep."

"Great." Ashley sounds a bit nervous. "I'll prepare our clothes. What do you want to wear? Suits or just button up shirt?"

"Just dress up casually, Hon. It will be just like a family dinner." Beca says nonchalantly.

"For you, it will be just another dinner with family." Ashley says matter-of-factly. "For me, it will be the first time I meet your whole family. I need to make them see that I can take care of you."

Beca chuckles lightly and kisses Ashley's crown before she says, "They'll love you even if you come in a potato sack, Hon. Trust me. Even a blind can see how good you are to me."

"Hm." Ashley sighs. "You think so?"

"I know so."

Ashley sighs and says, "Alright. I'm gonna wear my sleeveless blue dress, and you can wear a black button up shirt with a dark blue vest. How about that?"

"Sounds good."

After a moment of silent, Ashley asks, "Babe, what's in that brown envelope Harvey gave you?"

"Oh, that." Beca says nonchalantly. "It's an information about a college friend, Jesse Swanson."

With her eyebrows furrowed, Ashley says, "His name is quite familiar. Isn't he the one who kept asking you out in college?"

"Yep."

"Why do you ask Harvey to get information about him?"

Well," Beca shrugs. "He's in a huge debt and have some troubles right now. Emily told me that he's been looking for me to ask for my help by coming to every reunions. I just wanted to know if he could be trusted."

"Hmmm..." Then Ashley yawns.

Beca chuckles lightly and says, "Let's sleep. We can talk more tomorrow."

Then Ashley pulls up a bit to face Beca, kisses her lips chastely before saying, "Goodnight Babe. I love you. Always."

"Goodnight Hon. I love you too. Always."

Again, Ashley presses another kiss on Beca's lips before turning her back on Beca, with one of Beca's arm under the crook of her neck and the other one on her chest, laced together with her fingers.

Beca loves to be the big spoon, and Ashley loves to be cuddled from behind. Before closing her eyes, Beca presses a kiss on Ashley's shoulder, and then hums lightly to lull her fiancé. They fall asleep not long after.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That would be chapter 20. It's short and don't have too much emotional wreck or high. And yeah, Jesse is here, and he will color this story in a way that you might not expect. Another thing to sit tight to folks.
> 
> For the next chapter, maybe most of you have been waiting for, will be The Bellas reunion. But the real turbulence will actually start in chapter 22. Everything in its time :P
> 
> Until then, as always, sit tight and make good choices. Thank you for reading :)


	21. Bella's 10th Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey :D
> 
> First of all, thank you for the enthusiasm over this story. Thank you for the readers, people who favor, followers, and reviewers :)
> 
> Alright, now back to the story. In the last chapter, we've seen how Beca and Ashley finally told everybody about their engagement. Like always, I've left bread crumbs here and there. You are allowed to connect the dots.
> 
> For this chapter, it will be about the reunion. It will be quite fine and fun. I suppose. Hopefully it's not disappointing. Not all of the Bellas can be dominantly included. There is a short riff-off. And the songs list will be at the end note.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own Pitch Perfect, the characters, and the songs. Hope you enjoy. Let's dig in :)
> 
> WARNING! I start this chapter with a short smut. So if you're not comfortable with reading it, you can skip it to the end line of smut. I've put the sign under.

 

**Ashley and Beca's Mansion: Friday Morning, October 17th 2025**

There are days where surprisingly, Beca wakes up before Ashley, and today is one of those days. Usually, she'd wake up earlier because of nightmares or urges to pee. But this time, she wakes up contently while hugging Ashley from behind. She pulls Ashley closer, trailing kisses along the blonde's shoulder gently until Ashley stirs in her sleep.

"Hmmm..." Ashley smiles with her eyes closed. "To what do I owe an early arisen Beca Mitchell?"

Beca chuckles but keep on trailing kisses from Ashley's shoulder up to her neck, and then ears, earning a soft moan from the blonde.

Instead of turning around, Ashley tilts her head to give Beca more access, enjoying the spark under her skin from Beca's lips, and let the heat built up. Her hand reaches back to grasp Beca's hair, pulling the brunette closer.

* * *

**Start of smut.**

" _Babe..."_

"Hm?" Beca keep on nipping, licking, pulling the skin gently with her teeth while her hands roam on Ashley's breasts.

Beca doesn't do things like grouping or kneading; she loves to tease Ashley with gentle touches from the tip of her fingers, ghosting, circling, pinching softly, trailing her fingernails on her fiancé's soft skin, making the blonde shuddering under her touch and craving for more.

Then Ashley grabs Beca's hand and pushes it downward, but Beca shrugs it off gently, whispering to the blonde's ear, "Not so fast, Hon."

And that, certainly earns a frustrated moan from the blonde. Meanwhile, Beca moves her hand down slowly to Ashley's core, trailing her fingernails horizontally across Ashley's hip line.

Ashley's breath hitches when Beca's middle finger rests on top of her core over the underwear for a second before rubbing it gently up and down on the splitting line.

" _Babe, please..."_ Ashley throws her head back, moaning with raspy voice, scratching her fingernails on Beca's arm.

"Not yet." Beca smirks, still rubbing over Ashley's underwear, and giving more pressure as her finger move, slowly opening the labia.

It drives Ashley over the edge, arching her back hopelessly. And when Beca presses her thumb on the clit, still over the underwear, Ashley plants her fingernails deeply on Beca's arm, and snaps out her frustration, _"Beca!"_

Then Beca flips Ashley to lay on her back and kisses her fiercely on the lips while her hand keep on rubbing and pressing, slowly pushing down the blonde's underwear.

Ashley kisses her fiancé back fiercely, biting Beca's bottom lip in frustration, wrapping her arms on Beca's back, pulling the brunette closer because she needs to feel the brunette's skin on hers.

Then Beca drags her lips, hovering over Ashley's cheek to her ear and spends her time licking and biting the earlobe gently.

" _Babe..."_ Ashley bites her own bottom lips in unbearable pleasure while her hands push Beca's shoulders downward.

Upon seeing Ashley's helpless expression, Beca growls through her teeth and makes her way down between Ashley's legs. Her tongue start to work wonder on Ashley's core, pressing, brushing, licking,  pushing in and out, making the blonde moaning her name over and over again, pressing her fingernails on Beca's shoulder until the waves wash her down, leaving the blonde breathless.

After smearing Ashley's essence from her mouth on Ashley's thigh, Beca pulls up and looks at Ashley's exhausted rosy sweaty face closely.

**End of smut.**

* * *

She pushes a strain of hair to the back of Ashley's ear, kisses her forehead gently, and then kisses her lips before she says, "You are breath-taking-ly beautiful, Hon."

"And you're... gonna be the death of me." Ashley replies between her ragged breaths.

Beca chuckles lightly and says, "You're very welcome."

With a content smile, Ashley kisses Beca on the tip of her nose. Then Beca gets up from the bed, but Ashley pulls the brunette back and asks with devilish smirk, "Who told you that we're done?"

Without saying a word, Beca smirks, pulls herself away, and heads to the shower, knowing that her fiancé would follow her. They continue their next round in the shower and then start to rinse each other.

Beca is humming lightly with her hands on Ashley's hips, swaying them lightly to the song while Ashley is rubbing a sponge on the brunette's back gently. Then Ashley asks, "What's your plan for today, Babe?"

"I have a meeting with a film producer." Beca replies softly.

"For a movie?"

"For a musical movie."

"Hm." Ashley leans forward and presses her lips on the crook of Beca's neck.

Beca stirs her neck, whimpering softly before saying, "I... will be producing the music for the whole movie in the next six months. It will be the only main project I'll be doing, and maybe a couple of songs. So I'll have a lot of spare time to prepare our wedding with you."

With a fond smile, Ashley says, "You're the best."

"Tell me about it." Beca replies smugly.

Then Beca resumes humming a song lightly and pulls Ashley closer, swaying lightly under the shower before asking, "Would you, my fiancé, fancy a dinner with me tonight?"

"I'd be honored." Ashley replies with a light bow, playing along with Beca's gallant way to ask her out.

Beca kisses her lips chastely and says, "I'll ask Donna to make a reservation on 7 at your favorite restaurant. Pascal will take you to the set, and then I'll pick you up for dinner."

"Sounds great."

After finishing shower and quickly changing into casual clothes, they have pancakes and scrambled eggs for breakfast together.

"Hon," Beca says while chewing her pancake. "I'll be at Stacie's tomorrow to help preparing the place for reunion. But I'll come back home to shower and pick you up around 4 PM."

"Babe, talk after you swallow." Ashley wipes the grease and pieces of eggs off Beca's lips.

Beca nods and keep eating, and then Ashley says, "You, Babe, need to work out tomorrow morning."

When Beca is going to argue, Ashley adds, "Nu uh. Not up for discussion. I know you haven't been doing any proper cardio in more than a month."

Beca wants to argue again, but Ashley cuts her off instantly, "And sex doesn't count as a proper cardio, Babe."

Then Beca sighs, pushes another piece of pancake into her mouth, and nods in defeat.

"Good." Ashley chirps. "I have to work tomorrow, but I'll make sure to be home before you to get ready."

Beca nods again, doesn't want to talk with her mouth full of food, earning a giggle from Ashley.

"You're so adorable Babe. I love you."

Quickly, Beca chews and swallows her food, grinning from ear to ear as she says, "Not adorable. But I love you too Hon."

When they're already done with breakfast, Ashley hands Beca her meds, and Beca takes it immediately. After a lot of kisses goodbye and wishing each other a good day at work, they part their ways to work.

Beca spent her day at work without distraction. Ashley only called her once, reminding her to have lunch and take her meds. It's one of the things that shows how completely secure they are in their relationship. They don't have a certain urge to text or call each other all the time.

On the daytime, they could work without distractions from one another, and then they would pick each other up from work. After that, they would hang out with friends, went home, and then asked a very simple question before going to sleep. "How's your day?"

The same rule is applied when they are alone; they focus on doing things together. Beca could be mixing while Ashley contentedly reading by her side. Ashley could be taking a picture of constellations with her camera, and Beca could be stargazing on the balcony.

In the morning, they usually spent their time talking about their plans and schedules. They don't always have morning sex; they could just lay on the bed in complete silent yet still content in each other's arms.

Life doesn't seem to be boring for them after years, even when they've had their routine already. Every day still become another adventure to live and another story to tell. It's perfectly clear that they've reached the stage of a relationship where they are completely open and honest with each other.

When their life is always under the microscope of the media, it's important to be able to trust and communicate with each other.

The paparazzi are always around the corner to catch a glimpse of their relationship, and the media has always found their way to cook up any kind of stories about them. Thankfully, they have passed the phase where it makes them angry or affects their relationship, though having a great team of publicist and bodyguards do help a lot too.

It's no different when they go out for their date tonight. Paparazzi found out about it, and surrounded the restaurant like vultures even before they arrived. The couple don't mind when the paparazzi throw a lot of questions because they could just ignore it. However, Beca didn't take it well if the paparazzi crossed the line by doing stuff like touching or insulting Ashley.

Ashley holds Beca's arm tightly while Pascal and Rico opening up a way for them to get into the restaurant. They eat in a secure corner of the restaurant, spending a comfort time together before fighting their way through the waiting predators back to Beca's car after dinner.

Before they reach the car, one of the paparazzi dares to pull Ashley by her elbow, causing the blonde to almost trip and fall. If not for Beca's protective grip on Ashley's hand, Ashley would've fallen down and hit the cement.

Pascal and Rico immediately take a stand next to Ashley and protect her from being hassled by other paparazzi.

After making sure her fiancé is fine, Beca steps closer to the culprit, facing him closely with fierce eyes and glare of anger without any word. She doesn't pull away even after the person mumbling out apologizes embarrassedly while the other paparazzi are busy taking pictures of the incident.

"Babe, come on." Ashley pulls Beca by her elbow. "He's not worth it."

After taking a deep breath, Beca turns away and walks to her car with Ashley holding her arm tightly.

"Fucking dyke." The culprit mutters under her breath.

It doesn't even take another second for Beca to whip her head back in flash, and almost lunches forward to rip the man's throat.

"Babe!" Ashley holds Beca's arm tightly.

Beca wants to pull her arm away, but Ashley grabs her shoulder and rests her left hand on Beca's cheek. Upon seeing Ashley's concerned look, Beca takes another deep breath to calm down.

"Let's go home." Ashley softly says, earning a light nod from the brunette.

With Pascal and Rico engulfing them from each side, they walk to the car and then get into the back seat hurriedly. Knowing that the paparazzi had taken a picture of Ashley's ring when she put her hand on Beca's cheek, Beca calls Donna immediately from the car.

"Donna, I need your help." Beca says as soon as Donna pick up the call.

" _What did you do?"_

"Ashley and I just walked out of restaurant, and there was an incident with paparazzi, but it wasn't serious. The thing is, they've got a picture of Ashley's ring."

" _Already on it."_

With that being said, Beca ends the call, and Ashley immediately takes her hand and squeezes it gently. After minutes spent in silent, Beca finally says in upset, "I'm sorry I got angry."

Ashley smiles lightly and kisses Beca's hand before saying, "It's okay, Babe. You didn't act on it."

"I should have." Beca says with clenched jaw.

Instead of scolding her girlfriend, Ashley chuckles and kisses her cheek, earning a confused look from Beca. Then Ashley says, "Thank you for defending my honor, Babe."

Beca scoffs and says, "I would have if you'd let me punch that son of a bitch."

"And you would've ended up in jail for assaults." Ashley says matter-of-factly. "I was defending your honor too."

Beca simply sighs in defeat and rolls her eyes. Then Ashley adds, "See? We're a good team, Babe."

A smile finally appears slowly on Beca's face when she realizes how easy it is for Ashley to flip her perspective. Beca rolls her eyes and says, "Then, thank you for defending my honor too, Hon."

"You're welcome, fiancé." Ashley says before pulling Beca in a kiss that turns into a steamy make out session in a matter of seconds. Thankfully, there is a separator between the front seat and the back seat in their Rolls Royce Dawn.

After they pull away, Beca looks at Ashley with her dilated eyes and huskily says, "I don't know why, but hearing you call me fiancé kind of turn me on."

"Well," Ashley smirks devilishly. "What are you waiting for then?"

"Nu uh." Beca shakes her head. " _You_ , are loud. The separator might cover us, but not your voice."

Ashley looks at Beca seductively and slowly pulls her dress up to her waist while saying, "I'm feeling adventurous tonight." She climbs up onto Beca's laps and huskily teases, "If you keep it brief, I'll keep it down." Then she trails her index finger from Beca's throat down to her cleavage as she whispers, "Well, if I can help it."

Swallowing hard, Beca tries not to give in. But Ashley hovers her lips on Beca's and cuts the last string of Beca's self-control by saying in raspy voice, "Up for the challenge, fi, an, cé?"

"Fuck it." Beca curses under her breath before pulling Ashley in a searing kiss. There is no way she could keep her hands off Ashley while the heat is already pooling underneath.

After they've arrived, Pascal politely knocks on the window. When he doesn't get any respond, he gets back behind the wheel, drives the car to the edge of the cliff of the land, and then leaves the car there.

Ashley and Beca end up staying there until the morning comes, making love, and sleeping under the stars with the car roof down.

* * *

**Ashley and Beca's Mansion: Saturday Afternoon, November 1** **st** **2025**

After helping Stacie, Aubrey, and Chloe preparing the reunion, Beca goes back home to get ready around 4 PM. She is very tired, sweaty, and sticky; all she wants is to get into the shower, and wash all of the sweat and dust away.

When she reached the bedroom, she heard a faint sound of Ashley singing from her walk-in closet. Trying not to make a sound, Beca peeks into the closet and sees Ashley in her blue bathrobe, singing onto her hairbrush.

A huge goofy grin appears on Beca's face, looking at Ashley singing with her eyes closed and earbuds in her ears, swaying to the rhythm that only she could hear.

_I'm gonna marry a rockstar_  
_I'm gonna move downtown_  
_Lofted bed above her practice space, guitars hanging all around_  
_She'll wake up while I'm whispering "Babe, it's almost noon"_  
_But we could kiss all day in this tiny room_  
_We like walking wearing black matching Converse shoes_  
_Instead of diamond rings, we get new tattoos_  
_Instead of walking down the aisle, it's a backyard gig_  
_Just an ice cream cake and the people we dig_  
_Oh yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah  
_ _Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah_

Beca can't help it when her mind trails its way back to the beginning of their relationship. To the time when Ashley hadn't found out about her real income; when they had dinner at a low profile diner, or Taco Bell in the parking lot, or a burger take out by the beach.

Back when Beca was still in her hiding phase, they were rarely seen at the public together, and when they went out together, Beca would be in her plaid shirt, huge sunglasses, beanie, and dirty chucks, yet Ashley didn't mind holding her hand wherever they were.

_I'm gonna marry a rockstar_  
_Go to every last show_  
_Nod my head to the bass drum from the very front row_  
_I help my baby move her gear to the stage from the van_  
_I take pictures on her phone for her Instagram_  
_She's gonna make it big, she's gonna sell so many tracks_  
_And through the ups and downs I'll be the lover that lasts_  
_Oh yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah_  
_Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah_  
_I don't mind picking up the bill_  
_It won't be long until a studio in the hills_  
_A souped-up mixing board, sometimes she'll let me record  
_ _The little poems I write, then we go out at night to the Satellite_

Beca remembers the first time she told Ashley about this piece of land that she bought for them. Ashley's reaction was priceless. Standing slacked-jaw in front of the huge mansion, Ashley could only manage a gasp and stuttered a bunch of incoherent words, _this... you... how... what_. And when Beca told her that the rest of the properties and land are theirs, Ashley almost passed out.

_She plays her guitar for so many bands_  
_She's got those talented, rough, rock 'n' roll type hands_  
_And I feel 'em on my back, on my neck, on my face_  
_Every chord progression makes my heart just race_  
_When she sees me in the crowd points and blows me a kiss_  
_Don't really know how life can get much better than this_  
_Oh yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah  
_ _Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah_

Whenever Beca had a gig, Ashley always came every time she could, and she would be the loudest cheerer among the crowds. She was careful not to slip out Beca's identity as DJ M, but it didn't stop her from sneaking into the closed booth and lured Beca to have some sexy times in it.

After Beca came out to the public, the sneaking up became their habit. When it was an open booth, then Ashley would just wait, dancing with her friends, and bringing Beca water to keep her from dehydration from time to time.

_I'm gonna marry a rockstar, and when she's touring 'round the world_  
_I'll send her unreleased Walking Dead episodes, so on the plane she's not bored_  
_She sends a picture of the buildings in each new city_  
_She texts me every afternoon just to say "you're pretty"_  
_And before I go to bed "miss you, baby, goodnight"_  
_Kissy heart emoji_  
"Do you need sexy Facetime?"  
_Never worry 'bout a local groupie trying to take a ride_  
_My lover only likes ladies twitter verified, like me_  
_Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah  
_ _Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah_

Even though she doesn't really do tours anymore now, but there was a time when they did spend a lot of times away from each other. That was the time when even a simple text reminding them to have lunch became the most waited thing of the day.

Beca wasn't the clingy type, but with Ashley, she couldn't help the urges to send _goodnight Hon, I miss you_ every night before Ashley went to sleep, and _good morning sunshine, have a good day_ by the time she knew Ashley was already woken up. They started the habit of asking _how's your day?_ before going to sleep from then.

Moreover, judging from Ashley's adventurous side, there is no question of how many types of sex they've done in long distance. Name it; sexting, sex from phone call, or sexy face timing, yep, they've done the deed already.

_I'm gonna marry a rockstar_  
_We got a love you can't doubt_  
_Wrinkle right up next to each other_  
_We'll get old but stay loud_  
_Oh yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah  
_ _Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah_

By the time she's done singing, Ashley opens her eyes, turns around, and startled to see that Beca is standing on her side, leaning on the door, crossing her hand on her chest with a dorky goofy grin on her face.

Upon seeing her fiancé's dumbfounded face, Beca smirks and says, "Well, although I'm more of a Pretty Little Liars kind of girl, but I think The Walking Dead will do. And I'm not really a rock star, but I'm glad you think so. So, whatever that floats your boats, Hon."

Finally out of her daze, Ashley chuckles, skipping her feet toward Beca and hugs the tiny brunette before she cheerfully says, "Babe, you're home."

"I am." Beca replies with a goofy grin.

"Me too." Ashley softly says before kissing Beca passionately. However, when she wants to deepen the kiss, Beca pulls away, kisses her cheek, and says, "Hon, I'm sweaty and sticky. I need a shower."

Ashley let out her prankster grin, turns Beca around, and hops on her back. "Let's shower together to save the water then."

"Argh! Hon!" Beca groans over-dramatically. "Are you trying to kill me?"

Although she's groaning, Beca always enjoyed carrying Ashley on her back, since there is no way she could carry Ashley in bride style.

"Nope. Just trying to kiss you." Ashley replies cheerfully before kissing Beca's cheek over her shoulder.

Beca laughs, and then rushes her way to the bathroom to have a sexy shower time with her fiancé. And do they take their time in there.

However, all of the fun disappear after they're ready. Suddenly, Beca feels so nervous, terrified even to meet all of the Bellas again in the same place. Knowing Beca inside out, Ashley takes the brunette's hand in hers and says, "Let's go Babe."

Without saying anything, Beca nods and let Ashley pull her to their car.

* * *

**The Posen-Conrad's House: Saturday Evening, November 1** **st** **2025 – The 10** **th** **Reunion**

Ashley and Beca have arrived at Posen-Conrad's residence for a while, yet they are still sitting in Beca's Audi R8.

"I'm gonna check on Pascal and ask about the security perimeter again." Beca says anxiously.

Understood that her fiancé is beyond anxious to meet her college best friends, Ashley smiles softly, takes Beca's hand in hers, and squeezes it gently as she patiently says, "Babe, you've already checked on them twice. Besides, this is not the first time they guard us. It'll be okay."

Knowing that there is no use to delay the inevitable, Beca huffs out a long breath, and undo her seat-belt. Then Ashley cups Beca's cheeks and looks into her steely blue eyes as she says, "You'll be fine."

After giving Ashley a light nod, Beca gets out of the car, circling around to open the passenger door for Ashley, and offers her hand. Ashley takes her hand, gets out of the car, and kisses her cheek before saying, "Thank you, my Casanova."

Hand in hand, they head to the front door, bringing a couple of shopping bags with them. Judging by the amount of cars in front of the house, it's safe to say that everybody else must have arrived already. The front door is unlocked, so they get in and go directly to the living room where everybody have gathered.

The first person to notice their arrival is Emily, and she exclaims, "Pop! Benzo!"

Everybody become quiet in an instant and simply look at the long lost tiny brunette.

On the contrary, after hearing her youngest aunt calling out for Beca, Bella rushes from the kitchen, hops on Ashley's arm, and shrieks, "Aunt Asheey! You're here!"

"Baby Belle!" Ashley exclaims as she picks up the little blonde.

"Hey smurfette." Beca ruffles the little blonde's hair. "I can see that I'm the less favorite now that your Aunt Ashley is here."

Bella simply gives the tiny brunette a toothy grin, and then Ashley puts her down before nudging Beca, glancing her eyes toward the shopping bag.

"Oh, right." Beca hands the bag to Bella. "Here smurfette. We got some stuff that you can share with your brothers and sisters."

Bella squeals joyfully and says, "Thank you Bec-Bec. Thank you Aunt Asheey."

"Your welcome, sweetie." Ashley softly replies. "Why don't you take it inside?"

Since there are too many bags for her to carry alone, Bella yells out to call the other aca-children, "Guys! Come on here! Bec-Bec and Aunt Asheey have something for us!"

The rest of the aca-children immediately surround the couple. Fat Amy and Bumper's sons, Augusto and Julius, cling themselves on Beca's and Ashley's legs because they've met several times before.

On the other hand, the other adults are still stunned and haven't done anything yet until Aubrey finally says, "Kids, why don't you bring the stuff to the yard?"

After all of the kids take the bags and run off to the backyard, Cynthia-Rose stands up and walks toward the couple with crossed arms on chest and an eyebrow raised, looking intensely at the very nervous Beca, and then asks flatly, "Yo Beca. You think you can bribe our forgiveness by giving our kids some stuff?"

Feeling that her fiancé is getting more anxious, Ashley takes her hand and squeezes it gently to support her. Then Beca swallows hard and stutters, "I didn't uh... I mean uh... It was uh..."

Upon seeing the smirk growing on Cynthia-Rose's face, Beca let out a relieved sigh, smirks back, and says, "Did it work?"

"It works!" CR exclaims, pulling Beca in a bear hug. "It's so good to see you, Capt!"

"Hey Shortstuff! Prepare yourself for the super beaming hug special from Fat Amy!" Fat Amy rushes her way to them, and engulfs them in her arms, almost picks them up from the floor.

Except Emily, Stacie, Aubrey, and Chloe who have been seeing Beca in a while, the other Bellas follow suit and they end up having group hug, cheering, and greeting their former captain.

Relieved by The Bellas' reaction, Ashley steps back a little to let Beca enjoy her coming back moment.

Moved by her friends' warm welcoming, Beca's eyes become teary, but she plays it off by clearing her throat and says, "Alright. Alright. I know you all miss me so much, but don't push it."

"There she is." Jessica starts cheerfully, and then Bella's Ashley finishes, "Our snarky Captain's back."

Then the room is filled with laughter, while Lily whispers something that people couldn't really decipher, but Beca caught a couple of words; knew, hide, all along. And as usual, it's being ignored by the other Bellas. One by one, they start to get off the tiny brunette and head back to their seat.

Beca takes her time to look at her friends, her family, her sisters, one by one with teary eyes yet joyful smile on her face. She simply stands behind the couch with Ashley standing close to her. How she has missed this group of weirdos more that she's ever thought.

"Don't just stand there with your dumb face, shorty." CR says teasingly, and then she points her chin toward Ashley. "Introduce us to that blonde next to you."

Beca rolls her eyes playfully, and takes Ashley's hand in hers before gesturing her hand to the group and says, "Ashley, this group of weirdos are my family from college. The Bellas."

Then Beca looks at Ashley, smiling fondly before turning her head back to the group, and then shyly says, "Everyone, this is Ashley. My fiancé."

Ashley waves lightly, smiling toward the group, while The Bellas greet her with whistles and cheering.

"Dang!" CR teases. "Didn't think you'd be engaged to this beauty. What's wrong with her?"

While Beca is rolling her eyes again, Ashley simply chuckles, and then Flo says, "Girl like this can be burned to death in my hometown. I was almost being burned to death too."

Then everybody stare at Flo with unreadable expression between sympathetic, amused, confused, or disbelief.

"A girl name Ashley is always a keeper and the lucky one." Bella's Ashley chips in while staring at Jessica fondly.

"I second that." Ashley says cheerfully, holding Beca's arm even tighter, and Beca adds, "She is a keeper. But I'm the lucky one."

"Aw..." The Bellas coo toward the couple.

"Hey, blondie." Fat Amy says, mocking a threatening look toward Beca's fiancé. "I've wrestled crocodiles and dingos before. So, don't even think about hurting our Shortstuff there."

Turning her head toward her fiancé, Ashley replies with a devilish smirk, "If only they knew how much you enjoyed pain, Babe."

Knowing what Ashley meant, Beca is flushing red, earning a whole-heartily laughter from the group, except from Chloe, who started to be so quiet after Beca arrived.

Then Beca notices that Kristen is there too, sitting next to Chloe, holding the redhead's hand tightly. And the tiny brunette becomes not only confused, but also upset because Emily has told her about the frame smashing incident. But she brushes it off and pulls Ashley to take a seat and join the conversation.

"Shorty, Ash, drink is in the kitchen. Help yourself." Stacie said softly toward Beca and Ashley.

When Beca is standing up, Ashley pulls her back down and says, "I'll go. You enjoy your time with your sisters."

Beca smiles and nods to Ashley. Emily immediately walks with Ashley to the kitchen, being hysteric to see the ring.

After that, Beca instantly looks at Chloe and asks, "How are you doing, Chlo?"

"Fine." Chloe replies with a tight smile.

Beca can sense that something is off with the redhead, so she glances sharply toward Kristen and their joined hands. But before she can say anything about it, CR asks, "How's life Capt?"

"Same old." Beca says with a shrug. "I'm more interested in all of your life. I've been missing out."

While Lily is whispering something about a time machine, Jessica says, "You've been missing a lot. But we want to know about your life after Barden."

Beca clears her throat and says, "I know I owe all of you some explanations. But uh... let's not bring something heavy to our reunion. We can talk about me tomorrow."

The Bellas seem to understand, and then one by one, they start to tell the story of their life in the last ten years. Before long, Ashley comes back and hands Beca a glass of ice tea. "Here you go, Babe."

"Thanks, Hon." Beca replies, and then all of the Bellas look at the tiny brunette in confusion.

"No Fat Amy's special tonight, Capt?" CR asks curiously.

"Yeah." Fat Amy chips in. "I made it extra special with the source of my confidence. You know how bombastic the effect is, Shawshank. You've tasted it yourself."

Upon seeing the questioning look from Ashley, Beca says, "You don't want to know." Then she turns to her friends and says, "Nope. I'm driving tonight. So no drinking."

The Bellas simply take her word, and after that, everybody start to spread and talk in smaller groups. Emily immediately pulls Ashley to talk with Jessica and Bella's Ashley while Beca sits on the couch with CR, Stacie, and Fat Amy, letting the other three Bellas bragging about their children.

Although she is talking with her friends, Beca can't help herself to steal glances toward Ashley who's talking animatedly, laughing lightly with the other Bellas. The blonde seems to blend well with The Bellas. When Ashley notices her glance, she shots Beca a wink and then turns back to the conversation, leaving Beca smiling goofily.

"Damn." CR teases the tiny brunette after seeing the glances. "Never thought you'd be smitten over a girl, Capt."

"Shut up." Beca shyly mutters, rubbing her neck with her face flushing red, earning a bark of laughter from her friends.

Apparently, meeting her friends after years isn't as hard as Beca has imagined. They seem to welcome her back as if she was only away for a couple of months, and she couldn't be more thankful for that.

Suddenly, Jesse comes into the living room, heading toward Beca with a huge grin, and then sits in front of the tiny brunette.

"Long time no see, Beca." Jesse says casually. "I have to say. You're a very hard person to meet."

Beca rolls her eyes in annoyance and says, "And you're a very hard person to get rid of."

Noticing that Ashley is glancing worriedly at her, Beca shakes her head subtly and gives her fiancé a reassuring smile.

Jesse turns to look over his shoulder at Ashley, and then turns back to Beca before he says, "No wonder you didn't take me up on my offer for a date back then. I didn't know you were playing for the other team.

Familiar with his cocky personality, Beca scoffs harshly and says, "I didn't take up your offer for dates because you were a jerk. And I can see that you still are."

Stacie, CR, and Fat Amy are aware of the tension, and although they wanted to stay, Beca gestures them with her eyes to leave Jesse and her alone, to which they comply. Then Beca simply stares at the brunette man in upset.

"Whoa, easy there." Jesse says with his goofy grin. "Didn't mean to upset you, Beca."

"Okay. Cut the crap." Beca says bluntly. "I know what you want. But I can't help you."

Jesse chuckles and says, "A bit presumptuous, aren't we? Besides, judging from your car out there, I'd like to think that you could help. What is it today? Audi, or BMW, or Rolls Royce, or Aston Martin? You have more car than you could ever drive in your whole life. So, yeah. I'd really like to think that you could help. Especially when we both can benefit from it."

Raising an eyebrow, Beca coldly says, "Think all the way you want. I stand by my words."

Sighing deeply, Jesse looks at Beca with pleading eyes and says, "Beca, I'm in a lot of troubles. Help me, please. For old time's sake."

Already knew his track record from the information Harvey gathered, Beca looks at him skeptically and says, "It's kind of hard to believe when you've already done that for so many times, Swanson. I've heard some stuff about you. And I've got to say, I'm surprised you still think that people will fall for that."

Forcing puppy dog eyes, Jesse continues his facade and says, "I don't know what you're talking about, Beca. I've changed. And I want to be better. All I need is a chance. We can talk about this some other times. Maybe over coffee, or lunch, or dinner."

"Really?" Beca laughs skeptically at him. "So if I ask you about that mob from Russia that you're in debt with are now chasing down your brother to pay your debt, you'd say that it's not true?"

Taken aback by Beca's knowledge about his life, Jesse remains silent. Beca uses that chance to open another card, "And if I tell you that I know you paid people to fire Benji and not give him any job so you have a friend to share your misery with, you'd say that it's a lie then?"

Upon seeing Jesse's dumbfounded face, Beca scoffs and says, "Thought so. I know you don't come to me only for money, Swanson. You want your mob friends to think that we're friends so you'll have leverage. So they'll come to me instead."

Finally, Jesse drops all of his act and smirks as he says, "Someone has already done her homework."

Sipping her ice tea nonchalantly, Beca says, "You bet. I'm not as easy as the other Bellas, Jesse. They might fall for your puppy eyes and goofy grin, but they don't know what I know. And trust me, I know enough."

Smiling devilishly, without hiding the hint of threat in his voice, Jesse mutters almost in a whisper, "You see, Beca. Not so many people know what happened to you back in college like I do. I visited your old man a couple of years back. I'm sure you know what he's been up to since he got fired five years ago. It will be too bad if someone slip their tongue to the media, and whoosh... I think you know what I mean. So... let's just say that we're trying to help each other."

Even though she is stunned, Beca keeps her bored-looking face. After staring at the brunette man with unreadable face for a couple of seconds, she says, "You know what? I was wrong when I said that I can't help you."

"See?" Jesse smirks smugly. "We have the same interest. We just want to help the people around us."

"Yeah." Beca nods her head with pursed smiling lips. "The truth is, I _do_ can help you. I just _do not_ want to."

Jesse smiles slyly and says, "Careful of your decision, Beca."

"I am." Beca replies calmly. "Have always been. And this is me being careful. I know who you are, Swanson."

"You don't know what I'm capable of." Jesse says fiercely.

"Oh I know." Beca says casually. "But _you_ , clearly don't know what I'm capable of."

A hint of anger flaring up in Jesse's eyes, but he tries to remain nonchalant when he says, "I guess there is no way I could convince you to help an old friend then."

Beca scoffs, mocking a thinking face, and replies, "Oh, let me think. Hmmm... Oh, I would."

When Jesse's eyes widen in surprise, Beca adds, "But I'm completely sure that we were never friends."

Then Jesse stands up, but before he walks away, Beca says, "One more thing, Swanson."

As Jesse looks over his shoulder, Beca calmly says, "If you ever put my friends in danger, or as much as laying your dirty fingers on them, one phone call, and the things you'll get? Let's just say that you will beg me to put you in the worst jail this country has."

As calm as she was, the warning in Beca's tone is obvious. There is a reason Donna calls her Harvey's best pupil.

Jesse simply shrugs and walks away. Upon seeing Jesse walking away, Emily and Ashley immediately come to the brunette.

"Did you set him straight?" Ashley asks with a light smirk.

"Yep." Beca pops the P.

"You didn't give him what he wanted, right?" Ashley asks again.

"Of course not, Hon." Beca replies before sipping her ice tea.

Emily looks at the couple in confusion and asks, "What happened?"

Beca turns to Emily and says, "I've done some background checking on him, Em. Don't trust anything he said. I'll explain everything, but not tonight. Let's not ruin our reunion for a scumbag."

After that, Jesse doesn't dare to talk to Beca for the rest of the night. Then, when The Bellas have already put their own kids to sleep in the guestrooms, the adults could finally start their dinner at the backyard.

Earlier that day, Stacie and Beca had joined a couple of tables at the backyard to fit 20 people on it.

Beca takes a seat on the middle area with Ashley and Emily sitting next to each of her sides.

On the other hand, even though Chloe has been avoiding Beca and Ashley the whole night, the red head takes a seat across the table from Beca, couldn't resist the urge to see Beca from up close. And naturally, Kristen takes a seat next to the redhead.

Everything is going fine, people are chatting with each other, throwing jokes around, but then they stop upon seeing Ashley preparing a plate for Beca.

"Damn, shorty. You two ain't even married yet. But you sure already act like old couple in the 80's." CR says from the end of the table, earning a bark of laughter from everybody.

While Ashley is smiling shyly, Beca raises an eyebrow and replies, "What? You didn't say the same thing for Stacie and Aubrey."

"That's the point, shortstuff." Fat Amy adds. "They're already married. For six years."

"Seems like Beca needs a baby sitter instead of a fiancé." Aubrey chips in, subtly despising the tiny brunette and her fiancé with a joke.

Knowing her wife's intention, Stacie tries to ease the insult by clearing her throat and teasing, "Shorty loves being spoiled."

"Hey!" Emily says, pretending to be upset. "Don't tease Beca that way. She's my Pop."

"See?" Beca lifts up her chin smugly. "Don't mess with the captain. Thanks, Em."

Then Emily smirks and adds, "She might be grumpy, whiny, and look feisty and all. But beneath those dark eyeliner and snarky remarks, she's just as old as Baby Bella. As adults, we do not tease a child."

While everybody are laughing, Beca groans and whines, "Why would I come to this reunion? What day is it? Making fun of the Captain's day?"

"Oh, don't be such a baby, Becs." Chloe chips in cheerfully. "We all know that you're a softy inside. And you love being spoiled."

Beca rolls her eyes and says, "Remind me again why I agreed to come?"

From her seat at the table head, Stacie exclaims, "You love us, shorty!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Beca says in mock annoyance. "Believe anything you want."

Taking advantage of the situation, Bumper demands toward Fat Amy, "See, sweetie? Look how Ashley treated Beca. You should've done the same thing for me."

"Bumper," Fat Amy says with upset tone. "You knew I don't do stuff like that. You should be thankful that this free-range pony who couldn't be tamed, wanted to be tied down with you."

"You're sad, Bumper." Donald jokes, earning a deathly glare from his former captain.

Everybody laugh loudly, and then they all start to eat. The conversations flow naturally around the table.

Bella's Ashley turns to Chloe and asks, "Chloe, you and Kristen have been engaged for a while. When do you plan to have your wedding?"

"Yeah ginger." Fat Amy chips in. "You don't want to be engaged for too long. It's bad enough being a ginger. You don't want to be a single ginger for too long."

"You're right to ask the bride." Kristen replies joyfully. "I'm simply waiting for the instruction."

"Aw..." Flo chips in. "You're so sweet. Willing to wait for so long."

Kristen seems to be happy, hiding her grin with tight lips, but Chloe mutters, "We're uh... we don't want to rush into anything."

All the while, Beca is staring at Stacie with puzzled look, to which she is ignored, and then she looks at Aubrey, who seems to be ignoring her too, has been the whole night actually. But her attention is pulled away when Jessica excitedly asks, "What about you Beca? Have you planned your wedding?"

"We uh..." Beca is trying to gather her thought. "We're planning to have the party by June."

Jessica and Bella's Ashley look at each other, sharing a grin before Bella's Ashley says toward Beca and Ashley, "Well, you know that we're running a wedding organizer. What do you say if we help you to make your dream wedding come true?"

"Hmmm..." Beca is chewing her food. "I don't know. What do you think Hon?"

"Well," Ashley automatically wipes away the sauce on Beca's cheek with a napkin while explaining, "We're having a small wedding. But sure, we'll be glad if you want to help."

"Thanks Hon." Beca says casually while resuming eating, failing to notice how everybody are staring at them.

"There it is again! The old coupley stuff!" Fat Amy exclaims in comic surprise. "You two need to stop doing it. We don't want our spouses start demanding the same thing."

Then Beca swallows her food and smirks as she says, "Suck it up Fat Amy."

And everybody laugh again. Well, everybody but Chloe and Aubrey. After the laughter unwind, Jessica asks the tiny brunette again, "So, about the wedding. How do you want it? Small but elegant I suppose."

Beca waves her fork and says, "Honestly, I prefer to have all of you as my guests at the party instead of being busy organizing stuff at the party."

Before anybody could give another respond, Ashley grabs Beca's hand gently and softly warns, "Babe, if you call our wedding a party once again, you might not be invited."

Beca chokes on her food while everybody else burst in laughter. Then Beca takes the glass of water Ashley handed to her, and drinks it before she says, "Yes, Dear."

"Holy mother!" CR says through her laughter. "You're so whipped, Captain!"

Upon hearing CR's words, Beca turns to stare lovingly at a laughing Ashley. Without taking her eyes away from her fiancé, Beca softly says, "Yeah. She's very bossy, isn't she? I like it. It keeps me in line."

"Careful there Capt." Flo chips in. "You don't want to blow her up with that lovey dovey stare from your eyes."

But Beca keep on staring at her blushing fiancé with a goofy grin, and then leans in closer to whisper, "I love you."

Ashley blushes awfully red from her neck to the tip of her ears, smiling back fondly at Beca, and shyly says, "Dork."

"Your dork forever now." Beca says matter-of-factly. "You agreed to marry me. And I have a full intention to get married only one time for the rest of my life. With you."

It's something new for The Bellas to see how Beca is undeniably open to show her feeling, and it makes them smiling fondly toward their own spouses automatically.

After a while, Jessica, who is in the working mode, asks again, "So, who would you ask to be your bridesmaids?"

Since she has already asked Harvey and Patrick, Beca didn't think that she'd need bridesmaids at all. She smiles weakly and says, "I'd love to ask you all to be my bridesmaids. But it's a small par- uh... wedding. If you're all gonna be my bridesmaids, I'm afraid my guest seats are gonna be empty. Besides, I already asked Harvey and Patrick to be my best men."

"You don't have to pick all of us, shortstuff. Just you know, the one or two that are the closest to you." Fat Amy says with obvious wink, failing to act nonchalant when she mouths not so subtly, _Me_.

Beca chuckles lightly and says, "I'm really honored you want to be my bridesmaids. But since I don't really have people on my side, I need you all to sit on my guest seats." Then she turns to look at Ashley before she continues, "Don't want my lovely bride to steal all of the seats for her guests."

While Ashley is shrugging smugly, Emily sheepishly says, "Pop, I'm afraid I can't be your guest."

"What do you mean?" Beca asks in confusion. "Are you not coming to the wedding?"

"Nah..." CR chips in. "No way Legacy ain't coming to her Pop's wedding. She is the precious aca-child."

Emily and Ashley change teasing look before the tall brunette cheerfully says, "I will come to your wedding, Pop. But I won't be sitting on your side."

Upon seeing an eyebrow raised on Beca's confused look, Emily smirks and says, "Ashley already asked me to be her bridesmaid. And I said yes."

"What?" Beca gasps over-dramatically before turning to Ashley and asks in mock upset, "You take my aca-child to your side? How dare you?"

"Sorry Babe. But finders keepers." Ashley replies cheerfully.

"Yeah, Pop." Emily says playfully. "Besides, I need to start getting on my _stepmother's_ good side."

Although everybody laugh, again, minus Chloe and Aubrey, Stacie clears her throat, hinting for Beca and Emily to stop the joke about stepmother or the talk about the wedding. Seem to understand the hint, Beca and Emily stir the conversation to other topics.

After dinner, Jesse and Benji excuse themselves, but the others stay to have their usual routine in reunion, and that is a riff-off.

"Alright!" CR starts excitedly. "Let's have the riff off! Team up, pitches! We have..." She counts the people around. "16 people including me."

"Shawshank and Aca-Nazi can be captains." Fat Amy continues. "Start picking your team mates, captains! Starting from Shawshank!"

"Chloe!" Beca exclaims instantly, and Chloe is taken aback. Well, everybody are.

Everybody seem to be stunned, thinking that Beca would've picked her fiancé, but the blonde herself simply gasps over-dramatically and retorts, "How dare you?"

"No offense, Hon." Beca smirks. "You might be my fiancé. But Chloe is my co-captain. And she is the brain to my pinky, my other half in The Bella. I need her by my side. Can't jinx our winning strike over favoritism. I have to pick her first before Aubrey got her chance."

While Ashley is chuckling, Aubrey sees how Chloe is beaming in happiness, unbearable happiness that she hasn't seen in a long time. So Aubrey takes that chance to separate Beca from Ashley completely by saying, "Then I take your fiancé, hobbit. You dare to take my other half, so it's only fair that I take yours."

"Hey!" Stacie exclaims toward her wife in mock upset.

"Go with it." Beca says nonchalantly, earning a playful slap from her fiancé on her arm. Then Beca kisses Ashley's cheek and says, "Next. Chloe and I will never be complete without our aca-child. Em, come to my side."

"Donald!" Aubrey needs the alto.

"Stacie!"

"What?" Aubrey is dumbfounded.

"You're getting slower, Bree." Beca smirks.

"Jessica and our Ashley!"

"What?" This time, Beca is dumbfounded.

"It's odd number anyway." Aubrey shrugs smugly.

"Fine." Beca bites. "CR!"

"Lily!"

"Fat Amy!"

"Flo!"

"Denise!"

"Bumper!" There's no way Beca takes Kristen under her wing even though Bumper isn't any better.

"Kristen!"

"Alright!" CR exclaims. "No rules other than follow the lead. It can be any genre from any century. Let's flip a coin!"

"Head!" Aubrey exclaims immediately.

"Go nuts." Beca says nonchalantly.

"Aaannnd..." CR flips the coin. "We'll start with... Aca-Nazi!"

Aubrey jumps forward and sings, _"It's the way you make me feel."_ And the others start to back her. _"Spinning my world around... Tell me how-"_

" _How do I live without you..."_ Chloe jumps in, and her team jump right in to back her. _"I want to know. How do I breathe without you, if you ever go... How do I ever... ever survive-"_

" _Survive, I will survive..."_ Bella's Ashley jumps in. _"It took all the strength I had not to fall apart. Kept trying hard to mend the pieces of my broken heart-"_

" _Heart takes time,"_ This time, Bumper cuts her off. _"Half of my heart's got a right mind to tell you that I can't keep loving you (can't keep loving you). Oh, with half of my heart._ _I was made to believe i'd never love somebody-"_

" _Somebody to love..."_ Jessica takes her chance. _"I don't need too much, just somebody to love, Somebody to love. I don't need nothing else, I promise girl I swear-"_

" _Swear to you with all of my heart..."_ CR sings softly while looking at Denise. _"I'm gonna marry your princess and make her my queen. She'll be the most beautiful bride that I've ever seen. I can't wait to smile-"_

"S _mile like the sun, fall outta bed, sing like a bird_ , _"_ Flo cuts her off. _"Dizzy in my head, spin like a record, crazy on a  
Sunday night. You make me dance like a fool, forget how to breathe. Shine like gold, buzz like a bee. Just the thought of __you can drive me wild. Oh, you make me smile. Even when you're gone-"_

" _Gone, gone tonight."_ Fat Amy jumps in. _"_ _The fire beneath my feet is burning bright. The way that I've been holding on so tight. With nothing in between. The story of my life. I take her home. I drive all night, to keep her warm, and time is frozen (the story of, the story of). The story of my life. I give her hope. I spend her love-"_

" _Love you long after you're gone, gone, gone."_ This time, Kristen takes her chance with her slightly off tune voice, staring at Chloe lovingly. _"When you fall like a statue, I'm gon' be there to catch you. Put you on your feet, you on your feet. And if your well is empty, not a thing will prevent me. Tell me what you need, what do you need-"_

Chloe doesn't have time to put any attention on Kristen because Beca has jumped right in, rapping, _"Need somebody I can build with. I need somebody I can hold tight. With the time and no full limits, no right. Anytime we together would feel so right. You the girl I been lookin for my whole life. God bless me, I'm glad I got the insight. It's-"_

Upon seeing the goofy grin the tiny brunette reserves only for her, Beca's fiancé jumps in with another rapping, _"It's the little things that you do, that mean so much. It's the care that you put into every touch. It's the way I trust you, and you trust me. I guess some of us are so lucky. I was known for having the upper hand. I was known as a stone cold ladies man. If it wasn't for you, I'd be that way still. But-"_

While Beca is chuckling in shaking her head in disbelief at her fiancé, Chloe has jumps in with another rap, _"But the smile that she shows makes me a go-getter. I haven't gone as far as asking if I could get with her. I just play it by ear and hope she gets the picture. I'm shootin for her heart, got my finger on the trigger. She could be my broad, and I could be her (nigga). But, all I can do is stare..."_

Everybody are too stunned to interrupt for having the redhead rapping before them for the very first time. So Chloe continues until the end, _"Back as kids we used to kiss when we played truth or dare. Now she's more sophisticated, highly edu-ma-cated not at all over-rated, I think I need a prayer to get in her boots and it looks rather dry. I guess a twinkle in her eye is just a twinkle in her eye. Although she's crazy steppin, I'll try to stop her stride. Cause I won't have no more of this passin me by."_

Just like that, Beca's team win without the captain knowing. The tiny brunette is too busy changing fond look with her fiancé, but then the loud cheering wakes her up.

"We win!" Emily exclaims.

Upon hearing the words, Beca and Chloe automatically find and hug each other, jumping and squealing in each other's arms.

"We win!" Beca exclaims to the redhead with a huge grin.

"We win!" Chloe squeals excitedly.

Then Ashley's smile falters a bit upon seeing the scene, and she isn't the only one who stay silent among the loud crowd. The next second happen so fast but also slow.

While everybody else are cheering, Ashley diverts her eyes away from her fiancé who is hugging her first love. On the other hand, Beca is trying to find her fiancé among the crowd with her eyes. Meanwhile, maybe because of the high of winning, Chloe is leaning closer to kiss the tiny brunette.

Just a split second before Chloe's lips touch Beca's, the tiny brunette's eyes find her fiancé, and she pulls away instantly, didn't even notice how Chloe was so close from kissing her.

Beca rushes her way to Ashley and pulls her in a tight hug as she exclaims, "I didn't know that you can rap!"

With a force cheerful voice, Ashley says, "Well, I still have some stuff up my sleeve, Mitchell."

Barking out a loud laughter, Beca pulls away, resting her hands on Ashley's waist, looking fondly into the blonde's blue eyes and says, "I'd love to know all of the stuff up your sleeve, Miss Benson soon to be Mitchell. Because I love you. And I'll spend the rest of my life finding them out."

Looking at Beca's sincere eyes, Ashley smiles fondly right before Beca leans in and closes the gap between them. Just like that, all of the jealousy in Ashley's chest vanishes into thin air, and she tangles her hands behind Beca's neck, kissing the tiny brunette back passionately.

Meanwhile, Chloe watches the scene before her eyes while her heart shatters into pieces all over again because of loving the very same person. She doesn't stay long to feel her world crumbling down all over again, and walks to the backyard hurriedly.

Nobody else seems to notice that for a split second, there could be a hurricane hitting them right on the face. Everybody are still cheerfully talking about the short riff-off, failing to notice that two person have disappeared.

CR and Fat Amy approach their former captain, who's still kissing her fiancé, and CR teases, "Get a room, Capt."

"Nu uh." Fat Amy pulls Ashley aside. "Drilling time."

Ashley chuckles upon seeing the upset look on Beca, but Fat Amy firmly says toward the tiny brunette, "Go to other place. We, all of the Bellas, need a private time with your fiancé, Shawshank."

When Beca keep on staring at the hilarious blonde firmly, Ashley softly says, "Go Babe. I'll be fine."

Beca sighs in half-annoyance and kisses Ashley's cheek before turning to CR and Fat Amy. "I will hold you both guilty if my fiancé gives back my ring by the end of the night."

"Not gonna happen Babe." Ashley tries to hold her laughter. "Go do something else."

Then Beca decides to go to the front porch, thinking that she needs a space to gain back her introverted self some energy. Surprisingly, she found Kristen there, sitting alone by the stairs on the front porch.

Beca takes a seat at the other end of porch, still on the same level of stairs with Kristen. They stay silent for a while until at some point, Beca firmly says, "I know what you did to Chloe."

Without looking at the tiny DJ, Kristen says, "So?"

"If you _ever_ pull some shit like that again to Chloe," Beca says fiercely with low tone. "If you ever, _ever_ hurt her again, just be sure that I will hurt you ten times worse."

This time, Kristen looks back at Beca angrily, leaning closer as she dangerously says, " _You_ , have no right to tell me anything about Chloe. If you haven't realized, _you_ , are the one who _hurt_ her over and over again. Who _left_ her, time and time again. Who didn't realize just how worthy she is by choosing someone else."

Beca is taken aback slightly, so Kristen continues with anger written all over her face and voice, "So don't you ever, _ever, **ever** , _talk to me about how to love Chloe. Because you know nothing about it. Nothing."

With that being said, Kristen stands up and walks back into the house, leaving a very stunned Beca on the front porch, absorbing Kristen's words into her mind. She takes her time to think before eventually making her way back into the house around an hour later.

* * *

Meanwhile, Chloe is at the backyard by herself. She just sits on the bench, staring at the sky while her mind trails its way back to the whole reunion from the beginning. From the second Beca walked into the living room, Chloe couldn't stop her heart from fluttering, racing, somehow in joy, but also anxiously.

She was torn to see the happiness Beca showed while introducing Ashley. She wanted to be happy for the tiny brunette, but she couldn't shake off the feeling of betrayal; the hurt of being left, of not being not chosen, again.

There was a moment when Beca stared at Kristen with despise, and Chloe's heart jumped, thinking that the tiny brunette was most likely feeling jealous. Her logical thinking did give her a reminder.

_Why would Beca feel jealous of Kristen? She loves Ashley._

However, Chloe managed to put that thought aside, spending almost all night joined on the hips with Kristen just for a split second of satisfaction of seeing Beca in jealousy.

Through dinner, Chloe had to endure all the pain of her decision to sit in front of Beca and Ashley, looking at how they moved and interacted so naturally as a couple.

Thankfully, Kristen saw through her and kept on squeezing her hand under the table, or kissed her temple to distract her attention from the tiny brunette.

Chloe tried though, to be her cheerful self by joining the conversation when the Bellas were teasing the tiny brunette. But that was the only time.

After the talk about the wedding emerged, she felt like ripping someone's throat, and when Emily said something about stepmother, she almost jumped forward to tear the youngest Bella apart if not for Kristen's hand in hers, holding her tightly.

She admitted it now, the decision to keep the other Bellas in the dark is the wrong one. Beca was supposed to deal with consequences of leaving them; leaving her. The tiny brunette needed to suffer the pain from her own act, like Chloe has suffered all this time.

Her decision to keep her situation with Beca and Kristen gave no room for The Bellas to stand on her side, to be angry with the two people that hurt her the most; Kristen who loves her selfishly, and Beca who loves herself selfishly.

However, her anger vanished the second Beca chose her first for the riff-off. It was so easy for her at that moment to forget about all of her pain when Beca openly chose her, not Ashley, in front of their sisters.

A smile appears on Chloe's face as the speech Beca gave, stating that she is the tiny brunette's other half came into her mind. It's sweet and heart moving, especially for Chloe's heart that is really a goner when it comes to Beca.

Chloe could still feel the warmth of Beca's joyful hug after they won the riff-off. They almost kissed if not for Ashley's presence that distracted the tiny brunette.

The redhead is so absorbed in her thought that she doesn't realize Ashley has come out too to get some air. She is startled to hear Ashley's voice from behind, playfully saying, "I knew someone was missing in my drilling session. Turns out you're out here."

As Ashley takes a seat next to the redhead, Chloe gives her a weak smile and says, "I believe my sisters have already done a very good job without me. Have they scared you off?"

"Yeah, they were kind of scary." Ashley jokes. "But it will take more than a village of sisters to scare me off." Then she sighs in contently. "Besides, I've never seen Beca so comfortable in a large group of people. So, even though I got drilled, I'm glad that we came."

Chloe looks at Ashley in confusion and curiously asks, "Doesn't she has some friends in the last couple of years?"

"Well, you know Beca." Ashley says softly. "She could be surrounded by many people, yet still manage to keep her tight personal bubble. After years being together, my friends has become hers, but she's only close to Troian and Patrick. Before us, she was alone for a long time. The people from her life that I've got to meet were Donna, Harvey, Stephan, and her mom's grave. So, yeah. I'm more than happy to see her interacting freely around the people she considers a family. It's something that I knew I'd always cherish."

"Hmmm..." Chloe hums in approval and then turns to look back at the sky. One of the great things about Chloe, and that is also her weakness, is the ability to feel differently about something so easily.

After a while, Chloe softly mutters, "I'm sorry."

Knowing that Chloe is apologizing for the kiss, Ashley says, "I'm sorry too."

Confused, Chloe turns to look at the blonde with furrowed eyebrows and asks, "What for?"

After taking a deep breath, Ashley softly says, "I don't know. But I think it must've been hard for you since, you know, you're in love with her too."

Chloe chuckles lightly and says, "I kind of understand why she loves you."

"What do you mean?" Ashley asks in confusion.

"I kissed your fiancé." Chloe says matter-of-factly. "Well, girlfriend back then, on your 5th anniversary. And here you are, apologizing to me."

With a light shrug, Ashley says, "It's complicated. I guess. Especially since I knew her story with you in college. In fact, I should be thanking you."

"For?"

"She told me everything, Chloe." Ashley says with a light smile. "I should be thanking you for not making it harder for her. So, thank you."

Upon hearing Ashley's words, Chloe remembers that Aubrey said the same thing to Kristen when they broke up. She chuckles lightly at the irony, and then, using the same thing Kristen told Aubrey, Chloe says, "Well, for what it's worth, someone did say that if you love someone, you don't hold them back from the love they deserve, the life they want."

Smiling softly, Ashley pats Chloe's hand and says, "Thank you. I will love her the best way I can."

"You better." Chloe says with her eyes boring into Ashley's. "Because I'm gonna need you to take care of her, love her, and stay with her no matter what."

Although she isn't sure of Chloe's reaction, Ashley nods nevertheless.

Then Chloe grabs Ashley's hand and firmly says, "I need your word, Ash. I need you to promise me that you'll never leave her again, no matter what happen between you two. She needs you."

Becoming unsettled of Chloe's words, Ashley couldn't help but worry. However, when Chloe's grip on her hand become tighter, Ashley answers, "Don't worry, Chloe. I will stay with her."

After sighing in relief, Chloe smiles and says, "Thank you."

Suddenly they heard someone calls out from behind, a familiar voice that they both love the most.

"Everything okay here?" Beca asks cautiously, walking toward Ashley and Chloe.

The two women turns their head around instantly and look at the tiny brunette. The same loving gaze from Ashley and Chloe stun Beca and stop her on her track.

"Okay." Beca mutters under her breath with her eyebrows raised. "This is weird."

Hearing a faint voice that she couldn't hear clearly, Ashley asks, "What did you say Babe?"

"Uh... Nothing Hon." Beca replies nervously. "I'm here to ask if you're ready to go home."

"Sure." Ashley stands up, and then hugs Chloe before saying, "It's good to see you again, Chloe. Thank you for everything. And uh... I'm sorry. For... everything."

Chloe being Chloe, she hugs the blonde back and says, "It's good to see you too, Ash. Please remember what I said."

Ashley nods lightly, smiling unsurely toward the red head, but Beca is already by her side, seeming so nervous with her hands in her pockets as she says, "Uhm... See you around, Chlo."

Then Chloe hugs Beca tightly, lingering longer than usual before she says, "Take care Becs."

"You too." Beca says as she hugs Chloe back and pats the redhead's back gently.

Then Beca and Ashley say goodbye to The Bellas and go home.

* * *

**Ashley and Beca's Mansion: After Reunion**

Once they are already on bed and snuggling up to each other, Beca kisses Ashley's crown and says, "Thanks for doing it with me Hon."

Resting her chin on Beca's shoulder, Ashley smiles and says, "I'm happy I went with you. You were beaming tonight, Babe. You still are."

Beca smiles fondly and says, "It feels so good being around them again. I didn't even realize that I'd missed them so much until I met them again."

"I'm happy for you."

Out of curiosity upon seeing Ashley and Chloe together, Beca asks, "What did you talk about with Chloe?"

"Hmmm..." Ashley teases her fiancé that seems to be nervous. "Just the same thing we both love the most."

"And what is it?"

Ashley taps Beca's nose and says, "You."

Beca looks at Ashley with her eyebrows furrowed as she asks, "And you're okay with that?"

"With what?"

"With the fact that she loves me too?"

Smiling softly toward Beca, Ashley patiently explains, "Babe, I can't stop anybody from loving you. Anyone can love you in any way they want. What matters is how you feel. And now, I'm more than sure and glad that it's me is you choose to love; to be with."

A familiar warm feeling begin to fill into Beca's chest, forming a fond smile on her face as she says, "Have I told you that I'm the luckiest person alive because you love me?"

"Hmmm..." Ashley mocks a thinking face and replies playfully, "Several times. But I don't mind to hear it more often."

Beca laughs lightly and then says, "You are the best, Ashley Benson. I'm the luckiest person alive because you love me."

"Tell me more about it." Ashley replies with a smirk on her face.

"Huh." As the words Ashley just said sink into her mind, Beca teasingly says, "So you don't mind if other people flirt with me then."

"I said love, Babe." Ashley rolls her eyes in half-annoyance. "Not flirt. Don't push it."

Beca chuckles and says, "Okay. You're weird. But I love you."

When Beca said weird, the unsettled feeling comes back to Ashley. She purses her lips, thinking if she should tell Beca about her thought, and in the end, she decides to go with it. "Do you think Chloe took it well? Seeing us together again after uh... you know, the kiss and us getting back together?"

"Uhm... I don't know." Beca says casually. "You're the one who talked to her. She seemed... pretty fine. I think. Why?"

Sighing deeply, Ashley sucks her teeth and then says, "I don't know. But uh... there is this feeling I just can't shake off."

Knowing that Ashley has always had a great instinct, Beca couldn't help but a little bit worried as she asks, "What feeling?"

"I'm not sure, Babe. It's just..." Ashley says hesitantly. "Is it just me, or she seemed uh... too calm over this? I mean, I'm glad that she did, but still... mmm... maybe it's just me."

Although she could feel the same thing, Beca sighs and says reassuringly, "I'm sure she's just taking her time to deal with it in her own way, Hon. Chloe... she has always been selfless and kind. Besides, she's got Aubrey and Stacie. So, I won't be too worried about her."

"Hmmm." Ashley sighs. "Okay."

Then they lay on bed in silent. Beca is humming lightly, while Ashley is rubbing Beca's upper left chest absentmindedly. Suddenly, Ashley asks, "Oh, by the way Babe, when will you tell The Bellas about Jesse?"

"Hmmm..." Beca purses her lips. "Tomorrow I suppose. We're going to the beach, and the boys aren't coming with us."

"Okay then."

After a moment of silent, Beca gently pulls away and lays on her stomach half on top of Ashley. She doesn't do anything else but staring into Ashley's eyes so tenderly. Then she tucks a strain of hair to the back of the blonde's ear, and then caresses her cheek gently.

A rush of warmth fills Ashley's chest upon seeing the love in Beca's eye. There is nothing to say because their eyes show it all.

"How's your day Hon?" Beca asks softly.

"It was great." Ashley says contently. "Work was fine. Other than Shay's constant staring, it all went well. And the reunion... it was fun. You have the best friends Babe. They love you so much."

Beca chuckles and says, "Told you. I'm the luckiest person alive. How was the drilling session?"

"It was eye opening." Ashley says teasingly. "So... about the confidence from Fat Amy..."

With a loud bark of laughter, Beca exclaims, "She told you!"

Ashley laughs lightly and says, "I asked. And Lily is... interesting. Has someone ever heard of the word she said?"

"Nope."

"And Jessica and Ashley..." The blonde says with wide eyes. "They are... awesome. They finished each other's sentence, they said the same thing, the just... synced?"

"Yep." Beca pops the P. "Have always been. Back in college, I wasn't even know which one is who."

"I don't blame you." Ashley giggles lightly. "And CR? She's cool."

"She is." Beca says smugly. "Every each of them is cool."

"But Aubrey is a little..." Ashley cringes her face.

"She could be intense." Beca smiles softly. "But she is a good person."

Ashley nods absentmindedly, and then, with a fond smile, she says, "And their kids... They have great children."

Upon seeing the fond eyes, Beca clears her throat and says, "We can have some. You know, if you uh... want to."

Ashley eyes widen in surprise as she exclaims, "Really?"

"Really." Beca smiles fondly.

Then Ashley kisses Beca passionately and says, "You are the very best. I love you so much."

"I love you too, Hon." Beca replies as soft, her heart blown up upon seeing the beam of happiness pouring out from Ashley.

"And how was your day?"

"Hmmm..." Beca purses her lips. "It was a great day. Awesome even."

Sensing that there's more to that, Ashley says, "But...?"

Beca sighs deeply and says, "It's Kristen."

"What about her?" Ashley asks cautiously.

Then Beca tells the blonde about her short encounter with Chloe's fiancé; about her confusion of their status; about her thought after Kristen left her at the front porch.

Ashley listens to her closely, and after Beca finished, she says, "Well, I think it's normal for you to be protective over Chloe. I mean, you've always been more protective to Junk. And judging by how close you two were back in college... you did the thing as her best friend."

"But what she said about me hurting Chloe..." Beca sighs. "I hurt her over and over again, Hon. And I don't know how to make it right to her."

With a sympathetic smile, Ashley says, "You'll find the way Babe."

"I hope so." Beca replies sadly. Then she kisses Ashley gently on her forehead, her eyelids, the tip of her nose, her cheeks, her chin, and then the last one, her lips, before she pulls back and softly says, "Goodnight Hon. I love you. Always."

"Goodnight Babe. I love you too. Always." Ashley replies before snuggling up onto Beca's chest. Not long after, they fall asleep around 3 AM.

* * *

**Ashley and Beca's Mansion: Sunday Morning, November 2** **nd** **2025.**

The ringing from Beca's phone pulls Ashley out from her slumber. At first, she chose to ignore it, but when it keep on ringing, she groans and whines, "Babe, your phone."

The steady breaths from the brunette chest is prove enough that they could be having an apocalypse, yet Beca would stay in her slumber. So Ashley takes Beca's phone and sees Stacie's face on the screen.

Not the type of person who pick up her fiancé's phone without permission, Ashley tries to wake the brunette up. She sleepily shakes Beca's shoulder, pinches her nose, bites her cheek, and tickles her ear, but she fail miserably. Finally admitting defeat, she knew that there is only one way to wake Beca up, and that is by kissing her lips.

It doesn't take long until Beca kisses her back and the kiss becomes more heated. But then Beca's phone rings again for the umpteenth times.

"Babe... Your phone." Ashley breathes out while Beca is exploring her breast with her lips.

"Let it be." Beca mumbles without stopping.

"But-" Ashley starts, but when Beca pulls her nipple with her lips, Ashley moans and complies. However, Beca's phone rings again in a matter of seconds.

While Ashley is chuckling upon seeing the annoyance in Beca's face, Beca groans loudly, pulls herself up from Ashley, grabs her phone, and answers, "This better be... wait. Stace, slow down!... ... ... She what?!... ... I'm on my way."

Upon seeing the mixture of panic, shock, and fear in Beca's face, Ashley immediately put her own hand on Beca's left chest and says, "Babe, breathe. Your heart is pounding heavily. I need you to breathe."

Beca takes long deep breath several times to calm her heartbeat before she says, "Chloe..."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that would be chapter 21. It's long. The longest one so far. I know. You can expect that the next one is longer. Jesse's rendezvous won't end here. And... Chloe. I hang it over the cliff until the next chapter. The next chapter will be... a mess. The hell will break loose. And I have to apologize in advance. Since it's Chinese new year, and I'm celebrating, I'll be able to update again next week maybe on Wednesday or Thursday.
> 
> Until then, sit tight and make good choices. Thank you for reading :)
> 
> P.S. For the songs in this chapter, they are Rockstar by Emily Kinney; It's The Way You Make Me Feel by Steps; How Do I Live Without You by LeAnn Rhimes; I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor; Half Of My Heart by John Mayer; Somebody To Love by Justin Bieber; Marry Your Daughter by Brian McKnight; Smile by Uncle Kracker; Story of My Life by OneD; Gone, Gone, Gone by Phillip Phillips; I Need a Girl by P. Diddy feat. Usher and Loon; One Love by Whodini; and Passing Me By from The Pharcyde.


	22. When The Hell Break Loose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey! :D It's been a while. Did you miss me? :P
> 
> First of all, thank you for reading, favoring, following, and reviewing the story. It's much appreciated :)
> 
> The last chapter was about Bella's reunion, and something had happened to the redhead. It would all be explained in this chapter, including Chloe's condition.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a song in this chapter, Make Me (Cry) by Noah Cyrus ft. Labrinth. For you who haven't listened to this song, I strongly recommend you to listen to it. The feel... it will built.
> 
> I don't own Pitch Perfect, neither the song, nor the characters. Hope you enjoy, and let's dig in :)

 

"What happened to Chloe?" Ashley asks worriedly.

"Chloe..." Beca swallows hard. "She's in the hospital."

Ashley feels cold all of the sudden, but she hurriedly says, "Let's go."

They change quickly and rush out of the house in flash with Pascal and Rico driving them to Cedars-Sinai. They run into the hospital with Pascal and Rico following them close behind.

Beca is running toward Stacie when a furious Kristen swings her fist onto Beca's jaw, yelling, "You son of a bitch!"

Although she almost fell down, with anger flaring up in her in an instant, Beca steadies herself and swings her left hand to punch Kristen back as hard as she could, knocking the short-haired brunette down to the floor.

"Babe!" Ashley shouts, trying to pull Beca back, and Rico is quick to pull Kristen away.

Suddenly, Beca groans in pain and grabs her left chest, bending forward when she feels her heart burns in pain.

"No, no, no, no!" Ashley cries in panic, quickly holding Beca in her arms to keep the tiny brunette from falling down. "Pascal! Help me!"

"Pop!" Emily immediately rushes toward her former captain, while Stacie and Aubrey are still stunned by the incident.

Ashley, Emily, and Pascal drag the tiny brunette to the closest chair. After kneeling in front of Beca, Ashley hurriedly puts a hand on Beca's left chest to feel her heavy heartbeat, and another hand on Beca's cold sweating side of the neck.

"Pascal, call Liv! Now!" Ashley commands without moving her eyes from Beca, and then she says to her fiancé, pleading, "Baby, breathe... please..."

Cringing in pain, Beca couldn't even open her eyes. Therefore, Ashley takes a deep breath, trying to calm herself before softly saying, "Babe, open your eyes and look at me."

Beca nods weakly and opens her eyes slightly, still with her face scrunching up in pain.

"Babe, I got you. Follow my lead." Ashley says with reassuring tone. "In two three... out two three four five... in two three... out two three four five... again."

"Shouldn't we put her in the ER?" Stacie asks in panic from behind.

"No!" Emily impatiently snaps, "She'll become more panic. Just let Ashley handle this, okay?"

After minutes of helping Beca catching her breaths, Ashley could feel that Beca's heart is slowly becoming steadier and pounding lighter under her hand.

Then Pascal comes back after asking a nurse for Doctor Wilde, and then he hands Ashley a bottle of water and an ice pack.

"Babe, drink this." Ashley puts the nitroglycerin that she always keeps in all of her purse and pocket into Beca's mouth, and then helps Beca take the water slowly.

"Ashley!" Doctor Wilde shouts from behind, rushing toward them.

Ashley immediately sits next to Beca and wipes the sweat on Beca's forehead, explaining the situation while Doctor Wilde is checking Beca's state.

After counting and listening to Beca's heartbeat, Doctor Wilde says, "Her heartbeat is steadier. But I suggest you to admit her and get a full checkup."

"No." Beca mutters weakly with her eyes still closed and her face sweating cold.

Knowing how stubborn Beca could be but doesn't want to upset the brunette, Ashley tries to pursue her calmly. "Babe, please..."

Beca weakly grabs Ashley's hand and puts it on her own left chest before she breathes out, "Feel it? It's okay now."

"Babe... Honey..." Ashley pleads. "We'll just do some cardio work-up, and if you're okay, then you don't have to be admitted."

With a long defeated sigh, Beca says, "But I will walk on my own to the ER. No need to give me a wheelchair, or worse, a stretcher."

After getting an approval from the doctor, Ashley and Emily help Beca walk to the ER to be checked.

Under the panic situation of the fight and Beca's condition, nobody notice that the rest of the Bellas, Bumper, Donald, Jesse, and Benji have arrived at the hospital, watching the whole scene from aside.

Unknowingly, Jesse has taken the advantage and recorded the whole incident with his phone. He finally got his leverage to blackmail the tiny brunette.

Meanwhile, Beca, Ashley, and Emily are in the ER. After having the ECG and blood work, Doctor Wilde says, "She's fine for now. But if the symptoms appear again, bring her in stat, okay?"

"Definitely." Ashley nods.

Noticing the bruise on Beca's jaw, Doctor Wilde shakes her head, sighing in half-annoyance and says, "Seems like every time you have your tiny shock, there's always a bruise on your face that I don't think I want to find out anymore."

Beca scoffs weakly, thinking back to the first attack where Harvey punched her, then Ashley slapped her hard on the second attack, and now Kristen wanted to break her jaw.

Then Doctor Wilde got a page and she says, "I've got to go now. Page me if you need anything."

"Thanks, Liv." Ashley replies, smiling toward the doctor.

"Just doing my job. Take care, you grumpy." Doctor Wilde says with half-playful smile toward the closed eyes Beca before she turns and walks away.

Then Ashley takes her time to look at her fiancé closely, and the blonde couldn't help herself but crying. The tiny brunette seems more relax, but she's still lying on the bed with closed eyes, sweating cold all over her body, panting softly through her slightly parted lips with her face so pale.

In years after Beca's second heart attack, she'd never had another one until now. The news about Chloe and the punch must have taken a toll on the tiny brunette. Although it was a minor attack, it still managed to skip Ashley's heart a beat.

Ashley steps closer next to Beca's bed, rests her forehead on Beca's temple, and hugs the tiny brunette tightly from aside before saying with restraint voice, "Don't ever do that to me again."

Still with her eyes closed, Beca smiles weakly, squeezing Ashley's arm on her chest and whispers, "I'm okay, Hon. Honest."

"You have to." Ashley cracks out.

Beca kisses Ashley's hand and says, "Let's go back to the waiting room."

Then Ashley kisses her cheek and nods lightly. When Beca is standing up, Emily worriedly asks, "You okay Pop?"

"I'm fine, Em." Beca replies weakly. Then with Ashley and Emily wrapping her on each side, Beca walks back into the waiting room.

Upon seeing Kristen who is still being held by Rico, Emily paces fast to her and angrily snaps, "What is fucking wrong with you?!"

Andre immediately pulls Emily away and says, "Babe, calm down. We don't need another incident."

Then Emily takes a few deep breaths, still glaring at Kristen angrily before walking to sit next to Beca.

Upon seeing that the tiny brunette is back, the Bellas approach her, and CR cautiously asks, "You okay Capt?"

Beca just smiles weakly, and then Fat Amy asks toward the youngest Bella, "What happened with captain, Em?"

Knowing that Beca hasn't told the rest of The Bellas about her heart condition, not to mention that there are some trebles there, Emily lies, "She just had a panic attack because of the fight with Kristen. But she's okay now."

"And she needed a doctor to admit her into the hospital for that?" Jesse asks curiously.

"We're in a hospital." Emily replies carefully. "The doctor would always want us to be admitted."

Everybody seem to buy what Emily told them, and they nod without asking more questions.

Meanwhile, Ashley is still in her half-relieved yet half-terrified phase, and she simply hugs Beca from aside, resting her forehead on Beca's temple while sniffling softly.

Then Beca opens her eyes, tilts her head slightly to kiss Ashley gently on the lips, and softly says, "It's okay Hon. I'm okay, thanks to you."

Still with tears running down her face, Ashley nods lightly but hugs Beca even tighter.

Despite of the fact that it's still early and the waiting room is almost empty, Beca couldn't take the chance that somebody had noticed the incident. Therefore, she turns to Pascal and says, "Please call Donna and tell her everything. She'll know what to do."

Not even a second after Pascal ended the call with Donna, Ashley's phone rings. She picks it up immediately and answers, "Donna ... ... She's fine now ... ... Yeah, Liv had already checked her vitals ... ... No, she didn't want to ... ... You know her ... ... I will. Thank you Donna."

After Ashley puts her phone down on her laps, Beca smirks weakly and teases, "Is mom worried?"

"Babe, everyone is. Just wait until Harvey finds out." Ashley points her chin toward Kristen. "She'd be lucky if Harvey only sends her a restraining order."

Beca straightens up, looks at Kristen, and says toward her bodyguard, "It's okay Rico. You can let her go."

Hesitantly, Rico let Kristen go, and then Kristen brushes her clothes harshly and angrily before walking toward the tiny brunette.

"Tell me what happened." Beca says calmly.

"What happened?" Kristen retorts angrily. "You dare to ask what happened?!"

Pascal steps forward in between Beca and Kristen, and then he firmly says, "If you can't act civil, I'm afraid I have to call the police. And I will make sure they put you in jail for what you did."

"Do you think I'm scared of you?!" Kristen snaps toward the tall man.

"Kristen." Stacie calls firmly, pulling the short-haired brunette back. "Take a breath and tell us what happened to Chloe."

With anger sigh, Kristen stares sternly at the tiny DJ for a couple of seconds before taking a seat in front of her.

Then all of the other Bellas start to sit around Beca and Kristen, wanting to find out about what happened to the redhead.

Meanwhile, Ashley takes the ice pack from the seat next to her and says to her fiancé, "Babe, it's gonna be hurt and cold."

After getting a light nod from Beca, the blonde puts the ice pack gently on Beca's bruised jaw. Even though Beca is flinching in pain, she keeps her attention on Kristen.

Kristen clears her throat and talks with shaky voice, "She's... alive. They're doing some gastric lavage and giving her activated charcoal. It also seems like she's going to need a surgery for her kidney."

"Gastric lavage?" Flo asks in confusion. "She got food poisoning or what? What happened?"

"Why don't you ask your former captain?" Kristen retorts angrily. "The almighty Beca Mitchell. I believe she could te-"

"How and when did you find Chloe?" Stacie cuts her off.

Kristen sighs deeply and explains, "I was... out for a jog this morning. And when I came back, Chloe's car was in the driveway of my house. I was confused, and I..." She swallows hard, trying to keep her voice intact. "I went in and... and... I found her in the bathroom; almost unconscious with half-empty bottle of whiskey, and several empty bottles of anti-depressant, and... other drugs that I didn't know of. I called 911 immediately, but when she got here, she was already passed out."

_Chloe tried to kill herself._

That is the first conclusion that comes into Beca's mind. And it seems like, she's not the only one who think that way. Ashley has tighten her grip on the tiny brunette's arm, Emily is tearing, Stacie seems so distressed on her seat, and Aubrey seems regretful. No need to tell that the rest of the Bellas are indeed shocked.

Ashley could see that Beca has become more anxious. Therefore, she squeezes Beca's hand gently, hinting the tiny brunette to take a deep breath, to which Beca complies. After taking a deep breath, Beca croaks out, "She... Did she..."

"Hah!" Kristen stands up angrily, pointing her index finger at Beca furiously. "Now you know why I wanted to hurt you so badly! You did this to her!"

It feels like the wind in being knocked out of her lungs, and suddenly, Beca finds it hard to breathe. She knew what this is about, but she couldn't say a thing. She's frozen up and stunned.

"This is your fucking fault!" Kristen keep yelling. "You made her do-"

"Stop right there!" Emily shoves Kristen harshly. "You will stop accusing her for something she has no idea about!"

"It's the fucking truth!" Kristen yells, and then she pulls out a phone. "This is Chloe's. I found her with this song played in repeat this morning. _You_ ," She shoves the phone in front of the tiny brunette. "You better listen to it!"

When Beca doesn't take the said phone but staring blankly forward, Flo takes it and hits play. Then every Bella and Ashley are listening closely to the song.

_I never needed you like I do right now_  
_I never needed you like I do right now_  
_I never hated you like I do right now  
_ _Cause all you ever do is make me..._

The first verse hits Beca hard. As everything she's done to Chloe come back into her mind, slowly, her frozen up body begins to ache, starting from her pounding heart, throbbing head, shaking hands, and everything could only be registered as pain. Even breathing hurts.

_Gave you up 'bout 21 times_  
_Felt those lips, tell me 21 lies, yeah_  
_You'll be the death of me_  
_Sage advice  
_ _Loving you could make Jesus cry_

_You left her._

_You kissed her but didn't choose her._

_You ignored her._

_You talked about your wedding, showing your happy life in front of broken her._

_You knew something was completely not fine with her yet you brushed it off._

_How could you do this to her? She is your best friend..._

"She..." Beca cries out with cringed face. "I... I did this to her..."

_When I hear you're sayin' "Darling,_  
_Your kiss is like an antidote."_  
_I'm fightin' like I'm Ali,  
_ _But you got me on the ropes_

"No... No... No... No..." Beca chokes out, and her body starts to shake from the emotion, the heaviness of guilt. She has to bend forward on her seat with her arms wrapping her body tightly to hold the pain under her diaphragm. It hurts so bad. It's suffocating, and all she could do is rocking her body back and forth while tears dropping down onto the floor from the tip of her nose.

_I never needed you like I do right now_  
_I never needed you like I do right now_  
_I never hated you like I do right now  
_ _'Cause all you ever do is make me..._

Upon seeing that Beca is breaking down, Ashley hurriedly hugs the tiny brunette tightly while whispering, "This isn't your fault Babe... This isn't your fault..."

_Couldn't hear the thunder_  
_But I heard your heart race_  
_Couldn't see the rain_  
_We're too busy makin' hurricanes, yeah_  
_Love ain't easy when it ain't my way  
_ _But it gets hard, when you ain't here makin' me crazy_

However, Beca doesn't seem to hear everything Ashley said. In fact, she's not aware of her surrounding anymore. Her senses are overwhelmed by pain. She doesn't notice how her friends seems so confused while Aubrey's face turns pale as the realization hit her that this is the song Chloe's been listening and humming to in the last week.

_Baby, say the word, darlin'_  
_You know just how to hold the sucker down_  
_So I see you in the morning  
_ _I can't watch you walk out_

_For someone who has always claimed herself to be my best friend, you sure have set a golden standard for the crappiest best friend ever, Becs!_

Chloe's voice comes as an echo in Beca's head, playing over and over again like an old record. It's churning, twisting, shattering everything in her chest. The pain of guilt is eating her up inside out.

_I never needed you like I do right now_  
_I never needed you like I do right now_  
_I never hated you like I do right now_  
_'Cause all you ever do is make me..._  
_Cry_  
_Cry  
_ _Cry_

Upon seeing how hysterical Beca has become, Emily snatches the phone from Flo's hand and turns it off. On the other hand, Ashley hugs Beca tightly to calm her nervous system while whispering as calm as she could, "Babe, take a breath... please..."

Beca hold on to Ashley tightly, sobbing onto Ashley's chest, the only person that keep her sanity intact right now, the only one that could keep her world from crumbling down when she's hanging by a thin thread.

Gently, Ashley grabs Beca's hand and puts it on Beca's left chest, and just like that, Beca automatically puts her attention on her heartbeat, her heavily pounding heartbeat.

Still sobbing hard, the tiny brunette blows out a ragged damp breath before taking in a short one. As hard as it is, she keep on doing the same thing, and gradually, her breaths become steadier and the waterworks become lessen.

Meanwhile, the other Bellas are panicking and asking questions to Kristen, but the short-haired brunette doesn't seem to know how to explain everything without choking Beca to death to show her point.

"Can someone tell us what is actually happening here?" Flo asks in upset.

"Yesterday, everything was fine. Today Chloe... took too many anti-depressant with alcohol," Jessica says as upset, then Bella's Ashley continues, "And I think we know what it means. Now Beca is crying, saying that this is all her fault."

Lily says something that actually could be heard this time, "This must has something to do with Beca walked out on us 10 years ago."

CR and Fat Amy turn toward the shaken up tiny brunette, standing tall before her and then CR firmly says, "I think it's time for the explanation you owe us, Captain."

Then Fat Amy adds, "No more hiding, Shawshank."

"Guys!" Emily exclaims in upset. "Didn't you see Pop's condition?!"

"It's okay Em." Beca shakes her head weakly. "It's my fault. I- I should've known better. I should've-" She chokes in tears again, but she hold it back by taking a short damp breath through her mouth before blurting out, "I should've become a better friend for Chloe."

"We all should have." Aubrey, who has been so quiet, finally spoken up with unreadable expression, gaining everyone's attentions toward her all at once.

Then Stacie takes a deep breath and tries to be calm when she says, "We will explain everything to all of you. But this is not the time."

"Not the time?!" Flo retorts angrily. "This is Chloe we're talking about! Only a pain so bad could break her this way! And we all know who has the power to destroy Chloe this way! Ag-"

"Stop!" Emily snaps at the Guatemalan. "You will stop blaming anybody over this! I warn you, Flo! Don't you dare!"

"Or what?!" Flo steps closer to the youngest Bella.

"Enough the two of you!" Stacie steps between the two of them. Then, with a long tired sigh, Stacie firmly says, "We will wait until we know something about Chloe's condition. Chloe wouldn't want us to fight because of her. And Beca is not in a condition to talk."

Although they are obviously upset, everybody relent reluctantly and start to spread around the waiting room with no mood of talking, just sitting and waiting for a new information from the doctor as the time tick by.

Ashley uses that chance to kneel before her fiancé, taking Beca's face gently in her hands and softly says, "Babe..."

However, Beca just keep staring forward blankly, unfocused, and then Ashley softly says, "Babe, look at me please..."

Beca blinks her eyes slowly, trying to gather her attention to the blonde in front of her before choking out, "Hon..."

"This isn't your fault." Ashley sadly says. " _This_ , isn't your fault. Okay?"

Beca takes a ragged damp breath through her mouth to hold the sobs in, glancing her teary eyes away from the blonde as she croaks out, "It is, Hon... It is my fault."

"No." Ashley says more firmly. "This is not your fault, okay? Please don't let this pull you into that dark place. Don't let your demon take over your mind."

Tears start running down Beca's face again, and Ashley softly says, "Babe, right now, this isn't about you. This is about Chloe. This is her pain, Babe. You need to focus on her. Not you."

Beca nods weakly, letting Ashley wiping away the tears on her face before leaning forward to rest her forehead on Ashley's.

"You're okay." Ashley mutters softly, slightly in relief. "I got you Babe... I got you. I won't ever let you go back to that dark place."

After she deems that Beca is quite stable, Ashley takes a seat next to Beca, wrapping the tiny brunette tightly, protecting the tiny brunette on her chest with their hands joined on Beca's stomach.

* * *

 

By eleven in the morning, Donna walks into the waiting room toward Beca and snaps, "Where is she?!"

"Donna?" Beca seems so confused. "What are you doing here?"

Donna rolls her eyes and scolds, "Do you think that after what had happened to you I would've stayed at home, playing monopoly with my son? Where, is, she?!"

Weakly, Beca says, "I'm fine now. No need to release the kraken, Donna. She's not gonna harm me again."

Then Donna turns to Ashley and demands, "Ash?"

"She's fine now, Donna." Ashley replies with a weak smile. "It was just a spur of the moment."

After getting the confirmation from the blonde, Donna sighs in relief, kisses Beca's forehead, and says, "Thank God, Monkey. You almost gave me and Harvey a heart attack."

Beca chuckles weakly and says, "I'm surprised he's not here to flaunt restraining orders to everybody."

"Oh, he would have if I didn't stop him." Donna says with warning look. "Especially when someone has threatened to out you."

Confused of Donna's statement, with furrowed eyebrows, Beca asks, "Threaten to out me? Kristen's not a threat. She was just angry. And hate me."

"Who said I was talking about Kristen?" Donna says in annoyance. "Jesse Swanson called me earlier, ruining my weekend, saying that he has your incident all recorded, and that he would leak it to the media along with your engagement news. He demanded some things in return to keep his mouth shut."

Knowing that Harvey and Donna couldn't be threatened, Beca scoffs and says, "I believe he has no idea of what's coming to him."

"You bet. Harvey and I have prepared a huge surprise. Now, let me have my fun." Donna smirks devilishly before walking toward Jesse who's sitting alone in the corner of the room, much further than the area where The Bellas are waiting.

 

When Jesse sees Donna is coming to him, he stands up, smiling smugly as he says, "Well, well, well. I thought I'd meet the one and only Harvey Specter. Not one of his minions."

"Lucky for you." Donna shrugs arrogantly. "My husband only dealt with the big fish. He let me handle the clown fish."

Although he is upset for being underestimated, Jesse keeps his lopsided smile on and asks, "So, do we have an agreement?"

"Hmph." Donna pulls out a brown envelope from her purse, smiling calmly as she says, "Just a slight revision. But I believe we can see eye to eye. Here. Take a look."

Thinking that he's got his victory already, Jesse grasps the envelope, pulls out the papers in it, and starts to read. The more he reads, the more falter his smugly smile.

Written on those papers are all of the felonies, frauds, and violations he's done in the past ten years, completed with the list of evidences. It also has restraining orders for him to stay away, not only from Beca and Ashley, but also from all of The Bellas, the rest of The Trebles, and their friends and family.

Upon seeing Jesse's upset look, Donna smiles in satisfaction and says, "I suppose you understood now why we needed a slight revision on the agreement."

Clenching his jaw, Jesse glares at the redhead and asks, "How did you know about all of this?"

Rolling her eyes in the manner that say _obviously_ , Donna smugly replies, "I'm Donna. I know everything."

"You don't know who you're dealing with." Jesse says with gritted teeth.

With bored-look, Donna sighs overdramatically and says, "You mean Sergei? My husband already took care of him."

Shocked by the revelation that Donna knew about the person he's in debt with, Jesse blurts out, "Harvey and Sergei are friends?"

"Not really." Donna says nonchalantly, putting her attention to her manicured hands instead. "But it could be easily fixed you know."

"What do you mean?" Jesse asks in upset.

"See?" Donna rolls her eyes. "For you, this is all about money, small amount of money unfortunately. Yet for them, this is about making deals and paying personal favors."

Upon seeing Jesse's dumbfounded face, Donna chuckles smugly and says, "Told you. Harvey let me deal with the clown fish."

Jesse is beyond stunned from the information Donna just said. He just keep standing silently, dumbfounded with his jaw slacked open.

When the trebles sense that Jesse is in trouble, they come closer, thinking that their friend might need their help.

"Everything alright, Jesse?" Donald asks toward the brunette man from behind.

Startled upon hearing his friends, Jesse turns around, tries failingly to hide the papers, and stutters, "Yeah... It's uh... it's fine... not- nothing's wrong."

"Why don't you let them be the judge?" Donna retorts cheerfully, pointing her chin toward the papers.

"What's this?" Naturally, Bumper grasps the papers from Jesse's hand, and starts reading it. His face changes from disbelief into anger as he snaps, "You sabotaged my show?!"

"I uh... Bumper, I didn't..." Jesse stutters.

Donald, who took the paper from Bumper and already halfway reading it suddenly exclaims, "And you stole from my car rental company?!"

"Guys, I uh... please, I can explain everything. I was in trouble." Jesse pleads.

When Bumper almost landed a punch on Jesse's face, Benji quickly pulls him away and says, "Everybody calm down. This is just another day. Let Jesse talk. I believe there's an explanation for this misunderstanding."

As he pushes the papers toward Benji harshly, Donald says angrily, "I'm not so sure you'd feel the same after you see this!"

"What?" Benji asks in confusion, taking the papers and starts reading it. His jaw drops in disbelief. He looks at Jesse hurtfully as he says, "You paid people to fire me and not giving me job. And the worst part is that, you made me believe that it was all Emily's fault."

Jessy looks at his friends frantically and tries to explain, "I didn't mean it that way, okay? Benji, dude, you've got to believe me. I- argh!"

Apparently, Benji has cut Jesse off by punching his nose.

Upon seeing the feud, The Bellas stands up; wanting to check on The Trebles, but Beca stops them.

"Don't." Beca says, and her friends look at her in confusion.

Then Beca looks at her bodyguards and says, "You two, please go check on Donna. I'll be fine." After that, she turns to The Bellas. "Just let Donna handle it. They'll explain it to you later. If you go now, you'dl only cause more trouble, and the hospital might call the police."

The Bellas are certainly hesitant to comply, but being arrested is the last thing they need to worry about when Chloe is still in critical condition. Therefore, they sit back down and wait anxiously.

On the other side of the room, Pascal and Rico hurriedly pull Bumper, Benji, and Donald to the side.

Meanwhile, Jesse holds his bleeding nose and looks at Donna angrily as he muffles, "This is not over. I'm not backing down. You'll see what would happen to your precious boss when I send this video to the media."

With a long overdramatic sigh, Donna looks at him, mocking a sad face as she says, "I was hoping you would just take the restraining orders so it wouldn't have to come down to this." Then she pulls out her phone, dials a number, and says, "I need assistance."

Jesse looks at her in confusion but he doesn't need to wait for a long time to find the answer when two large men with black leather jacket walk toward them.

"Ivan? Damian?" Jesse seems to be half-terrified yet half-relieved, pointing his finger toward Donna. "I don't know what are you doing here, but this is the perfect time. She is trying to threaten us."

The two man grab his arms, and one of them coldly says, "Shut up, Swanson. It's time for you to pay boss a visit."

Before they pull him away, Donna takes Jesse's phone from his pocket and says with a victory smile, "I'm gonna take this since you won't need it in the place they're taking you."

When Jesse is being dragged out and passing Beca, she stops them and looks at Jesse sternly as she says, "Told you Swanson. One phone call. Ironically, I didn't even make that phone call. You did."

The only thing Jesse could do is glaring at the tiny brunette. When Jesse is already out of the hospital, the rest of The Trebles approach The Bellas and tell them about the clash. Everybody are beyond shocked to learn what Jesse had done. The one thing they wanted to know is why Jesse did it to them, his best friends.

Donna walks to them and says, "I'm Donna. Beca's personal assistant. Don't bother to ask him the reasons."

When all of them are staring at her in confusion, Donna points her chin at Bumper and says, "You. He hated you because you were a jerk in college, yet you are successful now."

Then the redhead points at Donald as she says, "He stole your expensive cars and sold them to pay his debt. You had never suspected him because he was a friend."

After that, Donna turns to Benji and says, "You are a collateral damage. He needed a friend to suffer with him, so he made your life miserable." She hands Benji her card. "Here. I've heard that you're a good technician. We can use you around the studio. Just give me a call."

Without nothing else to say, Donna leaves them and walks toward Beca and Ashley, who remain sitting on the chairs.

"Quite a show, Donna." Ashley smirks.

"Thank you, Ash." Donna smiles smugly. "Although, it was just my usual appearance."

Beca looks at the redhead and says, "I believe you've covered the engagement ring pictures too."

Narrowing her eyes in mock upset, Donna asks, "Did you ever doubt that I would?"

"Nope." Beca says with a light smile. "Never."

"Thought so." Donna says with a smirk, and then her smirk turns soft as she says, "Monkey, I've got to go and deal with that asshole. If you need anything, just give me a call, okay?"

Ashley stands up and hugs the redhead as she says, "Thank you, Donna."

"No problem." Donna hugs the blonde back, and then she turns to the tiny brunette and scolds half-heartily, "And you need to stay out of troubles, Monkey.

"Will do, _Mom_." Beca rolls her eyes in mock annoyance, and then Donna kisses Beca's forehead before walking out of the hospital.

* * *

 

Once Donna is gone, all of The Bellas and Trebles approach Beca, demanding explanations of why her PA was involved in taking Jesse out.

"What the fuck just happened, Mitchell?" Bumper asks with puzzled look.

"Why your PA outed Jesse?" Donald demands.

Beca sighs deeply and says, "Jesses knew something about my past, and he tried to blackmail me. So my PA took the matter in her hands."

"What thing in your past?" Flo asks in upset.

"Oh what else, Flo?" Jessica chips in sarcastically, and Bella's Ashley adds, "This is about why she left ten years ago indeed."

"Back off." Emily firmly says, taking a space, standing in between Beca and the other Bellas.

"You back off." Flo shoves the youngest Bella.

"Hey!" CR protects Emily from the tiny Guatemalan.

Sensing the tension from the group while her fiancé is still in no shape of being pushed, Ashley calmly asks, "Why don't we all take a moment to calm down? In the meanwhile, Pascal and Rico will go and get us some food. I believe none of us have had any breakfast this morning. After that, we can talk."

When Jessica steps forward toward Beca's fiancé with angry look, this time, Stacie stands up between her best friends and firmly says, "Do what she said. Calm your pits. All of you."

Although everybody seem to be upset and annoyed by the fact that there's another secret being kept from them, they also seem to be too tired to argue. Therefore, everybody go back to their seat while Ashley asks the bodyguard to get them all something to eat.

Then Ashley turns to a very tired and pale Beca to ask, "You okay, Babe?"

"Hm." Beca responds weakly. "Just tired."

After pressing a kiss on Beca's upper arm, Ashley says, "Just close your eyes. I'll wake you up when the food arrive."

"Thanks Hon." Beca nods lightly, and then she closes her eyes, not quite sleeping, but it sure help to rest her eyes even though her mind is worrying about Chloe.

Pascal and Rico come back with food a little after 12 PM, and immediately distribute the sandwiches and breads around.

"Babe, wake up." Ashley nudges Beca's shoulder gently, and since the tiny brunette is barely sleeping, she wakes up immediately. Then Ashley hands her a bottle of water and a piece of sandwich.

"Thanks Hon." Beca says with a weak smile, and then she starts to eat slowly.

They are all half way through eating when a doctor calls, "Family of Chloe Beale."

Everybody hurriedly pace their way to the doctor, and then Aubrey worriedly asks, "How is she, doc?"

"She is stable now." The doctor says calmly. "We were able to pump out all of the substance from her body. There was a complication that caused a slight liquid in her lungs, but we were able to fix it. One of her kidney was destroyed, but we already took it out laparoscopically. She's not out of the wood yet. But we will keep her under observation to prevent post-op infection."

"Can we see her?" Kristen asks.

"Sure." The doctor replies. "She's still under anesthesia and being prepped to the ICU. After that, you can see her. But please take turns. Just two or three at a time."

"Thank you doc." Aubrey says in relief.

"You're welcome." Then the doctor walks away.

It certainly isn't a great news, but all of them seem to be slightly relieved. Then they hurriedly finish their meal so they could go and see Chloe.

Kristen, Aubrey, and Stacie are the first to get in and see Chloe. After, they got out, Beca, Ashley, and Emily take their place.

When Beca has finally seen Chloe from up close, she notices that Chloe is lying on the hospital bed, connected to several tubes and stuff on her body with her face pale, her lips a little bit blue, and her red hair lack of its usual shine.

_She looks so broken._

Beca couldn't shake off the pain in her chest upon seeing Chloe's condition, and she cries. She takes Chloe's hand in her shaky hand, squeezing it tightly as she sobs, "I'm so sorry, Chlo."

On the other side of the bed, Emily is crying too, holding Chloe's other hand, and kissing it dearly before saying, "Chloe... please be okay..."

After a while, knowing that the other Bellas are waiting for their turns, Beca kisses Chloe's forehead and whispers near her ear, "I will come again, Chlo. You stay strong, okay? I promise I will be a better friend for you. Just wake up, and I will make it up to you. I promise I'll be the best friend that you deserve, that I'm supposed to be."

Then the three of them walk out of the room while Fat Amy, CR, Denise, and Bumper go in. After everybody have already taken their turn to see Chloe, they go back to the waiting room.

However, they are ushered into a conference room since Pascal and Rico have put security measure to keep Beca, Ashley, and Emily from the media, and from another Swanson incident.

Other than Ashley, all of the people in that room are The Bellas. Bumper, Donald, Benji, and Denise were wise enough not to get involved, so they decided to go back to the hotel. On the other hand, Andre decided to wait for Emily in the waiting room, and Kristen insisted to stay with Chloe.

After they're all able to compose themselves from seeing Chloe's condition, Stacie calmly says, "I think it's time for you to explain everything to us, shorty."

Beca takes a deep breath and says, "I uh... owe you all an explanation. But Emily can tell you about Jesse's problem first, and then I'll explain everything."

Emily nods and starts telling Jesse's financial problem in the last ten years. When she's already done, everyone turn to look at the tiny brunette and wait silently for her to talk.

After taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Beca slowly starts, "The reason I left ten years ago was because my father disowned me. I came out to him as a gay just before graduation, and he was... furious. So, I hid away from all of you because I was hurt and scared. It turns out, I wasn't the only one who hid something. Warren, my ex-dad, also hid the truth that his daughter is a gay and the fact that he had disowned me because he was embarrassed."

When Flo seems to want to interrupt, Stacie holds her hand up to stop her, and with an annoyed huff, the tiny Guatemalan complies.

Beca clears her throat and continues, "I didn't see Warren again after graduated. But a month ago, Legacy told me that Jesse had been looking for me in every reunions. So, I asked my lawyer to do some background check on him. I found out all the things on those papers, including the fact that Jesse has been blackmailing Warren in the past six years to get some money, causing Warren to lose his job five years ago. Jesse did those things because he was forced by the person he was in debt with, and also to pay the interest of his debt."

Her friends seems to be getting impatient, and it makes Beca more anxious. Therefore, Beca takes another deep breath before she continues her explanation. "Last night, Jesse asked for my help by threatening me to tell the media about the truth behind my leaving and about Warren. I didn't comply, and he was angry. So, when he saw the incident this morning, he took advantage of it, and he recorded all of the shenanigans, and then called Donna to meet his demands. Money. He also threatened to tell the media about my engagement. But as you had seen, it didn't work out the way he wanted. That is the reason Jesse was being taken out from blackmailing me with my past."

After Beca's revelation, CR sympathetically says, "You didn't need to hide from us, Capt. I'm gay, and I've always been. You all knew about Denise and me. I would have had your back, Beca."

"Yeah, shorty." Fat Amy adds. "I have never judged you all skinny aca-bitches even though I'm the sexiest one."

Feeling so tired, Beca rubs her forehead, flexes her neck, and sighs deeply before she tiredly says, "I didn't know better. I was young, and reckless, and stupid, and scared. Mostly, I was just stupid. I know it now that I shouldn't have ran away from all of you, and ended up giving you all a lot of troubles. And for that, I am so sorry."

With a long sigh, CR says, "It's okay Capt. We understood."

"Just don't be that stupid again." Fat Amy says sympathetically.

"Hold on." Flo says in upset. "And what Chloe has to do with all of this? Why would you say that what she did today was your fault?"

"And Kristen said the same thing." Jessica adds as upset, and then Bella's Ashley joins her, "What did you do?"

The tension is unbearably high, and Ashley squeezes Beca's hand in hers, showing her support. Then Beca swallows hard and says, "My reason for leaving... it wasn't only because of Warren. I uh..." She takes a deep breath before blurting out, "I was in love with Chloe."

"You what?!"

"What?!"

The reaction from the Bellas are torn between confused and upset, but more likely confused.

"You loved her but you left?" Flo retorts with high pitch.

"Why would you do that?" Jessica and Bella's Ashley ask in upset.

"Guys." Stacie meddles in calmly. "Please let her finish."

After glancing toward Ashley who gives her a light reassuring smile, Beca turns back to her friends, more determined when she says, "I was in love with her. I wanted to tell her at the lodge, but uh... things got in the way. After Warren disowned me, I chickened out and decided to hide. Then... we met again around a month ago, and I... I told her everything. And then she told me that she felt the same, and we uh... we kissed."

"What?!" Lily exclaims. It's surprising that Lily has become more vocal today.

"What the hell?!" Jessica and Ashley snap in anger.

"You kissed her?!" Flo snaps just as angry.

The anger comes in a high wave for Beca. Other than Stacie, Aubrey, and Emily who have already known the situation, the rest of the Bellas are outraged, especially Flo, Jessica, and Bella's Ashley who have a tight relationship with the redhead.

They keep on throwing not only questions, but also accusations loudly toward the tiny brunette. When it becomes so unbearable, Emily snaps, "Let, her, explain!"

And everybody shut their mouth, stunned by Emily's anger. But Beca weakly says, "It's okay, Em. I deserve it."

Emily takes a deep breath and says more calmly, "Just... let her explain everything, okay?"

Staring at her best friends who are huffing harshly and crossing their arms on their chest, Beca takes a deep breath again and says, "I... we met a month ago. She asked me about the reasons why I left, and I told her that other than the fact that Warren had disowned me, I..." She swallows hard. "I was scared of having her walking away from me because of the very same reason why Warren disowned me. But uh... she told me that she was in love with me too, then she kissed me, and I... I kissed her back."

"Wait." CR seems confused. "If you kissed her, why are you engaged to Ashley?"

"You shouldn't have kissed her back, Shawshank." Fat Amy says between being upset and sympathetic.

Beca looks at them in defeat and dejectedly says, "I was... caught in the moment. We... had a fight, and it was... awfully emotional. And I admitted, I led her on. I kissed her back, and I shouldn't have done that. But that kiss, it was... it showed me who I really wanted to be with. And I..." She swallows hard, squeezing Ashley's hand tightly as she says more boldly, "I love Ashley. I chose to be with Ashley."

"Did you know that she loved you back then?" Flo demands in upset. "Before that kiss, did you know that Chloe was in love with you for so long?"

"No." Beca shakes her head dejectedly. "I didn't know."

"Liar!" Flo snaps. "We knew! We all knew! How could you not?!"

"We thought you knew!" Jessica exclaims angrily. "But we thought you weren't gay, so we didn't push it!"

"And to think that we welcomed you nicely last night?" Bella's Ashley retorts angrily. Then she turns to Stacie and Aubrey. "You knew! You knew, and you didn't tell us! You let us welcomed her nicely! The person who broke Chloe this way!"

"Enough." Ashley firmly says upon seeing how defeated Beca is from the judgement and the accusations. The tiny brunette just sits silently, staring blankly at the table with teary eyes.

This time, Lily speaks up in upset toward Beca's fiancé, "You're not welcomed in this discussion. You're not a Bella."

"Cut it, Lily!" Emily snaps angrily. "All of you, stop putting blame!"

"Shut up Em!" Jessica snaps, and then Bella's Ashley adds, "Shut your stupid mouth!"

"Don't talk to legacy that way!" Fat Amy snaps out.

"And stop blaming Beca over this!" CR snaps as angry. "Until any of you have experienced how it feels like to be a gay who is being rejected by your own family, you have no right! Any, right! To judge and blame her!"

"She broke Chloe!" Flo slams the table hard. "If this is only about she left us back then, okay! I get it! Her father was wrong! And she didn't know that Chloe loved her! But to kiss Chloe and left her out cold?! Flaunting her wedding plan literally in front of Chloe?! That is... That's just..."

When Flo seems not be able to finish her sentence because she is panting hard, Jessica and Bella's Ashley snap, "Outrageous!"

"And mean!" Lily apparently could yell. "Inhuman!"

Then Flo turns to Aubrey and Stacie, yelling, "And you two let us did that! You knew what happened to Chloe back then! She-"

"Stop!" Emily stands up. "You stop whatever you're gonna say, Flo!"

"Why the fuck are you on her side?!" Flo snaps at the youngest Bella.

"After what happened to Chloe the last time she left?!" Jessica asks angrily, and Bella's Ashley adds as angry, "And now she kissed Chloe and didn't choose her?!"

"All of you, stop!" Stacie warns. "Remember what we talked about three years ago. _We_ , are not taking side."

"I am!" Flo snaps out. "Now that I know the whole fucking truth, now that _my_ best friend is lying on a hospital bed, trying to kill herself because of her again," She points at Beca. "I _am_ taking side!"

Beca is stunned. It feels like the wind is knocked out of her lungs, and her body feels cold in an instant, and so is Ashley.

"Me too!" Jessica and Bella's Ashley exclaim.

"Count me in." Lily says in upset, staring angrily at the almost broken down tiny brunette.

"Again?" Beca cracks out in confusion, and everybody become silent. Then the tiny brunette looks at Stacie with obvious hurt in her eyes as she weakly asks, "What... what does Flo mean by again, Stace? What are you not telling me?"

"You didn't tell her?!" CR asks angrily toward Stacie.

Then Fat Amy looks at Stacie, Aubrey, and Emily back and forth as she asks, "Why the hell didn't you tell shorty about-"

"All of you," Aubrey stands up, surprisingly calm but firm. "Other than Stacie, Emily, and Beca, the rest of you, leave this room."

"The hell I'd leave this room!" Flo stands up too.

"We're not done!" Jessica adds angrily, and Bella's Ashley snaps toward the tiny brunette, "And she is not off the hook! Not this time!"

"Beca is also our best friend!" CR defends the tiny brunette. "We're not gonna let her take this all on her own! _She_ , has her reason! She didn't know any better!"

"I'm with CR." Fat Amy crosses her arms on her chest in upset.

"You're done." Aubrey says, still as calm but with dangerous tone. "All of you, walk out of this room, and take a breath. It's my turn to talk. We will talk again later. After all of you can act your age."

When her friends stand their ground, Aubrey puts her hands on the table, leaning forward angrily and says through her gritted teeth, "Now."

The rest of the Bellas know better than to defy furious Aubrey. However, right before they stand up, Emily warns, "And you better not talking about any this outside of this room. You've seen what happened to Jesse."

Flo steps closer to the youngest Bella and angrily says, "Are you threatening us? You think we're afra-"

"Out." Aubrey cuts her off firmly. "Now. And you better do what Emily told you to. This is for Chloe's sake. Do it for her."

With harsh huffs and hard kicking on the chairs, one by one, The Bellas walk out of the conference room, leaving Stacie, Aubrey, Emily, Beca and Ashley in it.

Upon seeing that Beca's fiancé is staying behind, Stacie says, "I think you better walk out too, Ash."

"No." Ashley firmly says. "After the heart attack she had this morning, there's nothing you can do to make me walk away from her. I'm staying."

"Suit yourself." Aubrey says coldly.

For a while, they simply stay in silent. Each of them with their own thought. Stacie knows what her wife is going to do, but Emily, Beca, and Ashley clearly don't.

Everybody seem to be sinking in this unknown tension of thinking about the worst. Beca is thinking that Aubrey would blame her and forbid her to ever see Chloe again. Although she is terrified, she knew that this is something she couldn't avoid.

Couldn't hold the nerves from the tension anymore, Beca blurts out, "I know that this is my fault, Bree. I understand if all of you blame me for what happened to Chloe. And I accepted that-"

"I'm not here to blame you or anybody, Beca." Aubrey cuts her off flatly. "Like I said, we're all partly wrong in this case. All of us should've been better friends to Chloe. I just wanted to talk."

Beca looks at the blonde in confusion, and then looks back and forth between uneasy Stacie and confused Emily.

"Stace, Em, I think we've waited long enough." Aubrey says again flatly toward the two tall brunettes. "It's time to let Beca know what happened to Chloe after she left."

Sensing that Beca has become more anxious, Ashley squeezes her hand, hinting her to take a breath, and Beca complies. While waiting for the explanation, Beca takes a few deep breaths before turning to look at Stacie and Emily.

Knowing that Beca always needed a slow pace, Stacie cautiously giving the precaution before digging into the caution. She clears her throat and clasps her hands together nervously while looking at Beca as she starts, "Remember the night you told Chloe about your decision?"

Beca nods lightly.

"I uh... I was going to tell you about this." Stacie glances toward Emily. "But uh..."

"But I told her to wait until you resolve your relationship problem with Ashley." Emily finishes Stacie's sentence.

Stacie shots the youngest Bella a thankful smile, huffs out a long breath, and then continues, "You're aware that Chloe had eating disorder when she was in high school, right Beca?"

"Of course." Beca blurts out in confusion. "Did it has something to do with what she did today? But she beat that bulimia a long time ago. Is she do-"

"Just listen, Beca." Aubrey cuts her off firmly.

With the nerves building up and the anxiety eating her up, Beca's face turns red in anger. And Ashley senses that Beca is getting upset from being cut off again. Therefore, she softly whispers, "Babe, calm down."

Then Beca closes her eyes and takes a deep breath before she opens them again, and looks at Stacie.

After seeing that Beca has become calmer, Stacie gives her a weak smile and says, "No. This isn't about her bulimia problem. But it has something to do with it, and with you leaving her ten years ago."

Beca flexes her neck, anxiously waiting for the bomb to be dropped on her laps while Ashley seems to be as anxious, squeezing Beca's hand tightly.

Uncertain of Beca's feelings, Stacie decides to start gently. "First of all, you need to know that everything that happened to Chloe, it wasn't all because of you Beca. Even this time, what she did, it's not all on you. We should've seen the signs before in college."

"What do you mean?" Beca asks weakly.

Stacie takes a deep breath and says, "There were reasons she couldn't cope with bullying in high school and became bulimic. And there's also a reason why she is too overly bubbly."

Upon seeing the tiny brunette furrowing her eyebrows, Stacie asks, "Do you remember how she recruited you to join The Bellas? The shower incident?"

After getting a nod from the tiny brunette, Stacie continues, "That kind of impulse, to break into other people's bubble, it's one of her symptoms that we missed. Not only that. The way she pulled you so close on that initiation night, how she insisted to spend every chance she had to be with you, the constant texting and phone calls even at inappropriate hour, how easy it was for her to open up to us. Those were signs for her condition."

Still with her eyebrows furrowed, Beca shakes her head weakly and says, "That's just... Chloe being Chloe, Stace. You know her."

After taking another deep breath, Stacie asks, "Do you remember how she purposively failed Russian Lit to stay in college?"

Beca nods and says, "She said that it was for The Bellas."

With a light nod, Stacie adds, "It was partly true. But it also because she was afraid of losing us. It was normal to be afraid of losing the people who're closest to you. But... to purposively failed three years? We should've known that there was more to that than just a common drive to stay with the Bella. We saw how she blew up in anger at Aubrey in our first year, and then Emily when we lost the underground riff-off. Also the lack of self-worth of how easily she thought that her life was meaningless if we had lost to DSM at worlds, how she was... so uncertain about what to do with her life..."

Beca grasps her hair on her scalp tightly with one hand, trying to understand this situation, trying to put all of the pieces together. But still, she couldn't find any way to connect the dots.

"She was scared of being left." Stacie says dejectedly. "Therefore, before she got rejected, she chose to break your wall instead. And she did her best to stay with the people around her. Going the extra miles to help us," Then she glances hesitantly at her wife. "Even when she was being treated badly by the people she care about. Aubrey, Tom, Kristen, and... you..."

Beca listens to all of it like Stacie isn't talking about Chloe. It feels so strange to think of Chloe as a person with disorder, especially for the things that make her... well, Chloe. She is bubbly, loving, caring, accepting, and passionate about the things that she loves. It wasn't supposed to be a disorder. It's a gift. It's the best things about Chloe.

Seeing that Beca hasn't broken down, Stacie continues her explanation. "Back in college, it wasn't bad. It was okay because after she survived bulimia, she got help with psychotherapy and medication. Those symptoms were normal to occur as long as it wasn't too self-destructive. But..."

Upon hearing the hesitation in Stacie's voice, Beca looks up at her and weakly says, "Just... tell me. I can take it."

Stacie nods and says, "After you left... it hit her so hard. After we found out that you left purposively, Chloe was... not only broken down. She was like this empty shell. She rarely did anything at all but staying in bed. And when she actually went out, she got home wasted with some strangers, most of the times bad people. And whenever we asked about her feelings, she always said that she didn't know. And us... Aubrey and I... We didn't know what to do to help her. But we always made sure that she was never alone. We tried our best. We were there for her, we pushed her to eat, to go to class, we made sure that... she tried to move on."

"But it didn't work." Beca says flatly with teary eyes and furrowed eyebrows, showing hurt and pain. She knows that feeling very well since she herself had some experiences in this kind of stuff.

Stacie shakes her head weakly and dejectedly says, "Nothing worked. And one day... it was almost a year after you left, she came home a little earlier than any of us, and... I found her in the bathroom with an empty bottle of anti-depressant. She was conscious, so I shoved my fingers down her throat to make her throw up."

Beca's body tensed up, but then Stacie hurriedly adds, "She survived without any major damage. We took her to the ER, and they pumped out the residual substance in her stomach. But it wasn't as bad as this time. Far from it."

Then Beca closes her eyes and swallows hard, trying to compose herself. As she takes a few deep breaths, she thought to herself, _"This isn't about you, Mitchell. This is about Chloe. Focus on her."_

After she deems that she's calm enough, Beca asks, "Why didn't you tell me before?"

With dejected look, Emily weakly says, "I just... I didn't think you could take it. I mean, I didn't want to add your burden. You were broken-hearted, and I was afraid that it would be too hard on you. On your heart. And then you were engaged, and I just... I didn't want to ruin your happy moment. So I thought I'd let it slide for a little longer. I didn't think that she would..."

"It's okay, Em." Stacie says softly when the youngest Bella starts to cry. "This isn't your fault. We just... we've seen this coming. We should've been more careful."

Beca closes her eyes and nods in defeat. Emily was right; she would've taken it badly. Then Beca pulls her hands away from Ashley's, opts to use them to hold her head by her temple as she leans forward and rests her elbows on her knees.

Ashley knows that Beca is feeling bad and blaming herself for what happened to Chloe, especially after she found out that it all started to get worse after she left. Knowing that there is nothing she could say to make things better, Ashley simply rubs Beca's back and squeezes her shoulder gently.

There's something else bothering the blonde's mind too. Something she had forgotten for so long until today. But she puts it aside, knowing that Beca needs her to be her rock right now.

"Then what happened?" Beca asks weakly.

After seeing that the tiny brunette has become calmer, Stacie continues, "We... were out of our depth. So, we took her to a psychiatrist. It turns out, either the doctor didn't diagnose her thoroughly in high school, or maybe the symptoms got worse after times, but after a couple of sessions, she was diagnosed with Underlying Borderline Personality Disorder."

Again, Beca feels like the air is being sucked out of her lungs and she finds it hard to breathe. But she has to. Therefore, she let out a damp air harshly through her mouth but remain silent.

Then Stacie continues, "In three years she spent for grad school, she was also in an intensive psychotherapy combined with meds. Over times, she got better again. But since the two of you have met again, we've seen some of the symptoms have resurfaced, and even worse than before. And I believe you've seen it too. The rapid mood swings, the frequent loss of temper over the simplest things, the needy and clingy behavior you talked about, constant texting and phone calls, how she was so relieved to have you around, and when she found out that you and Ashley were back together, she just... shut off. Completely."

Beca doesn't say anything but staring blankly with teary eyes, and Stacie says, "And the sudden impulse to break up with Kristen even after they've been together for almost three years... Yes, we all know that she loves you. But to just up and leave the second after you came back? It shouldn't have been that easy, especially since Kristen was the first stable relationship she'd had in more than ten years."

Although in a very slow pace, Beca finally puts things together and starts to get what her best friend is talking about the redhead.

"Is that why she was acting so strange after I told her about my decision?" Beca asks weakly. "The sudden changed of mood and decision? How she was so scared of me leaving your house every night?"

Stacie simply nods.

For Beca, it all finally adds up. However, it isn't easy to just accept the reality that Chloe has BPD.

_She is Chloe for God's sake. She is the definition of cupcakes and rainbows and unicorns, and everything in between._

Beca closes her eyes, letting her mind processing the fact that her very best friend is sick, and she is the major reason that Chloe's condition became worse. It's hard, but Beca tries her best to put her attention on her labored breaths.

Everyone else are waiting for Beca's reaction patiently because they don't want to cause any incident like this morning again.

Doesn't know what to say or what to do in her confusion, Beca is so lost in her thought, and maybe in denial or something. The only thing that's stuck in her mind isn't even the point of this whole conversation, never mind of being understanding. Nevertheless, she asks, "Uh... I don't understand, Stace. I've read about BPD when I was in therapy. But isn't it inherited? And why she didn't have any signs of self-injury? Isn't it one of the major symptoms?"

Stacie sighs and replies, "For the self-inflicting pain to release the emotion, it happens in most of the cases, yes. But it isn't always the case, Beca. The self-destructive and self-sabotaging behavior don't always appear in physical self-inflicted pain. The other act of psychological self-sabotaging will do, like purposively failing herself, her sex marathon at the most inappropriate times and places, the over exercising back in college, and she did have bulimia in high school."

"Oh God..." Beca cries out. "How did I miss it?"

"It's not all on you, Beca." Stacie says dejectedly. "We missed it too. And she got it from her Aunt Lena. Her aunt suffered, committed suicide from the same disorder. Besides, the environment have a huge part of the prognosis. And in Chloe's case, it's complicated."

"How complicated?" Beca asks dejectedly.

"It's uhm..." Stacie seems hesitant, but she diplomatically says, "Let's just say that you are one of her biggest risk factors, yet you are also her foremost protective factor."

Noticing that her heartbeat is getting faster, Beca do the breathing exercise slowly, letting her mind to focus on her breath, and then relaxing her tensed body parts. The gentle rub on her back from Ashley helps soothing her. Then she grabs one of Ashley's hand, squeezing it gently as if asking for support.

Ashley understood that Beca needed her to be closer. Therefore, she wraps Beca's shoulder, pulls her closer, and kisses her upper arm before she whispers, "It's gonna be okay Babe."

That is all it takes to make Beca feel stronger. She takes a deep breath, lifts her chin to look at Stacie, and says, "I understand. What do you want me to do to help her? I can find her the best therapist. Or we can arrange time and place to hang out more often. Or even... move all of The Bellas to live in L.A. if it could really help her. Or anything else. Just tell me, and I'll do it."

Aubrey looks at the tiny brunette sternly and asks, "Anything?"

"Yeah." Beca says without hesitation. "It was mostly my fault. So yeah. I'll do anything to help her; to make it up to her. She was there for me when my mother died. Now it's my turn to be the best friend that she deserves."

As if she wants to challenge the tiny brunette, Aubrey leans forward, looks Beca in the eye, and firmly says, "The thing is, you can only help her by not being her best friend."

As her first suspicion comes back into her mind, Beca couldn't help but feel upset. She looks right into Aubrey's eyes and firmly asks, "Why? You want me to leave her again? To never see her again? Sorry Bree. Puke all your way to China, but that's not gonna happen. Ever again. I promised her that I would never disappear on her again, and I have a full intention of keeping my word this time."

Keeping her stern look, Aubrey replies flatly, "That is not what I meant."

"Then what is it?" Beca asks in upset. But Aubrey doesn't say anything, just fixing her eyes on Beca's sternly.

Confused by Aubrey's statement, Beca looks at Stacie who instantly looks away from her. Then she turns to look at Emily who seems finally understood what this is all about. When she senses that Ashley has become tensed, Beca looks at her fiancé's disbelief expression, and then it's like a sound could be heard in her brain.

_Click_.

A sudden anger blows up in Beca's chest as the realization hit; her breath hitched, her heart beats faster, she feels overheated under her skin, and her face becomes red. Beca turns to Aubrey immediately, and in stern bold voice, she snaps, "No!"

It's short and firm, but loud enough to pull Ashley out from her daze and with the softest voice she could manage, Ashley immediately says, "Babe, breathe..."

When Beca doesn't seem to listen to her, Ashley puts her hands on Beca's cheeks, careful not to press her bruise, gently turns the brunette's head to face hers, and looks into her eyes before she softly says, "Babe please... Look at me and breathe..."

Beca shakes her head stubbornly, but Ashley puts one hand behind Beca's neck to keep Beca looking at her, while pressing her other hand on Beca's left chest. She stares sternly into Beca's eyes and says, "Babe, feel it."

Upon feeling her heavy heartbeat, Beca closes her eyes, putting her attention on her heavy and short breaths, and then takes a few deep breaths to calm herself.

When Beca's face has become soft pink, her heartbeat has become steadier, and her breath has become even and longer, Ashley sighs in relief. Then she kisses Beca's forehead and hands the tiny brunette a bottle of water as she softly says, "Here, drink this."

Beca takes the bottle with her shaky hand and drinks slowly to calm her nerves.

Although she has a heart condition, Beca rarely needed to be treated as if she was a ticking bomb. In more than five years, Beca has maintained a healthy lifestyle and has never skipped her meds. Therefore, even when she was distressed or when they were fighting, Beca had never had even the slightest minor heart attack.

The most attack she had before today was several times of panic attacks and night terrors. It happened quite often after they came out to the public, but it gradually lessened in a couple of months. She had another one on the night she told Ashley everything about her life, and the last one was on the day after she kissed Chloe, when Ashley broke up with her.

Usually, Ashley only needed to stare at her with a certain look or squeezed her hand, and Beca would monitor her own heartbeat and breaths already. However, today must have been the peak of one month's worth of distress, lack of sleep, and anxiety. Judging from everything that has happened today, it is a huge relieved that Beca hasn't even been admitted into the hospital yet.

After she puts the bottle down, Beca grabs Ashley's hand to keep her anger at bay, and then looks at Aubrey as she asks in upset, "What do you want me to do? Lie to her? Pretend to be her girlfriend?"

Aubrey looks back at Beca and sharply says, "If it could help and save Chloe, then yes."

Beca is ready to blow a blood vessel again, but with Ashley's tight grip on both of her hands, she keep taking deep breaths to calm herself before saying through gritted teeth, "You asked me to lie to her?"

Knowing how hard the situation is for Beca, Ashley, and even Chloe, Emily says in frustration, "Bree, it's impossible. Beca is in love with Ashley, and they're getting married. How is she supposed to be Chloe's girlfriend while she's gonna be busy picking flowers, trying foods, and fitting suits without Chloe finding out that it is all pretend?"

Doesn't care for the world when it comes to Chloe who is practically her sister, Aubrey crosses her arms on her chest and flatly says, "Do it behind her. Postpone the wedding. Or anything. I don't care what you do, but like you said, make it up to her."

While Beca, Ashley, and Emily are looking at Aubrey in disbelief, Stacie softly calls, "Babe..."

"Don't babe me, Stace!" Aubrey snaps at her wife. "For once in her life, Beca needs to stop being selfish!"

Trying to be as calm as she could, Beca takes a deep breath, loosening her clenched her jaw and gritted her teeth. Then she tries to put some senses back into Aubrey's mind by coldly saying, "Let's say we do postpone our wedding. Then what? I pretend to be Chloe's girlfriend for a couple of months, and then just _right_ after she gets better, I break up with her?"

When she sees that Aubrey is glancing away from her, Beca raises an eyebrow, shakes her head lightly in disbelief, and then starts to talk nonchalantly as if she was talking to Chloe. _"Hey Chlo. So sorry to break this to you. Remember after you got out from the hospital and we finally be together? You know, when I chose you, told you I love you, and then we had our relationship in these past few months? Guess what? It was all lies. Funny story actually. I only pretended to love and be with you because Aubrey didn't want you to try killing yourself again. Now that you're all better, I can go back to the love of my life and marry her._ _ **As planned**_ _."_

Beca pauses to look at Aubrey's uneasy face, and then she adds, "Like that?"

Still, Aubrey doesn't say anything in return, but Beca could see that the blonde is getting angrier. Yet Beca retorts, "Don't you think that it would destroy Chloe more than anything? By lying to her? Deceiving her?"

Everyone have become silent because they know that Beca is right.

Upon seeing the vulnerability in Aubrey and Stacie's face, Beca sighs deeply. She understood the pain. This is hard on all of them because this is about their dear friend. But Beca is completely sure that lying to Chloe wouldn't help the redhead at all.

Then Beca patiently says, "I know that this is hard, Bree. I'm her best friend too. And I know lying to Chloe won't do anything good to her. I've been through this before in my therapy. We shouldn't treat Chloe's dependent behavior by being codependent. You couldn't keep coddling her and giving her all that she wanted. It wouldn't help her. If there was anything I'd learnt the most from how Harvey, Donna, and Ashley had treated me, it was the tough love that helped me survive and get better."

Offended by Beca's words, Aubrey turns to look at her and asks in upset, "Do you think I would ever harm Chloe? Let me remind you that you've _never_ been there in the lowest points of her life. _Not then_ , _not now_. It has always been me. Now suddenly you thought that you knew what's best for her?"

"I know you blame me." Beca tries to reason firmly. "I blame myself too, Bree. But me pretending to love her and be her girlfriend for a couple of months wouldn't solve the problem."

Aubrey turns to look at Ashley, shots her an apologetic look with teary eyes, and says, "I'm so sorry Ashley for what I'm going to say."

"You're not gonna talk Ashley into this!" Beca snaps at Aubrey. "I won't let you!"

Although she is indeed furious toward Aubrey, Ashley doesn't want to add the tension and anger, especially since Beca has been trying so hard to keep her anger down. She sighs deeply and whispers to Beca, "Babe, please try to calm down."

Turning her attention back at Beca again, Aubrey pleads, "I'm hoping that in time, you will fall back in love with Chloe."

Couldn't believe of what Aubrey just said, Beca picks up her jaw, and with furrowed eyebrows, she asks through a disbelieved scoff, "You hope? Are you kidding me?"

When she doesn't get any answer from her former captain, Beca turns to Stacie and says, "Please tell me that your wife is kidding, Stace."

Doesn't want to admit defeat, Aubrey waves her hands around in upset, stubbornly spitting out, "Maybe, all you need is time to realize that Chloe can be the one you need. Maybe, if you try to open your heart again, you'd find the love you had for her years ago. Or maybe, you can learn to love her again. And if you can't love her enough, then hopefully, you will give in, and try to settle with the amount of love you have left for her. Then hopefully, she can be happy with that. In the end, hopefully, you'll be happy too when you realize that you can make her happy."

"Whoa..." Beca scoffs harshly and sarcastically says, "That is one hell of optimism consisted with a bunch of maybe's and hopefully's, Posen."

With her eyes red and wet of anger tears, Aubrey points her index finger toward Beca, and snaps sharply, "You owe it to her to at least try!"

Narrowing her eyes angrily toward Aubrey, Beca sarcastically snaps out, "Let's say that _maybe_ I can do what you ask. What happen with Ashley and me? Oh, _maybe_ we can make Chloe my mistress. Oh hey. _Hopefully_ we can try threesome. Do you think _maybe_ she'll love that idea? How about that for _maybe_ and _hopefully_? Is that hopeful enough for you?"

When Aubrey doesn't say anything in return, Beca firmly continues, "Let me tell you something I've learnt from Spencer Hasting. _You know what they say about hope. It breeds eternal misery._ " She takes a deep breath. "You're asking me to give Chloe hope. _False, hope._ And in time, it will destroy not only her, but also everything she has left. And after I destroy my best friend, then what's left in me? What's left of me that Ashley could have? What's left for Ashley? You are asking me to destroy three life's."

Although she knew that it isn't fair for Ashley, but Aubrey would do anything for her best friend. Without enough bravery to look at Ashley, Aubrey clenches her hands, looks at Beca instead, and firmly says, "If Ashley is half as good as Stacie has been telling me, then she'll let you go. She could be the bigger person here. And no one will be destroyed. When it comes to you... for Chloe's sake, you either be with her... or you're out of her life for good. You can't be in between."

That's it. The last straw of any thread Beca has to hold her anger is now gone. In total disbelief, Beca stands up abruptly and roars, "Are you out of your fucking mind?! Did you hear yourself?!"

Then Aubrey burst in tears. It's been so hard suppressing her emotion the whole day since she heard about Chloe.

"Did you lose a fucking screw in your fucking brain?!" Beca snaps again.

"Beca!" Stacie snaps as she stands up between her wife and her best friend. "That's it! I won't let you talk to my wife that way!"

Still stunned of the sudden burst of anger from Beca, Emily just keep sitting with her jaw slacked open, looking back and forth between the crying Aubrey, the furious Beca, the meddler Stacie, and the torn Ashley.

Then Beca turns to Stacie and yells, "Didn't you he-"

Ashley cuts Beca off by pulling her to the room next door.

Getting angrier after Ashley pulling her away, Beca snaps at Ashley, "Hon, I can't calm down! Not this time! This is fucking crazy! Didn't you hear-"

Ashley cuts Beca off by kissing her and wrapping her arms behind Beca's neck. It was the only way she knew to calm the brunette down and to stop her from snapping out her anger.

Although the kiss totally took Beca by surprise, but Ashley's method worked. Beca feels like cold water wash all over her, and all of the anger is out of her system in an instant.

Then the tiny brunette kisses Ashley back, pulls the blonde closer by her waist, and hugs her tightly. At that moment, her mind is free from the image of Chloe on hospital bed, or Aubrey and her crazy idea, or anything else. It's just her and Ashley.

Eventually, they pull away when air becomes urgent. But they remain close with their foreheads rested on each other's. Then Beca presses a couple more kisses on Ashley's lips while Ashley tries to even her breaths.

"Babe..." Ashley starts softly.

"Hm?"

After taking another deep breath to calm her anxiety, Ashley slowly says, "I... I know that this is hard and you're angry. I'm angry too. But..." She's crying now, but she continues with shaky voice, "Babe... you almost had a heart attack today. In fact, you did have a minor heart attack today. So, could you please... please... try to calm down? I can't-"

Ashley stops as the lump is forming in her throat. She coughs it out and adds with restraint voice, "I- I can't lose you. Ever. So, please... as hard as it gets, try to calm down. You'll get another heart attack if you keep going on like this. And I can't-" She takes a short ragged breath. "If anything should happen to you, I would-"

It is getting harder to talk with the lump keep forming back in her throat, choking her, preventing her to speak properly. Therefore, Ashley swallows hard and pleads, "Ju- just take a deep breath and listen to what they say. Please..."

Then Ashley sobs on Beca's shoulder, clinging her arms tightly behind Beca's neck. It has been a lot to take in a day, and she couldn't always be the one that hold a strong stomach.

Beca sighs deeply, kisses the side of Ashley's head, breathing in the warmth of her fiancé and mumbles, "Okay... If that's what you want... Then okay."

Still with tears running down her face, Ashley pulls back a little bit, looks into Beca's eyes, and pleads, "Promise?"

Upon seeing the tears on Ashley's face for the second time in the same day, Beca finally realized the burden she has put on her fiancé today. The realization grounds her and calms her down.

Then Beca sighs with a light smile, staring fondly at her fiancé with teary eyes and wipes the tears from Ashley's face as she softly says, "Promise. I'll listen to them calmly."

When Ashley nods weakly, Beca softly continues, "Don't worry about me, Hon. I'll be fine. I promise you, I will live long enough for us to become this... crazy old wrinkled grey haired couple that argue all the time."

Ashley let out a damp chuckle, and kisses Beca chastely once again before saying, "I expected nothing less when I said yes."

After the both of them have composed themselves, they walk silently back into the conference room.

Aubrey is still crying in Stacie's arms, but Stacie is having little argument with Emily, and they haven't noticed that Beca and Ashley are already back.

"You can't do that to them, Stace!" Emily whispers sharply toward the older brunette. "Beca was right! It would destroy all of them!"

"Do you think we don't know that?!" Stacie retorts with the same sharp whisper. "What other choice do we have?! Let Chloe succeed next time?!"

Feeling a squeeze on her arm from Ashley, Beca turns to look at her fiancé and gives her a light smile. She clears her throat to announce themselves, and then sit back down. Upon hearing the brunette clearing her throat, the three Bellas look at them and become silent.

After sighing deeply, Beca squeezes Ashley's hand lightly before looking at Aubrey and Stacie to say, "I'm sorry for yelling at you."

The sudden calm apology stun the other three Bellas, but they recover rather quickly. After sniffling and wiping her tears away, Aubrey says with hoarse voice, "I'm sorry too Beca. And I'm so sorry Ashley. I just-" She burst into tears again, unable to say anything.

Stacie holds her wife tightly and softly says, "It's okay Babe. Take your time."

On the other hand, while her anger are already out of the windows, Beca is left with this heavy guilty feeling of breaking her best friends' hearts all over again. There is no way she would pretend to be Chloe's girlfriend. Well, maybe she could, because status could be faked. But to lie to the redhead, to pretend that she loves Chloe instead of Ashley? It wouldn't even take her a heartbeat to say no.

Beca's love to Ashley is the one thing that she would never compromise. Besides, if she agreed to do whatever Aubrey asked her to, she wouldn't only hurt and betray Chloe by letting her living a lie; she would also hurt and betray Ashley, Ashley's family, their friends, and herself. It wouldn't be fair to everybody.

After her tears subside, Aubrey straightens up and clears her throat before looking at Beca and Ashley. "I- I know that this is completely... unfair for both of you. I asked you to put aside your relationship and feelings for Chloe. But..."

Aubrey pauses to clear her throat again as the lump is starting to form, and then she adds with shaky voice, "But Chloe and I... we're not only best friend. She's my sister, Beca. We've known each other since we were six. My whole life, my family have... resented me. But Chloe... she has always been there for me, and put up with all of my shit."

Tears are starting to escape Aubrey's eyes again, but she wipes it and continues to talk with restraint voice, pleading, "As much as I know how unfair it is for both of you, I just couldn't lose her Beca. So, please... I beg you... both of you; please try to understand why I do this for Chloe. She has loved you for more than 14 years, Beca. And it's... almost half of her life. Please find it in your heart, even the slightest compassion... to reach the love you have for her, as small as it is, it would be enough for her. You are all that she wants, Beca. So please..."

When the pain have become unbearable, Aubrey break down in tears again and couldn't say anything anymore. The scene of how the most arrogant person broken down before their eyes is so heart wrenching, and Ashley and Emily couldn't help but crying too.

With Aubrey sobbing in her arms, Stacie looks at Beca with tears in her eyes and says with restraint voice, "Beca, just... just give it times. You've loved her before. And you've known her with your heart. It's not gonna be hard for you to love her again." Then she pleads with tears running down her face, "She is Chloe, Beca... She is Chloe... She is our sister..."

Beca glances her eyes away from her friends with tears running down her face. She is once again on the verge of making a decision that would change her life. Although she has made up her mind, it doesn't make it any easier to say it. It hurts to deny her best friends' pleading, but it would hurt her more to consciously lie to Chloe, to lead the redhead on in a life that started with lies.

Therefore, the tiny brunette wipes away the tears on her face, and without looking at her friends, she cracks out, "I'm sorry... I... I just can't." She swallows the lump. "You're not only asking me to lie to Chloe, but also to hurt Ashley. And I... I can't do that."

"Beca..." Stacie cries. "Just consider yourself helping a friend. Try... like you said, be the best friend that she deserves."

"I am." Beca says with shaky voice. "You told me so... I shouldn't play with her feelings. A- and if my choices are between lying to her or... or leaving her to live a better life without me... then I choose to leave. I... I couldn't hurt her again if I'm not in her life. She's better off without me."

"You promised, Pop..." Emily chokes out. "Yo- you promised her. You pro- promised me... that you wouldn't leave us again. You promised..."

"I..." Beca swallows the suffocating lump. "I'm sorry for the mess I've made... But I can't..."

Knowing how stubborn Beca could be and how it is impossible to change her mind after she made a decision, Aubrey turns to Ashley and frantically pleads, "Ashley... you're a good person. You're strong. Just give Beca a little time with Chloe. It has always been Beca for her. So please... Help us... Please change her mind..."

When she senses that Ashley is in a dilemma and would most likely relent to the crazy idea, Beca stands up and pulls Ashley with her as she says with restraint voice, "We're going home Hon."

Ashley sighs deeply and looks at Stacie and Aubrey with tears running down her face. "I'm sorry."

"Beca, please don't go." Emily pleads in tears.

Just as Beca turns around to walk away with Ashley close behind her, Stacie brokenly says, "Beca, if... if you walk out of that door, I'm afraid... that you're not only gonna lose Chloe. But... you'd also lose all of The Bellas this time."

"Stacie!" Emily snaps.

Although Stacie's words send shiver up her spine and knocks the air out of her lungs, Beca doesn't give in. She closes her eyes, swallows down the lump in her throat, and says, "So be it."

Emily stands up, trying to pull Beca back and pleads in between sobs, "Pop, ju- just sit back down a- and we can talk. We can find another way. Please..."

Ashley knew that Beca would be broken if her friends left her. Therefore, she stops walking, holds Beca's hand back, and pleads, "Babe, we can talk about this."

"No, Hon." Beca says firmly. "I've made up my mind. They gave me no other choice. We're going home." Then she shrugs Emily off, and pulls Ashley gently before walking out of the room, leaving the other three Bellas break down and cry.

* * *

 

Meanwhile, the rest of the Bellas are also having their own feud in the waiting room.

"I can't believe her!" Flo hisses angrily while pacing back and forth. "Beca is so fucking selfish!"

"She didn't know any better, okay?!" CR snaps in a whisper.

"It's not an excuse!" Jessica whispers back harshly, and Bella's Ashley follows, "She knew better than to kiss someone who's not her girlfriend!"

"And she had asked us to lie to Chloe!" Lily whispers angrily. "For her! In years!"

"She was struggling, okay?!" CR is not aware that she has raised her voice. "It wasn't easy to be-"

"Enough!" Fat Amy yells loudly, gaining attention from her friends.

All of them stare at the usually a hilarious blonde with anger look. Then Fat Amy firmly says, "Aubrey was right. We need to take a breath. And we certainly don't want to have anybody to find out about this, and blow it up on the media. So stop."

Even though they are all furious, they know that Fat Amy is right, and then they sit down in two groups. Flo, Lily, Jessica, and Ashley are on one side, while CR and Fat Amy are on the other. It's been a while, and all of them are getting more and more anxious from waiting.

At some point, Beca and Ashley walk pass the waiting room. When Beca sees that Flo is walking toward her angrily, the tiny brunette simply waves her hand toward her bodyguards, and then Pascal and Rico hurriedly take a stand between the tiny brunette with her friends.

"Beca!" Flo yells angrily while being held back by Jessica and Ashley.

"Shawsank!"

"Captain!"

Beca ignores all of them, pulling Ashley gently while pacing fast to get out of the hospital.

Upon seeing how ignorant Beca is, Lily rushes her way furiously toward the tiny brunette, but Rico holds her back just a couple of feet away from Beca while Pascal ushers the couple out.

After that, with shocked and anger written on all of their faces, the Bellas walk back into the conference room angrily.

Once they're in, they find that Aubrey is sobbing, and Stacie is trying to console her wife while she herself is crying too.

On the other hand, Emily is also sobbing hard while yelling at the two older Bellas, "This is your fault! You- you're helping no one by pushing her away! Now Chloe wouldn't even have her best friend!"

" _She,_ is, not, Chloe's, best friend!" Aubrey yells back in tears, raising her voice with every word. "Not anymore! She! Has been anything but our friend in a fucking long time!"

CR and Fat Amy hurriedly approach the youngest Bella and hug her tightly without asking anything.

"She left?!" Jessica snaps out angrily, and Ashley adds as angry, "She left Chloe again?!"

"I'm gonna fucking find and kill her!" Flo rushes her way to get out from the room.

"I will help." Lily says in upset. "We can torture her in my basement."

"Stop!" Stacie snaps angrily, and Flo stops on her track. Then Stacie takes a deep breath and dejectedly says, "She's not one of us anymore. Let her leave. We have Chloe to worry about."

"What the fuck happened?!" Fat Amy snaps furiously.

"Doesn't matter." Stacie says firmly. "She has made a decision. She left. End of discussion. No more talking to, or about her. Especially in front of Chloe."

"What the fuck are you talking about, Stace?" CR asks in upset, trying to hold her anger. "She is Beca. She is a Bella."

"She decided not to be a Bella anymore." Stacie says while staring at CR sternly with teary eyes.

Not believing the tall brunette, CR softly asks Emily, "Legacy, what happened? Why Beca left?"

Emily shakes her head, and says in between sobs, "Aubrey... and Stacie... they... they pushed her away... They didn't give her a- any other choice but to leave..."

"What did you do, Bree?!" Fat Amy asks furiously. "What you did to drive Beca away?!"

"Does it matter?!" Flo snaps angrily.

"Chloe is better off without her!" Jessica snaps too, and Ashley yells, " _We_ , are better off without her!"

"She is one of us!" Fat Amy snaps out. "She made a mistake, but it doesn't mean-"

"I, said, STOP!!" Stacie slams her fist on the table hard, so hard that it stun the rest of the Bellas.

This time, Stacie is beyond furious. She is panting hard while her friends are frozen up upon seeing how Stacie blowing up furiously. They had never seen Stacie as furious before.

After taking a few deep breaths, Stacie says again, still as furious, but with soften voice, " _We_ , are not gonna talk about this again. Understood?"

The rest of the Bellas comply by nodding of mumbling some words weakly.

After sighing deeply, Stacie says, "No more fighting over Beca and Chloe. There's nothing left to fight. There's no other side to choose but Chloe's. Let's just focus on Chloe. She needs us."

The rest of the Bellas nod in defeat, knowing that Stacie is right.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>    
> Whew... That would be chapter 22. Did this chapter fulfill its tittle? Did it feel like the hell break loose? I hope I didn't overstate it. And I believe most of you are furious at Beca. I mean, I'd be furious too if I wasn't the one who wrote this. I apologize for loving dark and twisty too much. But again, this isn't the end folks. In the next chapter, there will be another drama, solely from Beca's side.
> 
> Until then, sit tight and make good choices. Thank you for reading :)


	23. Here Comes Goodbye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey :D Good day folks.
> 
> I'd like to start with thanking the readers, folks who favor, follower, and reviewers. The spirit to continue this story is coming from all of you :)
> 
> Now, for the story, in the last chapter, Beca left Chloe and The Bellas, again. And it was maddening, so infuriating because chapter 22 is the first climax of this story. In this chapter, it will be about how Beca deals with the decision of leaving her best friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own Pitch Perfect. Hope you enjoy. Let's dig in :)

A **shley and Beca's Mansion: Sunday Afternoon, November 2** **nd** **2025**

Beca and Ashley arrive at home around 4 PM. Beca goes directly to her sanctuary and absentmindedly walks into the shower. As the cold water washes down her heated body, Beca closes her eyes. She just stands under the pouring water, still with her clothes on while tears running down her face.

It all comes back to her all at once. Her first meeting with Chloe at the activities fair; the shower incident; the audition; the initiation night with the Bellas; the practice; the times they lost; the times they won; the retreat; the world championship; the first ride with azure with Chloe; the way she loved the redhead; the way Chloe loved her; the day she left; the day they met again; the kiss; the day she told Chloe about her decision; the reunion; and today.

Every memories hit her hard and suffocate her, and she couldn't help but sliding down onto the floor, wrapping her knees on her chest, rocking her body back and forth while sobbing uncontrollably.

Beca doesn't get out of the shower even long after her tears has subsided. She just keep sitting under the shower, staring blankly at the wall, sinking in the dark cloud in her mind. It's like someone has flipped the switch in her.

On the other hand, Ashley is also taking a shower in their bedroom's bathroom. It has been a rough day for her too. She wanted to be with her fiancé, but she knew well that Beca needed her space. Therefore, she takes a long cold shower to calm her nerves.

After Ashley's done, she goes to the sanctuary and surprised to find it empty. Then she heard the shower running in the bathroom, and she knocks the door gently as she calls, "Babe?"

Not getting any response, Ashley knocks again as she calls louder, "Babe, are you in there?"

When the blonde doesn't get any response, she tries to open the door, but it's locked. Frantically, Ashley searches for the spare key. It takes her around 15 minutes to find the key, and she hurriedly opens the door.

Ashley is shocked to find a fully clothed Beca under the shower, staring blankly at the wall with no sign that she is aware of Ashley's presence.

"Babe!"

Then Ashley hurriedly turns down the shower and wraps Beca with a towel. However, Beca just keep staring blankly at the wall. This is what Ashley was afraid of. Beca is unresponsive, and she simply let Ashley do what she has to do.

The blonde tries her best to drag the shivering cold Beca out of the shower, pulls out the damp clothes out of her fiancé, dries her thoroughly, and puts on some clothes on her. She did it all as fast as she could before wrapping the tiny brunette under the blanket on the bed. 

Ashley simply hugs the tiny brunette tightly in her arms, pressing her lips onto Beca's cold forehead. It goes on for a long while, and when the clock hit 7 PM, Ashley pulls away from her fiancé, who's still unresponsive.

Doesn't want to leave Beca for too long, Ashley hurriedly calls the maid to make them dinner before getting back on the bed and wraps Beca tightly on her chest. Still, Beca doesn't give any response.

Not long after, Nina comes into the room with two bowls of hot porridge and a plate of sliced apple.

"Thanks Nina." Ashley says. After the maid left, the blonde softly says to Beca, "Babe... dinner's ready."

When Beca doesn't say anything in return, Ashley cups her cheeks gently and says louder yet still as soft, "Babe, look at me."

Slowly, Beca focuses her eyes on her fiancé in front of her, and then Ashley sighs in relief before saying, "Dinner's ready."

"I'm not hungry." Beca replies flatly.

With a tired sigh, Ashley strokes the tiny brunette's hair gently and says, "I know. But you need to eat and take your meds. Please..."

Beca simply shakes her head. With a long worried sigh, Ashley pulls Beca to sit up leaning on the headboards. Then she holds the bowl up, takes a spoonful of porridge, and holds it in front of Beca. "Babe, please eat something..."

Slowly, Beca moves her pupils to look at her fiancé, and although it takes a while, Beca eventually opens her mouth. Then Ashley feeds her fiancé slowly, while she also eats in the process until the two bowls are empty.

After Beca takes her meds, Ashley sighs in relief, and then she gently pulls Beca to lay back on the bed. Not as usual where Ashley would be snuggling up on Beca's chest, this time, she opts to lay next to the tiny brunette, leaning on her side, facing her fiancé who's looking up blankly at the ceiling.

The blonde caresses Beca's forehead gently with her palm, trailing up from her forehead to her crown slowly and repeatedly.

It doesn't take long until Beca's tears silently running down her face. It isn't a hard sob. In fact, there is hardly a sob, and the tears are just falling freely without any effort.

Gently, Ashley pulls Beca onto her chest and let the brunette crying silently. The blonde simply hums lightly to True Color over and over again. At some point, Beca falls asleep, and Ashley keep rubbing her fiance's back until she herself also falls asleep.

Ashley wakes up when she feels that Beca is twitching in her sleep, mumbling incoherent words with her face scrunched up. She realizes that Beca is having a nightmare. Still holding the tiny brunette tightly, Ashley kisses her crown and whispers, "It's okay, Babe. I got you. It's okay..."

After a while, Beca falls back asleep, yet Ashley couldn't. She pulls back a little bit to look at Beca's frowny face. Although the frown on Beca's sleeping face is endearing, Ashley couldn't help but kissing it away. As usual, every time she kissed the frown on the corner of Beca's lips, the tiny brunette would smile lightly and hummed softly. And it certainly gives Ashley a bit of relief.

Tired of failingly catching back the zzz, Ashley finally admits her defeat and decides to watch Beca sleep instead. Then she starts to talk softly, telling stories of the memories they've made over the years. Without her noticing, tears are silently running down her face, but she keep on talking until the dawn starts to break.

Suddenly, the thing that bothered her yesterday comes back into Ashley's mind, and she sobs, "I'm so sorry, Babe... This is my fault... God, what have I done?"

Then Beca's eyes slowly flutter open, and she calls with hoarse voice, "Hon?"

"Hm?" Ashley wipes her tears away hurriedly.

"Why are you crying?" Beca asks worriedly.

"I'm just..." Ashley weakly says, "I'm just worried about you."

A pang of hurt hits Beca's chest, and she says, "I'll be fine Hon. Promise. Don't worry too much about me."

"Can't help it." Ashley sniffles while wiping the tears in the corner of her eyes.

With a sad smile, Beca asks, "Did you sleep at all?"

Ashley smiles lightly, kisses Beca gently on her lips, and replies, "A little bit."

"Do you have to work today?"

"No." Ashley replies softly. "We've already wrapped up the show last week. We'll start filming again next year for the last half season."

Beca kisses her forehead and says, "Good. Let's sleep then."

With Beca humming lightly to lull her, it doesn't take long for Ashley to fall asleep.

* * *

 **November 3** **rd** **2025**

Ashley wakes up around 11 AM by gentle kisses from her fiancé on her lips, and a smell of fried eggs and toasts.

"Good morning beautiful." Beca mumbles, pressing another kiss on Ashley's forehead.

"Hmmm... It feels and smells like a good morning, Babe." Ashley replies with a sleepy smile before kissing Beca on her lips. She's surprised to find how calm Beca is after the feud yesterday. But knowing her fiancé very well, this is the denial Beca, and Ashley doesn't push it.

After pulling away from Ashley, Beca takes the tray and puts it on the bed between Ashley and her. She smiles toward the blonde and says, "Breakfast on the bed, for the best fiancé I've ever had." Then with her eyes widen comically, she exclaims, "Hey! It rhymes!"

"Thanks, Babe." Ashley rolls her eyes playfully and kisses Beca again. "Though, I'm pretty sure that I'm the only fiancé you've ever had."

With an overdramatic gasp, Beca whispers loudly, mocking as if she was afraid that invisible people could hear her, "Didn't I tell you about my two other mistresses that I'd already proposed to?"

"Who? Olive and Walter?" Ashley replies casually before taking a toast and munches it.

Beca chuckles, staring fondly toward her fiancé and says, "You're my one and only Hon. Always."

Although it isn't anything that Beca hasn't said before, it still makes Ashley's cheeks flushing red while muttering, "Dork."

When Beca is going to say her usual response, the blonde hurriedly shoves the toast in her hand into Beca's mouth as she playfully says, "Here. Have some toast,  _dork_."

With her mouth full of toast, Beca laughs and then unclearly muffles out, "Still your dork."

Then they eat together cheerfully, feeding, teasing, joking with each other, and when they finish breakfast, they shower together. It is indeed a good morning.

However, Ashley could see that everything is off with her fiancé today. It isn't surprising, knowing what had happened yesterday. Beca seemed slightly fine in the morning, but as the day went on, Ashley could feel the anxiety kept raising in her fiancé, no matter how hard the tiny brunette tried to mask it. Ashley knew that Beca wanted to go and see Chloe.

Ashley has been watching her fiancé the whole day. How Beca just staring blankly at nothing, secretly wiping away the tears from the corner of her eyes, or thinking with her face scrunched up. Beca even called Harvey in the afternoon, talking with hushed voice, and Ashley knew that Beca would go to Harvey whenever she needed more push in logical thinking.

Although she knew that she needed to do something about it, Ashley let Beca take her time because she herself has something to think, to feel, to consider, to regret about.

After a painstakingly long day, eventually, it's already 7 PM and they're having dinner. At first, none of them say anything, too busy with their own thoughts. But suddenly, Beca says, "I talked to Harvey."

"Hmm." Ashley tries to be casual. "What did you talk about?"

"About yesterday..." Beca says hesitantly. "With Chloe and the Bellas."

"Hmm." Still, Ashley tries to act nonchalant. "How was it?"

Beca takes a deep breath and says, "He said that I shouldn't do anything I don't want to... And no one could dictate what I wanted to do with my life. He told me that I'm stupid if I choose to live my life for other people's demands. Especially... well, he said that... especially when the demands come from stupid people, in stupid situation, because of a stupid act of desperation. He also said that if I want to be stupid, then at least I should be stupid to live my life in my own terms."

"Hmm." Ashley nods absentmindedly. "Did you agree with him?"

It takes a while, but eventually, Beca hesitantly replies, "I... I think he's right."

Ashley sighs deeply but says nothing, and Beca doesn't say anything anymore. After dinner, they stay at the balcony in the sanctuary. Beca is trying failingly to work on her songs, and Ashley is pretending to read a book while in the reality, she is thinking hard.

Suddenly, Ashley's phone rings and without moving her eyes from her book, she picks up instantly and says, "Ashley here."

" _Ash..."_  The voice is hesitant and hoarse.

Ashley is taken aback for a second, but she recovers rather quickly and answers, "Junk?"

Upon hearing Emily's last name, Beca looks at her fiancé, unaware that she's holding her breath.

" _Uhm... How is Pop? How are you two holding up?"_

The worry in Emily's voice is so obvious, and Ashley hesitantly says, "She's uh... we're holding up. How are you?"

" _I uh... I'm holding up too."_

Hearing a hint of sadness in Emily's voice, Ashley softly asks, "Do you want to talk to her?"

" _No."_ Ashley is taken aback, but then Emily says,  _"I'm not allowed to talk to her."_

Although she wanted to ask the reason, she didn't. Instead, Ashley takes a deep breath and softly says, "I'm sorry Em. For the burden we put you through."

" _It's okay. I'm okay. I just... I wanted to tell you, both of you, that Chloe's awake. Since noon."_

Emily's voice is cracked, and she is indeed not okay. But Ashley doesn't push. Instead, she asks, "How's she?"

" _She's uh... She's out of the woods. Still shaken up and a bit groggy, but she'll be fine."_

With a relieved sigh, Ashley says, "Thank God."

" _Yeah, thank God..."_

After a moment of silent, Emily says,  _"Can you uh... can you please tell Pop that... Chloe's been asking for her... And she was... the doctor had to sedate her because she was hysterical. And we uh... we didn't know how to tell her that... Beca left."_

With a long sigh, Ashley says, "I'll tell her. Thanks Em, for keeping us updated. I know what kind of trouble you'd get if your sisters found out about this."

" _No... Thank you Ash. I know that... this isn't fair for you, asking you to tell her about Chloe. But..."_

"It's okay Junk." Ashley says to reassure the tall brunette. "I'm okay. You're a good person, a good friend."

" _Thanks Ash. I uh... I've got to go."_

"Okay." Ashley replies. "Take care."

" _You too. And Pop too."_

"Of course."

Then Ashley ends the phone call, and Beca can breathe again. But she immediately puts her attention back to the music sheets in her hand.

Ashley sighs deeply, moves closer to Beca, and takes away the sheets in the brunette's hands before pulling her in a prolonged kiss. Beca is indeed confused by the kiss, but she returns it nevertheless.

After they pull away, Ashley snuggles up onto Beca's chest and rubs Beca's left chest before she softly calls, "Babe..."

Having an idea about what Ashley is going to talk about, Beca sighs deeply and says, "Hon, I won't change my mind. There's no way I will pretend to be anyone's girlfriend, let alone lying to my best friend."

With a long defeated sigh, Ashley softly says, "I'm not trying to make you change your mind. But Emily just called and she said that Chloe's already woken up since noon, and she has been asking for you."

Beca tensed up for a second and asks, "How's she?"

"Emily said that she is still groggy and shaken up." Ashley explains softly. "But she's gonna be okay."

"Thank God." Beca says in relief.

"You should go see her." Ashley says softly.

"You know I wanted to." Beca says sadly. "But... under these circumstances, I don't think it's a good idea."

"Hmmm..." Ashley knows that it won't be long until Beca cracks and starts to talk. Therefore, the blonde remains silent, letting the brunette puts the pieces together on her own.

After a long while, Beca eventually says, "Let's move somewhere else."

"Where?"

"I don't know." Beca says with a hint of sadness. "Anywhere you want. Just pick a place, and we will build your dream house. While we wait for the house to be built, we can stay here, have our wedding, you can finish the series, and then we move away."

Ashley pulls away, looks into Beca's eyes, and asks, "Is that what you really want?"

Looking back at Ashley with bold certain look in her eyes, yet her smile is fond, Beca replies, "All I want is you. To be with you."

Upon seeing the honesty in Beca's eyes, Ashley softly says, "All I want is you too, Babe."

Beca smiles fondly toward her fiancé, and leans in to kiss Ashley chastely. Then Ashley snuggles up onto Beca's chest again, and they fall into a not so comfortable silent.

It's been a while, and eventually, Beca mutters, "Maybe it's my karma."

Trying to keep herself calm, Ashley clears her throat and casually asks, "What karma?"

Although it's hard to say, but Beca takes a deep breath and then sadly explains, "I left my friends ten years ago, causing them so many problems, and costing one of them their happiness. Even... almost caused one of them their life. Twice. That's why I don't get to be happy." She subtly coughs out the lump in her throat. "These past few years being heavenly happy with you... it must've been a borrowed time. So, when I thought I would finally get my happy ending, the universe laughed at me and said  _not so fast, kiddo_."

Ashley pulls away gently and positions herself to sit on Beca's laps. She kisses Beca's left chest, puts one hand on Beca's heart, and softly says, "This heart, this tiny beating heart that you tried to break years ago, could fit a whole universe and pour out the amount of love that I personally have never experienced before in my life."

Without saying anything, Beca simply stares at her fiancé fondly and tightens her arms around the blonde's waist.

"That's why you deserve to be happy, Babe." Ashley says with a matching fond smile on her face. "You will have your happy ending. I'm sure of that."

"It's settled then." Beca smiles grows wider, but the hint of sadness in her eyes is obvious to Ashley. "We'll move somewhere, and have our happy ending. Together. Just you and I."

There is no denying that Ashley has been hoping for the same thing for a very long time. She had waited for Beca to propose in years, and when the tiny brunette finally did, Ashley was over the moon and heavenly happy.

However, things have changed literally over a night, and it is an earth seismic change that will crack up their relationship, no matter what the decision they take.

Ashley sighs deeply and sincerely says, "I'd love nothing more than to have a happy ending with you."

Upon seeing the slight beam of happiness in Beca's eyes, Ashley feels a pang under her diaphragm. With undeniable sadness in her eyes and voice, Ashley cracks out, "But can we?"

Beca's smile falters instantly as she retorts, "What do you mean? Of course we can, Hon. As long as we're together. As long as I have you."

With a sad smile, Ashley says, "After you gave me my engagement present, remember you told me that you'd follow me wherever I'd go with no question asked?"

Although she isn't sure of where this is going, Beca nods nevertheless.

"I'll do the same for you Babe." Ashley is certain, and her eyes show it all. "If it means that we get to be happy together, then I will. No question asked."

Beca raises an eyebrow and asks, "So, what's the problem?"

Thinking of doing the right thing, and actually doing the right thing are clearly two different things. And apparently, both are equally so hard to do right now. However, Ashley knows that she has to be sure, and moreover, she needs Beca to be sure.

After taking a deep breath, with the calmest way she could manage, Ashley dares herself to finally say, "Babe, let's say if Chloe uh... succeeded yesterday on... harming herself," She swallows hard. "Can we really have our happy ending? Even if we move to the corner of the earth?"

Beca rolls her eyes tiredly and retorts, "What do you want me to do? Playing pretend with her? Lie to her? Hurt her? Hurt you? Hurt us?"

Ashley knew this stubborn manner of Beca very well. Therefore, she cups Beca's cheeks, caresses them with her thumbs carefully to not hurt the bruise before she softly says, "I want you to answer that question honestly. Do you think we can be happy if anything shall happen to Chloe?"

With a long impatient huff, Beca flexes her neck, and then she says, "I don't know. Maybe. I mean, we were happy in the past five years. And we still are."

"Until the past you left behind caught up to us, and it almost ripped us apart." Ashley states without hesitation. "What do you think will happen if we run away again, and then it comes back to bite us on the ass?"

Feeling frustrated is never Beca's best suit. She runs her fingers through her hair and stubbornly says, "We don't let them catch up to us again next time."

"Babe..." Ashley says tiredly.

"Look," Beca says with warning look. "I don't know what you're trying to do here, but it seems to me you're either trying to break up with me again, or asking me to get another girlfriend."

Ashley sighs deeply and tiredly says, "I simply want you to be honest with me; with yourself. I know you already have the answer. You're just being difficult."

"I don't know, okay?!" Beca snaps. "All that I certainly know is that I love you, and I want to be with you!"

"Babe..." Ashley says with her eyebrows furrowed; she is starting to feel impatient. "After years being honest with each other, why is it so hard for you to tell the truth now? What are you afraid of?"

Beca takes a deep breath and sadly mutters, "I... I don't know Hon. I just... How could I choose between you and her? Again? How could I... live with a decision between lying to my best friend or leaving her in this situation? How should I know what to feel about it? What would happen to us, to you, with any of those decisions?"

"I won't ever ask you to choose between me and her." Ashley says certainly.

"But you are!" Beca exclaims in frustration.

"I'm not." Ashley says with a slightly raised voice. "I'm simply asking you to do the right thing. To choose the right thing to do."

"There's no right thing to do here, Hon." Beca says in upset. "Either one is... there is no such thing as the right thing to do in this situation."

"Yes, there is." Ashley says stubbornly. "Choose the one you can live with."

"How should I know?" Beca scoffs harshly.

"I have a way." Ashley mutters weakly. "Just wait a second."

Then the blonde walks into the sanctuary before coming back and sits next to her fiancé. She shows Beca a coin and asks, "Head or tail? Head for lying to Chloe and pretending to love her, tail for leaving Chloe and moving away to have that happy ending with me."

Beca scoffs, "Are you fucking kidding me?"

"Just pick." Ashley says firmly. "Trust me. Pick one."

"Hon-"

"Just pick."

"It's ridiculous!"

" _Just_ ,  _pick_!"

"Tail!" Beca says in upset.

Then Ashley flips the coin, and the split second of waiting for the coin to fall down is painstakingly slow for Beca. While the tiny brunette puts her focus solely on the flipping coin, Ashley looks at Beca's face closely.

When the coin hits Ashley's palm and it shows tail, Beca's face flinches, and it certainly hits Ashley's chest hard. But she puts on the best smile she could muster to say, "Now you know how you feel about your decision."

"What do you mean?" Beca asks in confusion. "It showed tail. Now I'm sure that I've made the right decision. The universe approved."

"No." Ashley says with a forced smile. "This isn't about the result. This is about making sure that you know how you feel about your decision. Papa taught me this trick back in high school. When you don't know what to choose, you flip a coin. Then you'll find out how you feel about the decision."

Still, Beca keep staring at her fiancé in total confusion. Therefore, Ashley says in defeat, "You flinched."

Beca is taken aback for a second, and then Ashley continues, "When the coin showed what you wanted, you flinched."

"So what if I flinched?" Beca retorts stubbornly, rolling her eyes in annoyance. "Does it mean that I should've chosen to be with Chloe? To lie to her? That I'd be happy, not flinching if it had showed head?"

With a sad smile, Ashley says, "No Babe. It simply means that you wouldn't be happy either even if you chose to be with me."

The answer took Beca by surprise because she'd never thought that it would come down to that conclusion. The thought of not being happy even if she's with Ashley has never crossed her mind. Honestly, it sounds crazy and impossible.

However, Beca couldn't help but let the doubt sink into her mind; the possibility of not having a happy life with Ashley sounds a bit logical now. She remembers how hard it was after she left the Bella ten years ago. And this time, even with Ashley by her side, there's a possibility that she wouldn't be able to recover from the guilt of leaving her best friends all over again.

Upon seeing the defeated look on Beca's face, Ashley sadly says, "Now that you've understood, you know what to do."

However, Beca wouldn't be Beca if she didn't at least be stubborn about everything, especially when she's still in doubt. Therefore, she snaps, "No! It's just a stupid trick!"

"Babe..." Ashley pleads with shaky voice. "Just be honest... Be honest with yourself... You know better. You just don't want to admit it to yourself."

Beca is feeling more upset and frustrated the more Ashley pushes her. Nevertheless, she clenches her jaw and remains silent.

"You and I both know well how it will end up if you ke-"

"No! Okay?!" Beca cuts her fiancé off angrily. "I don't think we'll be happy if I leave Chloe, even if I choose to be with you! Is that what you want to hear?!"

Ashley's eyes become teary as she weakly says, "Yes. If it is the honest answer from you, then yes; that is exactly what I wanted to hear."

When tears start running down Ashley's face, Beca regrets yelling at her. She sighs deeply, and as the tears start to escape from her eyes too, she helplessly says, "I'm scared, Hon. I love you... But it seemed to me that you always wanted to let me go lately. Why would you do that? Do you not love me anymore? Am I not worth the fight?"

Letting out a damp chuckle as if Beca just said the most stupid thing, Ashley cups Beca's cheeks and replies, "I love you, Beca Mitchell. I love you so much that I'm willing to let you go as long as you're happy."

Beca kisses Ashley's palm on her cheek, and then pleads, "Then don't ever let me go. I will never be as happy as when I'm with you."

Glancing away from Beca, Ashley wipes the tears on her own face before she says, "Babe, you know I don't want to do this. But she needed you. Now more than ever. And we both know that you want to be there for her. And the choices they gave you..."

"She thought she needed me, Hon." Beca says stubbornly. " _They,_  thought that she needed me. Maybe I shouldn't have come back into her life at all."

Ashley is getting tired of circling, beating around the bush, and she firmly says, "Maybe it's true. But there's no way to fix that now, Babe. You're back into her life, and there's no denying that she didn't think she could move on without your love. Now, are you sure you can move on without her,  _them_ , in your life?"

"What do you want me to do?" Beca asks in upset.

"I..." Ashley pulls away from Beca and stands up, seeming torn and helpless. "I don't know..."

"Then stop this nonsense." Beca says angrily, but trying to keep her voice down. "You don't even know what to do in this situation."

Ashley only has so much patient, especially when she's trying to do the right thing that will destroy herself, the person she loves, and their relationship. Now she's getting impatient, angry even. She paces back and forth, biting her thumbnail anxiously.

"Hon..." Beca calls helplessly. "Can we... not talk about this anymore? Can we just... move on with our life? We both don't know what to do. So-"

"For God's sake!" Ashley snaps angrily. "Do the right thing Beca! What do we have to move on to when you're not willing to do the right thing?! A miserable filled with guilt and shame life?! That's not the right thing to do!"

"Then what is it?!" Beca snaps back, furious of how Ashley has been pushing her. "Because I've been raking my mind this fucking whole day about the right fucking thing to do, and I still don't have any fucking idea!"

Upon seeing the hurt on Ashley's narrowed eyes, Beca takes a deep breath and sighs tiredly. Then she stands up and puts her hands on Ashley's arms, looking into Ashley's blue eyes before she softly says, "Look, I know that this is hard. And I know that it's not only for me, but also for you. But you couldn't just ask me to do what they wanted, or what they thought Chloe might need."

Ashley shrugs the tiny brunette off and coldly says, "This isn't about what they thought or wanted. I have no time for thinking about them. Frankly, I don't have any care in the world for them. This is about you. This is about what you think and how you feel about the decision you've made. That is all I care about."

Feeling stuck and frustrated, Beca shakes her head, pressing her lips tightly with her hands on her hips. She looks at Ashley, gesturing one hand toward the blonde as she says in upset, "Well, you said you didn't know what the right thing to do. But from the way you've been pushing me, it seems to me you've already figured it all out. Why don't you tell me then? I'm opened for suggestion."

Ashley wraps her arms around her stomach, looking away from her fiancé to hide the pain she's feeling under her diaphragm.

Then Beca scoffs and retorts angrily, "Which one should I fucking choose Ash? Do you think I should fucking lie to my best friend and pretend to love her, while at the same time hurting and pretending that I don't love the person that matters the most to me? Or should I just fucking ignore the fact that my best friend who has loved me in a very fucking long time need me now, and leave her all over again to have a life that I wanted so fucking badly with you?"

"I don't know, okay?!" Ashley yells in anger, waving her hands around. "But I'm sure as hell that abandoning your friends and choosing to run away, building my dream house is not one!"

"Then stop pushing me to do the right thing that you know nothing about!" Beca snaps angrily.

"I know one thing for sure, Beca!" Ashley snaps back. "Tell me that you think running away is the right thing to do! Tell me! Honestly!"

Beca is taken aback for a moment, but then with her hands pressing her head tightly, Beca groans loudly and yells, "Fuck it! When did this become so messy?! I was happy and engaged 48 hours ago, and now I'm scared the hell out of my mind of having nothing left!"

"Newsflash Beca!" Ashley spits out. "Life  _is_ messy! Especially when you keep running away all your life!"

It feels like someone just punched Beca in her gut, and it fucking damn hurts that she steps back absentmindedly. Then she wraps her stomach to hold the pain while the heat of tears sting her eyes as she says with restraint voice, "It's not fair for you to say that to me. I... have never run away from you... Not even once. I've done nothing Hon... nothing else but chasing you, doing the best I could do to be with you. All. Fucking. Time. Because I love you."

Upon seeing the pain she caused on the tiny brunette, Ashley's chest tightens and she finds it hard to breathe. But she shakes it off and croaks out through the lump in her throat, "Maybe you should."

Again, Beca is taken aback, especially when Ashley rushes into the house, leaving her alone crying on the couch. She thought that Ashley had left her. But then Ashley comes back, takes a seat next to her before handing her an envelope with shaky hands.

Beca wipes her tears away and asks, "What is this?"

After swallowing the lump in her throat, Ashley mutters with restraint voice, "Ju- Junk gave it to me two years ago. She said... it's the note Chloe wrote almost a year after you left. She told me... she didn't want to meddle with our relationship. So she let me decide if you should know about this letter."

Beca's eyes widen in shock, and she is stunned. She even stops breathing for a couple of seconds, and when she has gathered her senses again, she accuses, "You knew that Chloe tried to kill herself, but you didn't tell me?"

"I didn't know." Ashley mutters weakly with tears running down her face. "I didn't until yesterday... Emily only told me that it was a letter Chloe wrote almost a year after you left. And after they told us yesterday... I put two and two together."

"And you kept this from me for two years?" Beca asks in disbelief, and Ashley could hear clearly how betrayed the tiny brunette feels.

"I- I was scared." Ashley sobs helplessly. Then she takes in a damp ragged breath through her mouth and says with shaky voice, "I- I was scared that you'd leave me... I was sca- scared it would make you run away from your best friends again while you just reconnected with them... I was scared that it would scare you... I was... I was scared of so many things. So I did what I deemed right. I thought I'd hide it from you temporarily, at least until you've repaired your relationship with The Bella. But over times... I forgot about it... Until yesterday."

Beca closes her eyes and shakes her head. It hurts to find out that a person you thought you could believe had betrayed you in the worst possible way, and it certainly flares up the anger in her chest. Her head is throbbing, and her heart is pounding, and she just couldn't help herself from snapping through panting breaths, " _You_ , had, no, right! You shouldn't have done that! Anything that happened, you should have told me and let me decide!"

"So you could choose to run away again?!" Ashley snaps back angrily. "Because that's what you always did! And you're doing it again now!"

"I have never run away from you!"

"How should I know?!" Ashley yells angrily. "I've told you a week ago! This is Chloe! She is the sole reason that prevented you from stepping up in everything in our relationship! In your life!"

"You! ..." Beca stops herself from yelling, knowing how right Ashley is. Instead, she takes in a ragged breath and opens the letter with her shaky hands. It is definitely Chloe's round handwriting on a paper that has slightly yellow spots of dried tears all over, saying,

 _Becs...  
_ _Why did you leave? Was it because of me?_ _I'm so sorry if I was not a good enough friend to you._ _I'm so sorry if I did anything wrong to drive you away._ _I'm so sorry if I had pushed you too far. I'm so sorry._ _I didn't mean to._

"No..." Beca sobs angrily, much to herself. The pain in her chest is unbearably suffocating. "It wasn't your fault, Chloe..."

_It hurts Becs... losing you... not having you around... it's killing me... I just... I don't see the point of living this life without you. I can't... I miss you every second, and it wasn't the worst thing in the world. The thing I couldn't handle is that... you're somewhere out here, but I can't reach you. And you don't want me to reach you. The fact that you've left without any regard of our friendship, it hurts me the most... And I can't..._

"God..." Beca cries. "How could I... Why would I..."

With tears running down her face and her shoulders shaking, the tiny brunette turns to her fiancé and asks in upset, "Di- did you read this letter?"

"No." Ashley replies certainly, even though she herself is crying. "I was tempted. But I didn't."

Beca closes her eyes, feeling the pang in her chest that she's never felt before; not trusting Ashley. She knows that Ashley isn't lying to her. However, the fact that the blonde had kept the letter from her in two years manage to put doubt in Beca's mind.

Yet, she says nothing but keep on reading the paper with tears running down her face.

_And I... I can't feel anything but pain. And all I can think about is how to end this unbearable pain of losing you, of feeling how insignificant I am in your life that it was so easy for you to leave. Is that true? Was our friendship meant nothing for you?_

"It's not true, Chlo..." Beca cries out. Some things in this letter isn't something new. Chloe has told her on the night they met again. However, it doesn't make it hurt less. If anything, it just feels more painful after what happened yesterday; after knowing that Chloe tried to kill herself after she left.

_I know how much you love The Bellas, Becs. And if you left The Bellas because of me, then maybe I shouldn't be around anymore. I just wanted you to know that... I love you Becs. I've been in love with you for so long. And I'm sorry if the way I'm loving you have scared and made you run away. I am so, so sorry._

While Beca is reading the letter, Ashley is crying silently, regretting hiding the letter from Beca two years ago. She couldn't shake off the feeling that it was her fault everything ended up like this.

Then, after Beca has done reading the letter, she is broken down in tears, scrunching the letter in her hand while bending forward, shaking in anger, trying so hard to hold herself from sobbing uncontrollably.

"I could've done something..." Beca chokes in her tears. "You should have told me so I could've done something, Ash..."

"I... I'm so sorry, Babe..." Ashley sobs. Then she tries to hug the broken down Beca, but the tiny brunette shoves her away harshly, snapping, "Don't touch me!"

With her chest tightened painfully, Ashley pulls back and drops her face onto her palms, crying and sobbing uncontrollably.

"You!" Beca snaps angrily. "You should've given me this letter sooner! So I could've explained everything to her! I should've known about this, Ashley!"

"I'm sorry..." Ashley chokes out. "I'm so, so sorry Babe... I didn't know that-"

"You should have!" Beca doesn't care. "You, should, fucking, have! You knew better than to keep me in the dark!"

"I know!" Ashley snaps back, still with tears running down her face, and her throat is hurting so bad. But she keep on yelling. "Now that you've found out, why don't you go and choose her?! This is all my fault! I know that!"

This time, Beca is taken aback. She scoffs in disbelief, angrily wiping the tears on her face, and with much soften voice, she sarcastically says, "Oh. Now I know what this is all about.  _You_ , hid this letter from me, and now that she tried to kill herself again, you feel guilty about it, so you're trying to push and give me away to her."

Ashley lifts her head up from her palm, staring at Beca in total disbelief with her teary face when she asks, "What do you mean?"

"Since yesterday..." Beca pants out, trying so hard to keep herself together, but she is shaking with her face so red in anger. "You... Yesterday, you tried... to make me take Aubrey's crazy idea. You... almost relented yesterday. And tonight... you've been pushing me to choose Chloe..."

It feels like the air is knocked out of her lungs, and there is nothing Ashley could do but swallowing hard, trying to take the accusation in, thinking that it wouldn't be completely wrong if Beca had come to that conclusion. Ashley's silent is a confirmation for Beca, and she just lost it.

"This isn't about me doing the fucking right thing!" Beca snaps, panting and shaking so hard because of anger. "This isn't about you want me to be happy! It's the fucking right thing to do,  _for you!_ To let me go so I can be with her! So you'll be free of the guilt from this fucking mistake you've made!"

When Ashley's eyes narrowed hurtfully, Beca closes her eyes, trying to catch some breaths before scoffing harshly and sardonically retorts, "What am I to you Ash? So- some kind of expendable damaged good? A toy to play with? How is it so easy for you to do this to me? To give me away?"

"Easy?" Ashley retorts in disbelief, and then anger is flaring up in her again, and she snaps, "Do you think that this is easy for me?! To not only letting you pretend to love someone else, but also have to pretend that I'm gonna be okay with that?!"

"It sure seems like that to me!" Beca snaps angrily.

"Easy..." Ashley says through a damp sarcastic laughter, wiping the tears on her face. "Easy you say?"

"Yea!" 

" _I_ , will, be, crushed!" Ashley snaps louder. "But what else I can do except taking the high road, and do the right thing this time?!"

"That fucking right thing to do again!" Beca stands up abruptly and walks away from her fiancé angrily.

"Yeah Beca!" Ashley snaps. "That right thing to do again!"

Feeling so frustrated yet don't know how to express her anger, Beca grabs her telescope and lifts it up.

"Eargh!" Beca slams the telescope hard on the floor.

"Beca!" Ashley shrieks in fear, shrinking back onto the couch with her arms covering her head.

Not satisfied with one telescope, Beca takes another one and swings it as hard as she could on the railings. "Fuck it!"

Then she takes another one and smashes it onto the floor several times. "Fuck it! Fuck it! Fuck it!"

Still, the heaviness of anger and frustration in her chest is suffocating her. Therefore, with her breath panting hard, Beca takes the one last telescope, the biggest one, and with two hands, she pulls it back sideway and swings it onto the railings as hard as she could. "Fuck all of this!"

After that, Beca slides down onto the floor effortlessly, panting hard but relieved upon releasing her anger. Then she leans her back on the railings, pulls her knees closer to her chest, and rests her elbows on her thighs with her palms holding her forehead.

While on the other hand, Ashley is sobbing uncontrollably on the couch, sinking in the remorse of the pain she inflicted to her fiancé and Chloe, thinking that because of her ill judgement two years ago, Chloe has tried to kill herself and Beca has lost all of her best friends.

Meanwhile, Beca is trying to steady her breaths, focusing her attention solely on her heaving chest with her eyes closed. After a while, as her breaths become steadier and her mind becomes clearer, one by one, all of the mistakes she's done in her life come back into her mind.

Leaving the Bella after pre-semi, because she was scared of admitting her impromptu judgement on the stage.

Not telling Chloe about her feelings, because she was scared of losing the redhead.

Lying to Chloe about the internship, because she was scared of Chloe's reaction.

Hiding for years after Warren disowned her, because she was scared of facing the possibility of being rejected.

Drinking and smoking to deny her love to Ashley in the beginning, because she was scared to admit how defenseless love would make her.

Hiding herself and her relationship with Ashley for a year, because she was scared of being found by her past.

Keeping her past from Ashley for two years, because she was scared to let the blonde know about how much a selfish coward she was.

Accusing Ashley for cheating on her, because she was scared that she wasn't enough for her fiancé.

Keep hiding from Chloe, not reaching out to the redhead, because she was scared to face the consequences of leaving her after graduation.

Leaving the Bellas and Chloe again, because she was scared of losing the person she loves the most.

Blaming Ashley over this, because she was scared to admit that this is her fault from the very beginning.

And every other single stupid things she'd done out of fear, because she was afraid and scared. Then the tiny brunette sighs deeply, opening her eyes to look at her fiancé.

Ashley seems so broken, resting her elbows on her thighs, holding her temple with her hands while bending forward on her seat with her eyes closed. The blonde is still crying, sometimes shaking her head and sobbing hard from the emotion that most likely is choking her and tearing her apart.

With a light scoff, Beca thought to herself,  _"Just another person you broke because you let yourself loving her. Because you thought you were worthy enough to be loved by her."_

For a long while, Beca just keep staring at Ashley, feeling the hurt in her chest of hurting the woman she loves the most.

Then slowly, Beca stands up and approaches the blonde. She sits on the table in front of Ashley, who hasn't noticed that Beca is already sitting in front of her.

Gently, Beca leans forward and hugs her fiancé, and in an instant, her chest is filled with this rush of warmth that makes her automatically sighing and crying in relief, even shivering from the content feeling.

On the other hand, Ashley is stunned by the hug, and she's frozen up, unable to react.

Beca clears her throat and softly says, "I'm sorry... for what I've said and done. It wasn't your fault, Hon... I should've known better that when we're scared, we most likely would do stupid mistakes. I'm sorry for blaming you..."

Upon hearing the apology, Ashley hugs Beca back tightly, crying and says in between sobs, "I'm so, so sorry Babe... I'm sorry... I- I didn't think that it would lead to this... I didn't know that she would..."

"I know..." Beca softly says with her eyes closed and her face scrunched up in pain upon hearing the vulnerability in Ashley's voice. "I know Hon. It... it wasn't your fault. I should've reached out to her after I came out..."

"No..." Ashley cries. "It's my fault... I shouldn't have let fear dictate my decision making."

Beca pulls away, staring at Ashley with sad eyes before wiping the blonde's tears away and says, " _We_ , shouldn't have... It was my fault from the beginning... I shouldn't have blamed you now..."

Then Ashley sobs uncontrollably on Beca's shoulder, shaking hard while clinging her arms tightly behind Beca's neck, moved by how forgiving Beca to her, how tenderly Beca is loving her.

"I- I'm sorry Babe..." Ashley sobs.

"No..." Beca says with restraint voice. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry that loving me has put so much pressure on you... I know how much you hate hiding something from me..."

Ashley shakes her head and sobs, "I- I love you anyway..."

With a light sad smile, Beca kisses the side of Ashley's head and replies, "I love you too anyway..."

They just keep holding each other for a while; Ashley is still sobbing on Beca's shoulder, and the tiny brunette is rubbing Ashley's back gently to soothe her.

It takes while, but eventually, Ashley's hard sobbing turns into soft sniffling, and Beca pulls away slightly, wipes away the tears on Ashley's face before kissing her so tenderly on the lips.

Then Beca rests her forehead on Ashley's, and the feeling in her chest, the lightness, the contented warmth, it shows her how much she loves the woman she's holding in her arms.

They are wrapped in this safe bubble, and after a while, Ashley softly asks with hoarse voice, "What should we do now?"

After letting out a long tired sigh, Beca pulls back and glances her eyes away from Ashley, taking her time to make up her mind before she brokenly says, "I've made a mess... with Chloe." She swallows hard. "And I can't fix it, Hon... Not this time. I can only make it worse. So... I am walking away from this... From her..."

"Babe..." Ashley pleads.

Then Beca smiles sadly toward her fiancé, caressing her cheeks gently as she says, "But not with you. I... wouldn't do the same mistake I did to Chloe with you. I won't- No, I can't. I can't leave you behind. What we have... the mess we've made... we can fix this.  _I_ , will fix this."

"Babe..." Ashley pleads. "We can't-"

"Don't you see?" Beca pleads with shaky voice. "You're the love of my life. I can't leave you, Ash. I can't live without you... Not now, not ever."

"I know Babe. I do." Ashley replies with restraint voice. "And I can't leave you too. But-"

"Yes you can." With tears in her eyes, Beca looks at Ashley hurtfully when she says, "You're constantly leaving me. You said you wouldn't... But you did. And you're doing it again."

Stunned by the truth, Ashley is frozen up for a moment, and then she closes her eyes to hide her pain as she says with shaky voice, "I know... that I keep breaking my promise Babe. And I'm sorry... I really am. But I want you to know that..." She swallows hard. "That I did it because I thought it was the best for you. Because I love you too much."

"I know." Beca replies with cracked voice. Then she swallows down the lump in her throat and continues, "And I did the same thing to Chloe... twice. Leaving her because I thought that it was the best for her... And look at the mess I've made? So don't... please... please... don't make the same mistake I've made... I love you too much Hon..."

"Babe..." With her eyes narrowed hurtfully, Ashley says in barely a whisper, "But... my mess... our mess... it caused a huge mess for Chloe... for you, and your best friends... We can't walk away from this Babe... We can't walk away from this, thinking that we can have a happy ending together. There won't be any happy ending for us..."

"Hon..." Beca cups Ashley's cheeks gently, staring at her teary blue eyes as she says, "After everything we've been through, how could I live my life, knowing that I'm gonna hurt you? Pretending to love someone else? And lying to my best friend? Even only for a couple of months, it would kill me."

"Babe..." Ashley pleads, staring at Beca with tears running down her face. "This mess... we had our reason... we didn't know any better. But now we do know better. And next time... if there is any next time... how could we live our life if something happened to Chloe, knowing that it's because of us? Because we're too selfish?"

This time, it's Beca's turn to be stunned by Ashley's words, and she becomes speechless for a moment. She finally grasps the truth in those words, realizing that this is a fight where no one gets to win, not Ashley, not her, even if they've hurt each other so badly. They won't survive this, no matter what the decision they make.

When Beca finally reaches the same page as Ashley, she pulls her fiancé closer harshly and kisses her. It's a desperately, miserably needed kiss.

Ashley kisses her back with the same desperation, but she pulls back abruptly and breathes out, "Babe, we can't..."

Ignoring Ashley, Beca drags her into the sanctuary and to the bed, snapping out along the way, "I don't care! I don't care that we're in this shit hole right now! I don't care if the world needs me to save the day! And I certainly don't care about the right thing to do!" She stops to catch a breath, and then she faces Ashley to say helplessly, "All I want... all I ask is for you... to hold me like there's no tomorrow. So please... can we just forget about this shitty situation and-"

Upon feeling how vulnerable Beca is, Ashley wraps her arms behind Beca's neck and pulls her in a searing kiss. A kiss with a rush of craving that she's never felt before. And Beca returns the kiss in the same effort, if not more.

They are fighting for dominance, reaching, touching, kissing, and pulling each other. It is messy, filled with fear, sadness, anger, frustration, and hurt.

Every fiber of their being is vibrating, shivering from the love so honest, that it hurts and makes them so vulnerable. It is so painful that the only way to convey those feelings is by showing it touch-to-touch, and skin to skin. Action always speaks louder than words, especially when it comes to love.

None of them has any sleep that night, none of them wants to miss even a second without looking at each other, touching each other, pouring out the feelings that words fail to reveal of how defenseless love has made them.

They don't stop; not until all that's left is two breathless souls with nothing left to say. They rest their foreheads on each other's without saying anything, just sinking in the warmth of each other's breaths.

It's been hours, but they keep lying on the bed in silent, facing, staring, and holding each other tightly. The sun is already rising, and the only thing they do is breathing together.

At some point, Ashley starts to do her routine. She kisses Beca's forehead and says, "Thank you... for the mind that has always been stubborn about the things that she loves the most."

The tenderness that usually warms the tiny brunette's chest, feels suffocating this time, and Beca has to close her eyes to hold the pain in.

Then Ashley kisses Beca's eyelids and says, "Thank you... for the eyes that have always seen and showed the truth from her mind."

Tears are starting to escape Beca's eyes, but she says nothing. She just tighten her arms around Ashley, holding the blonde dearly as if her life depends on it.

After that, the blonde kisses Beca's lips, and the brunette kisses her back for a second but doesn't push it, letting Ashley say, "Thank you... for the honesty that flowing out from the heart through these lips."

Then, Ashley pulls down a little bit to see her initial on Beca's left chest, trailing it with her fingertips, and then kisses it before she says, "Thank you... for the kindest heart that ever love me and I've ever loved."

When Ashley is done, they fall into a silent moment again. They are simply staring into each other's eyes. While Beca is showing defeated look, Ashley is showing understanding look. They know each other way too good.

Eventually, Beca clears her throat from the lump, and clenches her hands to hold herself from shaking before she says with restraint voice, "You know that... there's no way I could be with her in pretend. I mean... it's just cruel and vicious, not only for her, but also for you... And I can't... I can't do it to both of you..."

Taking her time to hold her own tears, Ashley tries to take a deep breath, but only successfully breathes in a short ragged one before she replies in barely a whisper, "I know..."

Trying to keep the heart-wrenching pain inside, Beca closes her eyes, pressing her lips tightly to hold the sobs before nodding weakly.

On the other hand, Ashley is biting her trembling bottom lip to stop herself from choking in tears. Then she snuggles into the crook under Beca's neck, wrapping her arms around the tiny brunette tightly, while Beca presses her lips so hard on Ashley's crown.

Sad is an understatement to describe how they are feeling right now. Here they are again, back to the very same place named separation. They've been here before, but this time feels different. This time, it feels finals, like they would stay there, for good.

"You're gonna be okay, Hon." Beca mumbles with restraint voice. "You have to..."

"We're gonna be okay, Babe." Ashley replies in barely a whisper. "We have to..."

They take her time, holding each other, breathing in each other's scent, feeling each other's warmth. They are trying to engrave this moment into their mind. The moment of how it feels like to be held by the person they love the most.

Eventually, Beca takes a deep breath and pulls back, staring at the teary blue eyes of her fiancé for a while until she knows that she should go before she changes her mind.

Beca clears her throat, and without hesitation, she says, "I'm going to the hospital."

Then she presses a lingering kiss on Ashley's forehead before reluctantly getting up from the bed and walks into the bathroom. They both are crying their eyes out on their own; Beca under the pouring cold shower, and Ashley on Beca's pillow.

Before Beca is done getting ready, Ashley puts up her slightly left energy to prepare breakfast for the brunette.

When Beca walks out from her walk-in closet, Ashley approaches her, hands her a food container, and says, "Your breakfast. Your meds are already in it."

Beca takes it, nodding lightly and mutters, "Thanks."

Ashley simply gives her a light smile before walking away to take Beca's leather jacket, and then she helps the tiny brunette to put it on.

After that, Ashley puts her hands on Beca's shoulders, just staring sadly into her steely blue eyes. On the other hand, Beca is caressing the blonde's cheek gently with her thumb, smiling fondly with her teary eyes.

When it is getting harder to hold on, Ashley leans in, presses a gentle chaste kiss on Beca's lips, and says, "Drive safe."

However, when Ashley is turning away, Beca holds her tighter by her waist, softly saying, "Just a little longer..."

Then Ashley simply wraps her arms behind Beca's neck and rests her forehead on Beca's. They simply breathe together, embracing the pain of losing each other.

At some point, Beca dares herself to lean in and kiss Ashley, and then Ashley wraps one arm around Beca's shoulder, and rests her other hand on Beca's cheek, kissing the brunette back passionately.

On the other hand, Beca drops the food container onto the floor, and wraps her arms tightly around Ashley's waist, pulling her so close that there's no room and space between them.

There is nothing erotic about the kiss. It's a gentle kiss goodbye, the last kiss, the last touch. As painful as it is, they don't stop; not until they're out of breath. Then they pull away and rest their foreheads on each other's again, trying to catch their breath.

After a long while, Beca says with cracked voice, "I love you Hon. Always."

"I love you too Babe. Always." Ashley whispers back before she hurriedly turns around, knowing that she couldn't hold her tears any longer, and then she walks into the bathroom quickly.

Beca seems to feel the same, and she picks up the food container from the floor before turning on her heels to walk out of her sanctuary.

Meanwhile, in the bathroom, Ashley finds a note on the sink, written in Beca's diagonal messy handwriting with a sign of teardrops on it.

 _No one will ever love me, or even know me the way you do._  
_Now that there's no tomorrow with you, I wonder who do I run to._  
_Especially since you're the only one that matters to me._  
_Hon... I'm sure that I will never love again.  
_ _Not the way I do with you._

 _November 4_ _th_ _2025  
_ _Let's hope that it's gonna be okay. -Love, Beca._

After reading the note, Ashley break down in tears, curling up on the bathroom floor, clutching the note on her chest tightly for God knows how long until Troian walks in, helps her up, and drags her to bed.

Apparently, Beca had called Troian and told her briefly about their situation on her way to the hospital. Troian spent the day holding, listening, while Ashley told her everything in between sobs, until eventually the blonde fell asleep out of emotional exhaustion.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... Bechloe shippers... This is the part that I've been telling you to sit tight about. Yep! Beca finally pull her head out of her ass and choose to be with Chloe. Well, it's not served with a silver platter, but still... served. Dark and twisty folks, dark and twisty. I'm not a fan of an easy happily ever after :)
> 
> Oh btw, the letter part? It was actually a brilliant idea from RJRMovieFan. Are you surprised dude? :P
> 
> So... she, or he? I'm not sure, but RJRMovieFan sent me a PM about that idea, and I loved it! Since then, I've been raking my mind about how to slip it in the part where Beca and Ashley break up. Hope all of you love it as much as I do. And if you don't, too bad for you :P I just couldn't pass the chance to add some more angst in this part; to make it even darker and twistier. My bad :P
> 
> But RJRMovieFan, my dude! Thank you so much for the brilliant idea! And for the rest of you who have some ideas for this story, send them to me via PM or review. I'd love to consider it as long as it doesn't stray away from the plot I've planned. Again, love it dude!
> 
> As you've read, the next chapter will be about Beca coming back to Chloe, to the Bellas. Will they accept her? You are free to guess :P
> 
> Until then, sit tight and make good choices. Thank you for reading :D
> 
> P.s. Just wondering, did you see this coming?


	24. Coming Back To First Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey! :D Good day folks.
> 
> I'm sorry in advance for the late update. Classes have started again, and I've been busier lately.
> 
> Again, the reviews are spectacular. Thank you for the readers, the followers, the people who favors, and the reviewers :D Thank you all for staying even though I know you've developed some kind of love hate feeling toward this story :P And it's okay.
> 
> Now back to the story. In the previous chapter, Beca and Ashley broke up, and then Beca decided to go to the hospital. Will the Bellas take her back easily? And how will Beca react toward their reaction? Find out in this chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own Pitch Perfect and the characters in this story. There are a piece of song in this chapter, Love Will Set You Free by Kodaline, and to which, I don't own too. Hope you enjoy this chapter. Let's dig in :)

 

**The Hospital: November 4** **th** **2025, Early in the Morning**

It is still early and the hospital is almost empty. After getting Chloe's room number from the information station, Beca goes to the deluxe room for VVIP patient. The room is around the corner but can still be seen from the nurse station on that floor.

Beca is now standing in front of Chloe's room, and the door is closed. She takes a few deep breaths while her attention is on the food container in her hand that she holds in front of her chest.

Apparently, the decision to come and be with Chloe becomes harder to do when she's already standing in front of the door. A huge nerve is nagging her to turn around and walk away, to go home to Ashley.

The thought of how far and extend this condition will affect their life is filling Beca's mind so fast with fear. The impact of it in her life, in Chloe's life, the Bellas' life, Ashley's life, and all of their future; it's overwhelming and terrifying to think of the unpredictable future after she open this door.

Suddenly, the words Ashley told her when she was so scared of calling Stacie and Emily three years ago came into her mind.

_It's okay to be scared Babe... But do it anyway. One step at a time. One day at a time._

Beca doesn't know why those words come into her mind in this exact moment, but it sure help her to put her hand on the door handle and open it gently. The first thing she notices is that, the room is huge and comfortable.

In that room, she finds that Chloe is sleeping on the hospital bed, Emily is sleeping on the personal couch next to Chloe's bed, while Aubrey and Stacie are sleeping on the sofa bed by the corner of the room.

Slowly, Beca walks toward Chloe's bed, and she sighs in relief upon seeing that Chloe seems a bit better than two days ago. Then she puts the food container on the desk next to Chloe's bed, and pulls a chair to sit closer to the redhead.

Then the tiny brunette takes Chloe's hand in hers, and at first, it feels strange yet also familiar. There is this tension in her body upon holding Chloe's hand, but she brushes it off, knowing that she needs to get used to having Chloe close to her.

After a while, Beca dares herself to press Chloe's hand on her lips, feeling the redhead's cold hand under her touch. It's unusual, because Chloe is always warm. Much like her personality, the redhead's body is also always warm. Beca knew it clearly from the nights they spent together back in college.

Therefore, she blows warm breath to Chloe's hand slowly, hoping that it will bring the warmth back. Then she simply holds Chloe's hand on her cheek while her eyes are fixed on the redhead's face.

Beca takes her time, studying Chloe's peaceful sleeping face, and then a light smile appears on her face. It's been a while since she really take a look on the redhead, yet nothing seems to change much. She's still as beautiful and radiant as the Chloe back in college.

Suddenly, Ashley's image comes into her mind. Ashley's smile; her bright blue eyes; her cold nose; her soft lips; her crunchy laughter; and everything else about Ashley, and the tiny brunette couldn't help it when the pain in her chest brings tears to her eyes.

" _Why is doing the right thing have to be this hard?"_ Beca thought to herself. _"No wonder most people don't want to do it. If God, or universe, or something in between wanted more people doing the right thing, they shouldn't have made it this hard."_

Meanwhile, upon hearing a soft sniffling and feeling that her hand is warm, Chloe opens her eyes, trying to find the source of voice and touch that pull her out of her slumber. She sees a figure next to her bed, holding her hand tightly on the cheek, and then Chloe's eyes widen in surprise.

Beca is so lost in her thought with tears running down her face silently, and she doesn't realize that Chloe is already awake and staring at her for a while.

"Becs?" Chloe calls with hoarse voice.

Upon hearing Chloe calling up to her, Beca pulls out of her mind abruptly and wipes away her tears quickly before putting on a weak smile as she says, "Hey Red."

Suddenly, Chloe starts to cry while rambling out, "I- I'm so sorry Becs... I didn't know what I did, or why I did it... It's just... It was too painful to see you with her, and I couldn't take it anymore. I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..."

"Hey..." Beca tries to calm the redhead softly by stroking her head gently. "Shush... It's okay, Chlo. It's okay."

"You must be so angry with me." Chloe keep on rambling with tears running down her face. "I- I understand if you hate me now... a- and if you don't want to see me anymore... That's why you weren't here yesterday... But I'm sorry Becs... Please forgive me..."

"Shush..." Beca smiles sadly upon seeing how broken Chloe has become because of her. Then she wipes the tears on the redhead's face gently as she says, "No. It's okay, Chlo. I'm not angry. Not at all... Honest."

In confusion, Chloe sobs, "You- you're not?"

While her hand is caressing the red head's cheek gently, Beca smiles and says, "No. I'm not angry. I wasn't here yesterday because I uh..." She swallows hard. "I had to sort things out."

Chloe sniffles softly and asks, "What things?"

With a tight smile, Beca raises her left shoulder, shaking her head lightly as she says, "Just my feelings."

"What feelings?" Chloe asks with her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

Beca sighs deeply, and still with the sad smile, she says, "I'm sorry it has to come down to this for me to realize how I really feel about you."

Before Chloe could say anything in return, suddenly, Beca is being pulled away harshly from behind.

Apparently, Kristen has come into the room with breakfast in her hands. She is stunned to see the tiny brunette there, talking with a crying Chloe. Immediately, Kristen rushes toward the tiny brunette, and pulls her shirt harshly from behind.

"What the fuck are you doing here?!" The short-haired brunette snaps.

"Kristen!" Chloe exclaims in shock.

Beca free herself harshly from Kristen and shoves the short-haired brunette harshly, pinning her onto the wall before she snaps angrily, "Don't you fucking dare touch me!"

Upon hearing the feud, the three other Bellas wake up abruptly. They are stunned for a moment to find Beca in the room, and Emily is the first one to take action.

"Pop!" Emily pulls Beca by her right arm, but the tiny brunette doesn't budge, keep staring angrily toward Kristen with her left arm pressing Kristen's neck so hard that the short-haired brunette's face turns red.

Then Stacie comes up to help Emily pull Beca away, while on the other hand, Aubrey stays close to a very shocked Chloe, simply watching the scene with unreadable expression after turning on the light in the room.

While Emily is holding Beca tightly away from Kristen, Stacie holds the furious short-haired brunette back and warns, "Calm down. Both of you."

"Becs..." Chloe calls worriedly, but Beca keep on staring at Kristen angrily. Then the redhead calls her again, "Becs, come here."

With a harsh angry huff, Beca free herself from Emily and walks toward Chloe. Then the redhead gasps upon noticing the bruise on Beca's jaw, matching the one on Kristen's. She rests her hand gently on Beca's bruise and worriedly asks, "What happened to your face?"

Beca sighs deeply and says, "Nothing you should worry about, Chlo."

Then Chloe turns to look at Kristen angrily and asks in upset, "You did this to her?"

Kristen is taken aback by the sudden anger from the redhead, and she asks in disbelief, "You're taking her side?"

"Answer my question Kris." Chloe asks with a warning tone while Aubrey is watching from the side to see Beca's reaction.

Again, Kristen is taken aback, but the shock turns into anger so fast and she snaps, "Yeah! I did that! For what she did to you!"

"You have no right!" Chloe yells angrily, and her heart monitor beeps rapidly.

"Chlo..." Beca hurriedly calm the redhead. "Chloe... calm down. It's okay. I'm okay. I deserved it."

"But-"

"Just take a deep breath." Beca cuts the redhead softly. "I'm fine."

Thankfully, Chloe complies by taking a few deep breaths, but her eyes are still staring angrily toward Kristen.

On the other hand, Kristen seems not only angry, but also hurt, more hurt than angry. Then she says in defeat, "I did it for you Chlo. She... hurt you. It was because of her that you-"

"And it was my problem." Chloe cuts her off in upset. "I did it to myself. Beca had nothing to do with it."

"Chlo..." Kristen says weakly, almost in pleading.

"Get out." Chloe says firmly.

Stunned by how Chloe is treating her, Kristen becomes speechless for a second, and Chloe says in upset, "No wonder she didn't come here yesterday. It was because of you."

This time, knowing how much Kristen has done for the redhead in the past week, Stacie meddles in by calmly saying, "Chloe... Kristen was just angry. She was worried about you. And she's been here with you all the time."

"But Stace..." Chloe says in upset, but her voice is soften. "She hurt Beca. Look at her bruised jaw."

"And Beca had already hurt her back." Stacie says matter-of-factly. "Worse than she was hurt as you can see."

Chloe clearly can see that Kristen's bruise is bigger than Beca's, but she turns to Aubrey, staring at her blonde best friend with certain look, and then Aubrey looks at Kristen apologetically as she says, "I think you should go Kris."

Kristen is not the only one who needs to pick her jaw up from the floor; Beca, Emily, and Stacie are dumbfounded upon seeing how easily Aubrey gives in to Chloe's unreasonable request.

"Whaa..." Beca responds in disbelief, but Aubrey glares at her and the tiny brunette shuts her mouth in confusion.

" _What the fuck?"_ Beca thought to herself while looking at Emily with puzzled look, and the youngest Bella simply rolls her eyes in annoyance while shaking her head subtly.

"Babe?" Stacie calls in confusion, seems to be slightly upset.

Nevertheless, Aubrey looks at Kristen more firmly and says, "You heard her Kris. If you really care about Chloe, you do as she say."

Kristen sighs angrily, turns to look at Chloe, and says in upset, "Don't come crying to me when she leave you again. And she will."

Upon seeing how pale Chloe has become in the matter of seconds, Beca hurriedly says, "I'm not going anywhere Chlo."

"Promise?" Chloe pleads with tears in her eyes, and Beca swallows hard, nodding as she says, "Promise. But uh... you don't need to ask Kristen to go away. I can handle myself. And her too if I have to."

Then Chloe turns to the short-haired brunette and asks, "Can you handle yourself?"

Kristen scoffs in disbelief and says, "Don't worry about me. I'm out of here."

After Kristen walks out of the room, Chloe pulls Beca closer, staring worriedly at the tiny brunette's bruised jaw and says, "I'm so sorry Becs... It's because of me... It's all because of me..."

"No." Beca says firmly. "Chloe, stop. This isn't your fault. Not at all. It's also not really Kristen's fault. I mean, yeah she did punch me. But she was angry. And Stacie is right. She did it for you, and I did punch back her harder."

Chloe is taken aback and she blurts out nearly in tears, "Are you angry with me?"

For a split second, Beca is taken aback, but she hurriedly says, "No. I'm not angry, Chlo. I'm just... telling you the truth."

"Really?" Chloe pleads.

"Really." Beca reassures the redhead before stealing a confused glance toward Emily who mouths to her _later._

"Come here." Chloe opens her arms, asking Beca for a hug, and the tiny brunette leans closer to hug the redhead before patting her back awkwardly.

Beca waits until Chloe pulls away before pulling away herself, and then she asks, "How are you feeling Chlo?"

"Much better now." Chloe beams joyfully.

With a soft smile, Beca replies, "Good then."

"Becs..." Chloe sounds cautious. "You said... before Kristen pulled you away, you said that you weren't here yesterday to sort your feelings. What does it mean?"

"Hm?" Beca is hesitant to jump into everything, and she takes her time to think for a while. She didn't know how severe Chloe's condition, and now that she has caught a glimpse of it, she's certain that jumping into something serious won't be good for the redhead. Besides, she herself is still adjusting to this situation.

"Becs?" Chloe calls worriedly, and then Beca looks up at the redhead, smiling as she says, "Nothing you should worry about Chlo. Let's just focus on your recovery now."

"But you said..." Chloe pouts. "What feelings?"

"It's-"

"Chloe..." Aubrey cuts the tiny brunette off softly. "Do you mind if I talk to Beca for a moment outside?"

"Why?" Chloe asks curiously. "What do you want to talk about?"

With a soft smile, Aubrey explains patiently, "Nothing serious, sweetie. And it will be just a moment."

Chloe sighs deeply with a pout, but she nods lightly before saying, "Just don't be too long."

"Beca?" Aubrey sounds firm, very contrast with how she talked to Chloe. "A word?"

"Sure." Beca replies nonchalantly, and then she walks out of the room. Apparently, Stacie and Emily also come with them.

Once they're outside of the room, with her arms crossed on her chest, Aubrey asks in upset, "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here for Chloe." Beca replies coldly.

"Are you here with the condition we talked about two days ago?" Aubrey asks again, still as upset.

"No." Beca replies without hesitation. "I'm here with my own condition. I'm here for her as a friend."

"Then you can go now." Aubrey says firmly.

"It's not your decision to make." Beca responds firmly.

"I'm her emergency contact." Aubrey leans forward with threatening look. "I can call the security to drag you out."

"Do it." Beca scoffs. "I'd like to see how you explain to Chloe why I don't stay."

"You always left." Aubrey despises. "It's not hard to explain why you leave again. It's in your nature. It's who you are."

It certainly upset the tiny brunette, and she says through gritted teeth, "You-"

"Babe..." Stacie tiredly cuts them off. "Let her stay. Doesn't matter in what capacity. She's here now. And judging from Chloe's condition yesterday... Chloe needs Beca, Babe."

"But she can't stand in between." Aubrey states without moving her eyes from Beca, still staring angrily toward the tiny brunette. "Like I've told you two days ago. Either you're here as her girlfriend like she wants, or you're out of her life for good."

"Aubrey!" Emily scolds.

It's a never ending fight, and Beca knows that. She and Aubrey will always disagree on most of the things, and it's not the most important thing to argue now after she's broken up with Ashley. Therefore, she sighs deeply and says, "I'm staying. I'll be whatever she needs right now."

Stacie and Emily look at the tiny brunette in shock, but before they can say anything, Aubrey asks to reassure, "Really?"

"Really." Beca replies without hesitation.

Beca can see how relieved Aubrey is though the blonde says nothing, and then she asks in coldly, "Can I go in now? Before she becomes panic, thinking that I leave again?"

After staring at the tiny brunette sternly for a couple of seconds, Aubrey nods and says, "Sure. But remember. You're here to be with her, not as a friend."

With a full force of annoyance, Beca rolls her eyes and walks back into the room, while the other three Bellas stay outside.

"What are you doing?" Emily demands in upset.

"I'm being Chloe's best friend." Aubrey replies sternly.

"That is not being a best friend, Bree!" Emily snaps with a whisper. "You are drowning Chloe! And now Beca too!"

Aubrey scoffs, "Of course it's always about Beca for you. I'm surprised you're not married to her already."

"Are you thick?!" Emily snaps. "She is my best friend! _They_ , are my best friend! I care a big deal about them!"

"Clearly, Chloe is nothing compared to Beca for you." Aubrey says in upset.

"You!" Emily lunges forward, but Stacie holds her back and hurriedly says, "Okay. Enough. Stop fighting. The most important thing is, Beca is here, and Chloe is happy. That is all that matters."

Then Aubrey walks back into the room, but just as she opens the door, she stops on her track.

"Babe?" Stacie is confused.

"Shush..." Aubrey warns in a whisper, and then the two tall brunette see the scene Aubrey is seeing inside of the room.

* * *

After Beca walks into the room, Chloe's eyes lighten up like a Christmas tree, and Beca smiles softly toward the redhead. She walks to sit on the edge of Chloe's bed and says, "Sorry it took longer than I thought."

"What did Aubrey tell you about?" Chloe asks worriedly.

"Nothing..." Beca is hesitant to lie. Therefore, she cautiously says, "Just... making sure that I know about your condition, and what you really need to recover."

Chloe smiles in relief and cautiously says, "The things we talked about before... About the feelings you sorted out... What was it about?"

Beca looks down at her hands on her laps, staring at her engagement ring for a while before looking up at Chloe again to say, "I..." She swallows hard. "What happened to you... what you did... it was eye opening for me."

"What do you mean?" Chloe can feel her heart is racing from the nervousness of hoping, and the heart monitor shows it all.

Thinking that Chloe is panicking, Beca hurriedly says, "I choose you Chlo."

Upon seeing Chloe's dumbfounded look, Beca swallows hard and mutters, "I'm... I'm staying with you."

Still, Chloe just keep staring at the tiny brunette with her jaw slacked open, and Beca continues, "Like I said... I'm sorry that it has to come down to all of this for me to realize that... I have to be with you. I can't live without... knowing that you're happy... It has to be you, Chlo... And I..."

Beca stops on her track, swallowing hard because she doesn't have the heart to lie and tell Chloe the _I love you_ words.

Therefore, she tries to bring back into her mind, the feelings of loving Chloe back in college. Then with a soft smile, she asks, "Do you remember the two months you were so mad at me because I accidentally flirted with Kommisar, and you didn't talk to me at all unless it was Bella related?"

"Yeah?" Chloe replies unsurely.

With her hand stroking Chloe's head gently, Beca asks, "Do you remember how many tubs of ice cream, how many bouquets of flowers, how many mixes, how many boxes of your favorite chocolate milk I gave to make you talk to me again?"

Chloe giggles and says, "Yeah. I remember. One hell lots of those things. I was so jealous."

"I didn't know." Beca chuckles lightly. "I thought your concern was about her being our enemy."

"I was jealous, thickhead." Chloe pouts.

"I do know now." Beca says with a smirk. Then her smile turns soft again as she says, "Do you remember how I always let you have the last piece of my tiramisu?"

Chloe nods with her cheeks flushing red, and then she mutters shyly, "You love your tiramisu. And you didn't let anybody else touch your dessert but me."

"Lucky you." Beca pinches her nose playfully. "Do you remember the uh... super cheesy stuff I did to make you talk to me again other than those stuff I've mentioned?"

"You did hold a boombox outside of my room." Chloe eyes are unfocused, remembering the moment while smiling fondly. "The whole night with Just The Way You Are playing in repeat. Until Fat Amy came and snatched that boombox from you. Then you sang it loudly for me until Stacie scolded you for ruining hunter's sexy time. But in the end, it was CR who pulled you back into your room, and Emily tied you down with some kind of a cable and shoved a cloth into your mouth. That was what it took to stop you, and for me to forgive you."

Beca laughs as that moment crosses her mind, and Chloe is laughing too; a light laughter that Beca hasn't heard in a very long time, and it certainly means something for the tiny brunette to be able to make her best friend laugh again.

Then the redhead asks, "What about all of those things?"

"I..." Beca stops talking, the L word is stuck on the tip of her tongue, and Ashley's face comes into her mind. She shakes it off by taking a deep breath before putting on a light smile as she says, "I forgot how it all felt like to uh... to feel that way with you. And yesterday... it all came back to me."

Chloe is not sure yet, but her eyes are glimmering when she asks, "You really choose me?"

After swallowing hard, Beca nods without saying anything.

"Are you really, _really_ choosing me now?" Chloe asks again with happy teary eyes.

"I..." Beca's eyes also become teary, but it's not happiness that she feels, it's the suffocating pang of sadness in her chest. Then she swallows hard and says, "I... Yea. It has to be you... I choose you, Chlo."

However, Chloe worriedly says, "But you seem sad. Are you sure this is what you really want?"

Beca is taken aback; she forgets how sensitive people with BPD to face expressions, but she hurriedly says, "I'm just sad that it has to come down to this for me to pull my head out of my ass."

This time, Chloe gives the tiny brunette her megawatt smile that could light up the whole universe before pulling Beca into her arms. The redhead is crying when she says, "Took you long enough, Becs..."

"Yea..." Beca says sadly with restraint voice while hugging Chloe back. "Took me too long... And I'm sorry that you had to... do this, harming yourself, for me to come back to my senses. To choose you. So if you'll have me, then... I'm here for you, Chlo."

Then Chloe pulls away, staring fondly with teary eyes toward the tiny brunette and softly says, "Doesn't matter Becs. You're here now. And for me, it's all that matters."

Beca caresses Chloe's teary cheek gently with the back of her hand and worriedly says with restraint voice, "So please... don't ever do it again, okay? Not for anything. I can't... I couldn't even imagine how I could've survived if you had..."

Upon hearing how shaky Beca's voice is, Chloe is moved, and she cries again, saying, "Becs... I promise... I won't do this ever again. As long as I have you."

Beca nods lightly, still with that sad smile on her face. Then she clears her throat and says, "You need to rest Red."

"But I just see you." Chloe pouts.

With a light chuckle, Beca softly says, "I'm not going anywhere, Chlo. Just rest. I'll be here when you wake up."

"Promise?" Chloe asks with her puppy eyes, but the worry is obvious.

"Promise." Beca says with a reassuring smile.

Chloe grins from ear to ear and nods lightly as she softly says, "I love you, Becs."

Still finding it hard to say back the L word, Beca swallows hard, smiling with her jaw clenched before replying with a cracked voice, "And I you."

With a beaming, blinding grin, Chloe lays back down on the bed, and Beca puffs her blanket to make sure that the redhead is comfortable before she herself takes a seat next to Chloe's bed.

Then Beca takes Chloe's hand in hers and kisses it gently, making the redhead blushing as red as her hair, and then the tiny brunette says firmly but with a soft tone, "Sleep."

Cheerfully, Chloe nods and closes her eyes.

While Beca and Chloe are having their moment, unknowingly, the three other Bellas are watching the scene from the very beginning. Aubrey looks so relieved, Stacie seems torn, and Emily cries a little bit, unsure if it's a happy tears for Chloe, or a sad one for Beca.

Then they come into the room silently, and Stacie walks toward the tiny brunette from behind before putting her hands on Beca's shoulders and squeezes it gently.

However, Beca shrugs her off subtly by reaching her food container. Stacie can feel a pang in her chest upon being rejected by her best friend, but she understands that she has pushed the tiny brunette too far this time.

When Emily notices how Beca shrugs Stacie off, she walks toward the tiny brunette and wraps her shoulders from behind before kissing her temple over the shoulder. And Beca let her, squeezing Emily's arm on her chest tightly as if saying that she's okay.

Then Beca opens her food container, and the first thing that catches her eyes is a note. She takes it out and reads it to find that it's a part of a song, Love Will Set You Free by Kodaline. It's written in Ashley's diagonal round neat handwriting, the one that matches the tattoo on her left chest.

_If you're ever feeling lonely_   
_If you're ever feeling down_   
_You should know you're not the only one,_   
_'cause I feel it with you now_   
_When the world is on your shoulders,_   
_and you're falling to your knees_   
_Oh please_   
_You know love will set you free_

_Just remember, it's going to be okay.  
_ _-Love, Ashley._

After reading the note, Beca folds it carefully and puts it in her wallet, under a picture of her and Ashley on the night she asked the blonde to be her girlfriend. That picture has been in her wallet for more than five years. She brushes her thumb gently on the picture, smiling softly over the memory of it.

Instead of crying, Beca feels lighter, knowing that even though she and Ashley aren't together anymore, nothing could change the fact that they love each other. They share a love that is so selfless and strong enough to let go of each other for someone else's happiness.

"It's beautiful, Pop." Emily softly says, still wrapping Beca's shoulders from behind.

"Yea." Beca smiles fondly, still staring at the picture. "She's beautiful."

Then Emily presses another kiss on Beca's temple before pulling away, letting Beca has her breakfast.

After she takes her meds, Beca spends her time staring at her engagement ring until she falls asleep, sitting on the chair, leaning forward with her head on the hospital bed and her left hand near her lips.

* * *

Chloe wakes up again around 10 AM, and the first thing she notices is Beca's sleeping face. It certainly brings a fond smile to her face, and she caresses Beca's head gently, feeling this warm sensation raising up from her stomach to her chest.

Even though she had to get through a hard phase, Chloe couldn't help but feeling so grateful that it brought Beca to her senses that they're meant to be together.

Meanwhile, Aubrey walks to stand next to the redhead along with her wife and softly asks, "How are you feeling, Chlo?"

With a grin so wide and her eyes lighten up, Chloe replies, "Never been better."

The couple smile in relief upon having a chance to see the bubbly Chloe again. Then Chloe turns to Stacie and cheerfully says, "I've told you. True love takes time. And apparently, in this case, it also took one stupid mistake to make it come true."

Upon seeing how unbearably happy Chloe is, Stacie couldn't help but thinking that she and Aubrey have made the right decision to push Beca, and then she softly says, "My bad, Chloe."

Then Aubrey kisses Chloe's forehead and walks back to the sofa bed with Stacie, leaving Chloe staring at Beca's frowny sleeping face.

Not long after, two doctors come in and Chloe nudges Beca gently on her shoulder as she says, "Becs, wake up."

However, Beca being Beca, she doesn't budge, and Chloe giggles upon seeing how adorable Beca is. Then she shakes Beca's shoulder gently, but still, it's not working, and Chloe giggles again.

On the other hand, Aubrey is getting impatient, and she pushes Beca a bit harsh. Then Beca wakes up abruptly, blinking her eyes repeatedly to gather back her senses while blurting out, "What the hell?"

"Becs," Chloe calls softly. "The doctors are here."

"Oh." Beca is still blinking her eyes as she stands up. "I'm up."

Then Beca notices that there are two female doctors standing close to the redhead, one is obviously an American, and the other one seems to be an Asian.

"Becs," Chloe starts cheerfully before gesturing her hand toward the American doctor and says, "This is Doctor Grey, a general surgeon," then she gestures her hand to the Asian look doctor and says, "And that one is Doctor Ow, a psychiatrist."

Beca nods to them and says, "Mitchell. Beca Mitchell."

"We know who you are." Doctor Ow says with a surprisingly calming smile. "And just Pauline will be suffice."

Again, Beca simply nods lightly with a tight smile.

Doctor Grey chips in, "Chloe wasn't joking when she said that she's friends with DJ Mitchell last night."

"No." Beca smiles lightly, looking at the beaming redhead. "She's not joking. We've been friends in a very long time."

"Girlfriends now." Chloe says cheerfully, and Beca tensed up, holding her breath for a couple of seconds, but the happy beaming smile on Chloe's face pulls her back to her logical thinking, and she takes a deep breath before softly saying, "Yea. What she said."

The two doctors keep their smile on, but subtly steal a glance toward Aubrey and Stacie because they saw how hysterical the redhead was yesterday afternoon about _her_ tiny DJ. When they get a light nod from Aubrey, Doctor Grey says, "Congratulations then."

"Thanks." Chloe replies joyfully.

Then Doctor Grey checks Chloe's vital, and after doing the routine check-up, the doctor says, "Your vitals are good. And if you keep getting better, you might be discharged in a couple of days."

Just as Chloe is going to squeal in joy, Pauline beats her to it by warning the redhead softly, " _If_ , and only if, I deem you are capable of doing better psychologically."

Chloe rolls her eyes playfully and cheerfully says, "I've already got what I needed, Pauline. I'll pass the test with flying colors."

"About that..." Pauline says softly. "I have prescribed you with some meds, and you must take it daily. No more skipping meds either it's unintentionally, or the otherwise."

"Deal." Chloe says without hesitation.

Still with the soft calming smile, Pauline asks, "Have you considered a psychotherapy?"

"I've been there before." Chloe says nonchalantly. "I know how it works. So... I don't think I need it. It will be the same thing."

"I strongly suggest you to have at least a couple of sessions, Chloe." Doctor Pauline says, still as calm, but the persuasion in her voice is firm.

"Chlo..." Beca grabs Chloe's hand gently. "Psychotherapy will help you so much. I was in a therapy too three years ago. And it helped back on my feet."

"But I have you now..." Chloe pouts.

With a soft smile, Beca patiently persuades, "I'm not enough, Chlo. I'm not a therapist."

Upon not getting what she wants from the tiny brunette, Chloe turns to Aubrey and pleads, "Bree..."

Then Aubrey says toward the doctors, "She's much better now, doc. I don't think it's necessary."

"It's necessary." Beca says in upset toward the blonde. "How could you think that it's not?"

"Becs..." Chloe is on the verge of crying now, and Aubrey hurriedly says firmly, "It's not necessary anymore. We'll take care of her doc."

"Well..." Pauline stares at Aubrey firmly, but the calming vibe is pouring out from the doctor. "I'll do some more assessment this afternoon with psychological instrument and brain imaging. And then we can consider the options with more information about Chloe's condition."

"Okay." Beca says without hesitation. "But I still think that Chloe will be so much better if she do the therapy."

"I agree." Pauline smiles softly toward the tiny brunette.

With a stern upset look toward the tiny brunette, Aubrey says, "Fortunately, _I_ am her emergency contact. And I happen to know Chloe better than you."

Doesn't want to have another fight with the blonde especially in front of Chloe, Beca sighs in annoyance but says nothing.

"Let's just wait for the test result." Stacie says diplomatically.

"Okay then." Doctor Grey says with a tight smile. "A nurse will come with your lunch in a moment, Chloe. I'll see you again tomorrow."

"Thanks docs." Chloe replies softly, and then the doctors walk out of Chloe's room.

Trying to persuade the redhead, Beca sits on the edge of the bed, holding Chloe's hand when she softly says, "Chlo... have the therapy. It will help so much more than just meds."

"I've been in a therapy before." Chloe pleads stubbornly. "It didn't help much, Becs... I did this... I took the pills because I've been skipping meds without Bree finding out. That's why I..."

"Chloe..." Beca says patiently. "In your case, you definitely need meds. But meds alone isn't enough. Besides, the meds for depression most of the times can cause suicidal thought instead. And it can cause addiction. It's scientifically proven. That's why my therapist have never prescribed me any. Instead, she taught me how to do meditation, to train my automatic negative thoughts, and to learn how to cope better with daily exercise combined with acupuncture. And I'm much better now."

"But in my case, the meds helped." Chloe says still as stubborn. "It's just... the thing I did the other day, there was a trigger... And now that I have you... there will be no trigger anymore."

Beca turns to Stacie, hoping for a support, but Aubrey beats her to it by saying firmly, "If she thinks she can do it, then let her make the decision herself, Beca."

Just as the tiny brunette wants to argue, a nurse comes in with Chloe's lunch. Therefore, Beca simply clenches her jaw and puts off the discussion for now.

Then with a shy smile, Chloe mutters, "Becs... do you mind to uh... feed me?"

Beca chuckles lightly and says, "Of course I don't mind."

Then as Beca is feeding her, Chloe cautiously asks, "Becs, you said that you choose me. What about you and Ashley?"

Beca stops her hand for a second before she looks up, feeding Chloe and tries to nonchalantly answer, "We uh... talked about it. And uh... we decided to end our..." She swallows subtly. _"_ We agreed to end our relationship."

Although she knows that Beca must be hurting, Chloe can't help but smiling lightly as she asks, "And she is okay with that?"

As the lump is starting to block her throat again, Beca clears it out very lightly and says, "Well... We uh... agreed that there's no point of having a relationship when... one person isn't happy anymore. So... yeah. We uh... we'll be okay."

Everything Beca told Chloe so far were the truth. After years being honest to the people around her, she found it hard to lie. Therefore, she carefully and subtly told Chloe about the truth without hurting the redhead's feeling. The interpretation of her words are something she can't control.

With a calming smile, Chloe takes Beca's hand and squeezes it gently as she says, "I promise that I will love you in the best way I can. And I will make you happy again. We'll be happy together, Becs."

"I don't have any doubt that you would." Beca replies with a light smile before feeding Chloe again, and the redhead nods with a bright smile.

Suddenly, Beca's phone rings, and she pulls it out from her pocket, seeing Donna's face on the screen and picks up, "Donna." ... ... ... "Uh huh." ... ... She glances toward Chloe before she continues, "Can't it be postponed?" ... ... ... She sighs deeply. "Alright." ... ... ... "Yeah I know. I'll be there in 20. Thanks."

As soon as Beca ends the phone call, Chloe asks, "What is it Becs?"

"It's uh..." Beca puts her phone back into her pocket. "I have to go to the studio for a meeting."

A frown is forming on Chloe's face instantly, and she pouts while asking, "Can't you do it in other time?"

"No can't do, Red." Beca smiles sympathetically.

"What's the point of being a boss if you can't reschedule your meeting?" Chloe whines, still with that endearing pouting lip.

Then Beca patiently explains, "I had postponed this meeting from last week. It just can't wait anymore."

However, Chloe keep pleading, "But I just got you back... And now you're gonna leave again..."

Emily who's sensing the uneasy feeling in Beca from the beginning says, "Chloe, it's okay. We'll stay with you here. Beca will come back later. Right Pop?"

"Definitely." While stroking Chloe's head gently, Beca patiently says, "I'll come back as soon as my work is done."

"Hmph." Chloe pouts. "Okay then."

Just as Beca is turning around, Chloe holds her elbow, pouting when she retorts, "Aren't you supposed to give me a kiss goodbye?"

Beca feels cold all of the sudden, but she swallows hard and turns around slowly to face the redhead. With a tight smile, Beca leans forward and kisses Chloe's forehead before saying, "Be good Red."

However, Chloe wraps her arms behind Beca's neck and pulls the tiny brunette back to kiss her on the lips.

Although she's taken by surprise, Beca presses Chloe's lips back gently for a second and pulls away instantly, unaware that she's holding her breath.

With a blinding bright smile, Chloe cheerfully replies, "I will be good. But don't be too long."

Beca nods lightly before turning on her heels and walks out of the room. She hasn't gone more than 10 feet when Stacie calls her from behind, "Shorty."

With a tired sigh, Beca turns around to find Emily and Stacie are standing in front of Chloe's room. Then she puts her hands in her pockets, pressing her lips tightly as she responds, "Hm?"

When Stacie approaches her and tries to hug her, Beca steps back instantly. Then Stacie also steps back a little bit even though she's hurt by the rejection. With an apologetic smile, she says, "Thank you, Beca."

As much as she doesn't want to blame Aubrey and Stacie, Beca can't help but resenting them. She glances her eyes away, pinches the tip of her nose gently, and coldly says, "Don't thank me. Thank Ashley. Because she's a better person than I will ever be."

With that being said, Beca turns on her heels and walks away, leaving the two Bellas stunned on their feet.

* * *

**Beca's Studio**

The meeting took longer than she'd expected. It's already almost 6 PM, but Beca hasn't done with her work yet. It isn't surprising, considering that she has been putting off work for a whole week since her engagement.

She is reading the script for a musical movie when Donna walks into her office and worriedly asks, "Monkey, where is your phone?"

"Hm?" Beca responds without looking up from the paper.

"Emily just called me to ask your whereabouts. And I told her you're still working."

"Oh." Beca sighs deeply. "Chloe's been texting and calling non-stop. I couldn't concentrate on work. So I turned it off."

"Hmmm..." Donna responds casually. Then she asks, "Have you eaten yet?"

"I uh..." Beca raises her eyebrows. "Totally forgot."

"Huh." Donna furrows her eyebrows in confusion, takes a seat in front of the tiny brunette and asks, "It's not like Ashley would just let you skip lunch and meds. What happened?"

With a long sigh, Beca simply says, "Life just love to kick me on my teeth."

"Harvey told me about your phone call yesterday." Donna smiles sympathetically. "You two fighting again because of Chloe?"

Beca puts down the script, looks at Donna, and sadly says, "We broke up."

"You what?!" Donna seems so shocked. "How? Why?"

After huffing out a long defeated breath through her mouth, Beca presses the crook between her eyes with her thumb and index finger, trying to hold the tears that is threatening to flow out from her eyes. Then she clears her throat and tells Donna the whole story. It is a huge surprise when Beca doesn't break down while telling the story.

By the time Beca ends the story, Donna walks toward her and pulls her in a hug before saying, "I'm so sorry, monkey."

"Me too." Beca says with her voice cracked.

Then Donna pulls away, staring at the tiny brunette sympathetically and asks, "Are you sure that there are no other options?"

With her lips pressed tightly to hold back her sobs, Beca shakes her head and weakly mutters, "I wished there was."

Even though she can see that Beca is hurting, Donna has learnt from a long time ago not to let the brunette dwelling on her misery. Therefore, instead of asking Beca more about her feelings or pouring out her own anger toward Beca's best friends, Donna pats her shoulder, kisses her forehead, and says, "Harvey and I will always be there for you, monkey. Don't ever doubt that. And you'll get through this rough patch. You always have."

Beca smiles toward the redhead and says, "I know. Thank you Donna."

With a soft smile, Donna asks, "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Actually..." Beca picks up and reads the script again to look nonchalant. "I need your help to uh... get my stuff at our..." She clears her throat. "I mean at Ashley's house. You know, just my clothes."

"Done."

"And uh..." Still, without taking her eyes off the script, Beca asks, "Can you please find me an apartment? Just like the old one will do."

Donna smirks and says, "Well, I don't need to find you an apartment like the old one since you still have it."

Surprised by the fact, Beca looks up at the redhead and asks in comic surprise, "You keep my old apartment?"

Donna shrugs and explains, "It's a good place and near the office. I will ask someone to clean it up right away so you can stay there starting from tomorrow."

"You're the best." Beca smiles softly.

"I know." Donna smirks smugly, and then her smirk turns soft as she says, "You can stay at our place tonight."

"I uh..." Beca takes a deep breath. "I think I'm gonna stay at the hospital until Chloe is discharged."

"Oh." Donna nods absentmindedly. "Anything else?"

"Please send Rico or Pascal to bring me some clothes to the hospital tonight."

"Okay." Donna says casually. "What do you want for dinner?"

"Hmmm..." Beca takes her time to think before she says, "Porridge will do. Can you order a takeaway for five people? I'll eat at the hospital. I bet Chloe and the others must've been bored with hospital food."

"No problem." Donna says certainly, and then she looks at the tiny brunette worriedly as she says, "Monkey, you need to take care of yourself too. You need to eat, meditate, sleep, exercise, and take your meds properly. How about your meds? Need a refill?"

"Hmmm..." Beca seems sad as the thought of how much she has been so depending on Ashley comes across her mind. "I don't know. Ashley was usually the one who took care of this kind of stuff. But you know... since uh... Just ask for a new prescription. Call Liv or something. In the meantime, I'll just... uhm... I'll set reminders on my phone for those other craps."

With a sympathetic smile, Donna says, "I'll remind you every day. Don't worry. And I will make an appointment with Harley next week for you. You need to talk to her about your condition. And have a couple sessions of acupuncture to help you sleep."

Beca gives her an appreciative smile and teases, "What would I do without you, Donna?"

With a smirk so smug, Donna raises her left shoulder and says, "Probably lying ten feet under the ground."

Beca rolls her eyes playfully, and then Donna playfully adds, "You pay me to do those things."

"I hope I pay you enough." Beca replies with a smirk, knowing that Donna has had the privilege to set her own salary in the past eight years.

"More than you know." Donna answers smugly.

Beca's smirk turns into a soft smile as she says, "Thank you Donna. For everything."

Donna pats her head and replies, "No problem, monkey. You know we love you."

"I know." Beca replies with cracked voice, feeling so grateful for having the best people she can call family in so many worst times of her life after Barden.

After that, they just talk about work stuff until Beca's dinner arrive and she goes back to the hospital.

* * *

**The Hospital: November 4** **th** **2025, Evening**

Beca arrives at the hospital almost at 8 PM. When she walks into Chloe's room, all of the Bellas are there, talking, and joking with the redhead. It certainly raises the tension in the tiny brunette.

"Becs!" Chloe exclaims joyfully as soon as the brunette comes in.

With a tight smile, Beca replies, "Hey Red. Whew... It's kind of a full house here."

Flo stands up and asks in upset, "What are you doing here?"

"None of your business" Beca replies coldly.

Becoming angrier, Flo almost snaps, "You-"

"Is that dinner in your hands Pop?" Emily cuts the tiny Guatemalan off. "I'm starving."

While Emily is trying to ease the tension, Stacie is eyeing the rest of the Bellas with warning look.

"Yeah." Beca replies casually as she puts the meal on the nearest table. "But I didn't know that there would be so many people. So, I just bring enough for five people."

Thankfully, CR immediately takes the cue Stacie is giving them and jokes, "What? No food for Fat Amy? Oh, what a disaster."

"Hey! Watch it black beauty." Fat Amy mocks upset. "I've wrestled-"

"Crocodiles and dingos." Chloe says impatiently. "We've heard about that already. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to greet my girlfriend with a proper kiss."

It certainly raises not only confusion among the rest of the Bellas, but also anger for some of them. Sensing the tension, Stacie immediately tries to joke, "Yeah Fat Amy. Stop telling us the same boring story."

Fat Amy instantly picks up her jaw and says, "Su- sure..."

"Becs..." Chloe opens her arms, asking a hug from the tiny brunette.

Beca feels like she's walking through fire toward Chloe, judging from the anger look that comes from Flo, Jessica, Ashley, and Lily. However, she doesn't care and keep on walking toward the redhead.

After sitting on the edge of the bed, Beca kisses Chloe's forehead gently.

"What took you so long?" Chloe pouts.

"Sorry." Beca chuckles lightly. "Had a lot of work. How are you feeling, Red?"

"In love." Chloe is beaming with joy. Then she puts a hand behind Beca's neck to pull her in for a kiss, but Beca pulls away.

Upon seeing the hurt in Chloe's face, Beca hurriedly says, "Other people. We've got uh... company."

Chloe smiles in understanding before turning to look at her other friends and playfully says, "Well, you heard her."

Other than Stacie, Aubrey, and Emily; the other Bellas really need to pick up their jaw from the floor, and Stacie hurriedly offers, "Why don't we go and get some dinner at the cafeteria?"

"Great idea." Emily chips in instantly. "I'm starving."

"I'm starving too." Fat Amy laughs awkwardly.

"You're always starving, Fat Amy." CR joins in the distraction.

Upon seeing how confused and reluctant to leave the rest of the Bellas are, with her firm voice, Aubrey says, "Let's go now."

Nobody dares to defy the almighty older captain, especially when it's about Chloe. Therefore, all of them leave Beca and Chloe in the room.

After their friends are out of the room, Chloe turns to look at Beca, smiling teasingly as she retorts, "Now, where were we?"

Out of option to avoid the kiss, Beca smiles weakly, leans in, and kisses Chloe on the corner of her lips. However, Chloe wraps her arms on the back of Beca's neck, and pulls her closer to deepen the kiss, to which Beca returns in the most awkward way.

Thinking that Beca is just still shy and not used to kissing her, Chloe pulls away, giggling as she says, "You are so adorable, Mitchell."

With a forced light laughter, trying so hard to hide her shaking hands by clenching it tightly, Beca says, "Not adorable, Red."

Then Beca starts putting out the dinner. Just like this afternoon, Chloe demands for Beca to feed her, and the tiny brunette complies with a light chuckle.

Beca doesn't mind doing such thing. She herself is the clingiest person whenever she is sick, and Ashley has always spoiled her. Therefore, she understands the need of being spoiled from the redhead, thinking that it's normal to act that way when a person is feeling not well.

* * *

Meanwhile at the cafeteria. It's already 8 PM and there are only a few people around.

"Anybody wants to tell us what it was all about?" CR asks in confusion.

"Yeah. Shawshank and ginger are together now?" Fat Amy adds as confused. "What about blondie? Her hot fiancé, remember?"

"The blonde doesn't matter." Flo chips in impatiently. Then she turns to Stacie and demands, "You said that she chose not to be a Bella anymore. You said she left."

Stacie sighs deeply and says, "She did."

"Then why the hell is she here now?" Jessica asks in upset, and as usual, Bella's Ashley adds, "More importantly, why Chloe said that they are together now?"

Again, Stacie sighs deeply, doesn't know how to tell her best friends of how she and Aubrey had driven the tiny brunette away two days ago. Before she can say anything, Flo asks in upset, "Is she here to play with Chloe's feeling again? To break her heart again?"

"I think you should stop thinking of Beca as the bad guy here." Emily says coldly.

"Oh no." Flo replies matter-of-factly. "I don't think she's the bad guy here. I _know_ she is the bad guy here."

Jessica scoffs and says, "Left us, left Chloe ten years ago," Then Bella's Ashley despises, "And then left again two days ago after knowing what happened to Chloe because of her."

"Don't need a scientist like me to conclude what a jerk Beca Mitchell is." Lily says flatly.

"I think we should hold our horses." CR says firmly. "Beca deserves the benefit of the doubt."

"Again, I'm with black beauty and legacy in this one." Fat Amy says casually.

"She's done enough to earn my conclusion." Flo says sharply.

"More than enough." Jessica and Ashley say in unison.

Emily turns to Stacie and Aubrey, staring angrily at the couple for letting the rest of the Bellas think so low about Beca without giving them the full information. Then she firmly asks, "Why don't we give Beca a chance to explain herself, _Bree_?"

The punctuation on her name certainly makes Aubrey flinch a little bit, but the blonde coldly says, "Lily, you go to Chloe's room and tell Beca to come here. But you stay there with Chloe."

With a light nod, Lily walks away. Not long after, a nonchalant Beca walks into the cafeteria, takes a seat next to Emily, and casually asks, "What's up?"

"What's up?" Flo retorts in upset and disbelief.

Beca furrows her eyebrows, acting so nonchalant when she says, "Yeah. What's up."

"You left us two days ago!" Flo roars angrily. "You left Chloe, who loves you so much, and you left us! Your best friends!"

"I did." Beca says nonchalantly. "But it was two days ago. Not today."

"You kissed her when you were still with Ashley," Jessica adds in upset, and then Bella's Ashley jumps in, "And you left her. Again! And now so suddenly you think you can just... come back into her life and be her girlfriend?"

"Huh." Beca responds so, so nonchalantly. "First of, have you asked Aubrey and Stacie the reason why I left two days ago, and why so suddenly I became Chloe's girlfriend in less than 24 hours since I came back?"

Flo is taken aback for a second, but she hurriedly snaps, "I, we, want to hear it from you!"

Beca nods absentmindedly, staring at Aubrey with her arms crossed on her chest, trying to hide her shaking hands. The tiny brunette's face doesn't show anger or even the slightest annoyance, but simply a cold flat look.

Then Beca scoffs lightly and calmly says, "About the kiss. Yeah, I did kiss her back. And yeah, I didn't choose her after that. You can judge and blame me all your way to China. But you do know that when Chloe kissed me,"

Upon getting the despise look from Flo, Beca smirks with an eyebrow raised and continues, "Yeah. When Chloe _kissed_ me, and she kissed me first by the way, she was also still engaged to Kristen. Do you give her the same third degree? The same judgement? The same... I don't know... blaming?"

Flo, Jessica, and Ashley are not the only Bellas who seem not only taken aback, but also slightly ashamed. Stacie and Aubrey seem to feel the same way. Then Beca smiles, a subtle undermining smile as she says, "Thought so."

Feeling offended, Aubrey leans forward and hisses angrily, "But she left Kristen. For you!"

"I didn't ask her to." Beca replies matter-of-factly. "I didn't push her, I didn't tell her to, I didn't say that I'd choose her right after the kiss. What she did to Kristen, it was all her decision. It wasn't on me. And for the record, I did say, on that same night, I told her that I'm in love with Ashley. I told her not to get her hopes up."

"But you should have done the same thing for her!" Flo snaps in upset.

"Why?" Beca asks nonchalantly.

"Because she loves you!" Jessica snaps, and then Ashley adds, "And she tried to kill herself _twice._ Because of you!"

Beca scoffs again before saying, "Okay. As unreasonable as it is to blame it all on me since I had no idea that she was gonna kill herself, I'll agree with you on that. So here I am. Trying to make it up to her for the mess I've made."

Flo crosses her arms on her chest and asks in upset, "Why today? Why not two days ago?"

"Oh she's afraid of course." Jessica says in despise, and then Ashley adds with the same tone, "Now that she doesn't have anybody on her side, she's terrified. So she crawls her way back to us. Just so you know, we all agreed that you don't deserve Chloe. She doesn't need you in her life."

"Hmmm..." Beca takes her time by staring at Flo, Jessica, and Ashley calmly before asking, "You love Chloe right?"

"Much more than you." Flo says without hesitation.

Then Beca looks around at Jessica, Ashley, CR, and Fat Amy, and then asks the same thing, "And all of you. You love Chloe right?"

"Sure." CR replies.

"Of course." Fat Amy says.

"No doubt." Jessica and Ashley says in unison.

"Huh." Beca flexes her neck and asks still as calm, "So if I asked you to drop your life, your family, your children to move here to L.A., to be with Chloe because she needed you, then you would say yes right away, with no question asked, and no need to consider anything at all?"

Everybody become silent all of the sudden. Then, still with the coldly calm look, Beca continues, "If I asked you to choose only between two choices, and those are between leaving everything you have behind to stay with Chloe, or leaving her for good, you would say _sir, yes sir! Right away! We definitely choose the first one."_

Still, everybody just keep staring at her with less anger now, but more confused, because most of them didn't know the exact situation two days ago. However, now they slowly put the pieces together.

"I guess I don't need to explain anything else." Beca says with an arrogant smirk, trying so hard to hide her anger. "And since some of you have been so, so kind to show how good friends you are to Chloe, and how much a jerk I am for leaving Chloe out cold even though you haven't asked or even let me explain everything, I think we can agree and stop pretending how good friends you are to me. And I'm not talking about you Em."

This time, Flo, Jessica, Ashley, CR, Fat Amy, and Stacie flinch, but not with Aubrey. The blonde seems to show her arrogant look, while in fact, she's trying to hide her shame. However, her believe that everything she's done is what's best for Chloe still stands tall.

Then Beca takes a deep breath and puts on a tight smile as she says, "And I'm not gonna pretend that I'm a good friend for all of you, especially for Chloe. I'm certainly not. Again, you are allowed to hate and blame me all your way to China. But if you don't want me to be around Chloe, you can take it up to her. Tell her your opinion, and if she doesn't want to have me at all, I'll walk away. If that's what she wanted, by all means, I'd love to give her the happy life she deserves. _Even_ if it means I don't get to see her again."

"Oh it would be so easy for you to leave her again." Flo says sarcastically. "You with your perfect life. You certainly don't need Chloe at all. Even though after she tried to kill herself for loving you."

Still, Beca keep her cold look when she says, "Frankly, I've lived my life without most of you for ten years. And as hard as it was, I lived. But just so you know, what you see as a perfect life, that you know nothing about, it doesn't come easy. But yeah. A perfect life nonetheless. So excuse me if I needed to think twice, more than twice even, to just up and leave. Especially when I was given no other choice."

Upon seeing how silent the Bellas are, Beca scoffs lightly still with that tight smile on her face, and then she asks, "So... anything else you want to judge me about? Anything else you want to blame me about?"

Still, the Bellas don't even dare to look at the tiny brunette eye to eye, unless for Emily, who is trying to hide her proud smile toward her former captain, thinking about how right Ashley was; Beca is indeed Harvey's golden pupil.

On the other hand, CR seems to show approval to what Beca have said, and so is Fat Amy. However, they say nothing, feeling a bit shameful for not standing up and fighting more for the tiny brunette the other day.

"No?" Beca retorts nonchalantly. "Well, if you don't mind, I'm asking, respectfully, because you are _all_ Chloe's best friends, if you have nothing to snap at me anymore, I'd like to go back to Chloe and enjoy my dinner with her."

When there is no response from anybody, Beca shrugs and walks away. However, she stops in an empty hallway, trying to calm herself by taking a few deep breaths, staring at her shaking hands.

It was hard to hide her shaking hands at the cafeteria, because she was indeed furious. Two days ago, she took in all of the accusations and judgments without question, without denial, because she knew that she had a huge part in causing Chloe's pain.

However, it's not the case today, not after she lost the love of her life. Moreover, she was right to call Harvey yesterday. He set her mind right about how unfairly the people she called best friends had treated her the other day. He is indeed the best adviser Beca could ever have when it comes to logical thinking.

Other than Emily, nobody seemed to have a slight understanding, or even gave her any chance to explain her side of story without yelling at her. Well, CR and Fat Amy did try to defend her, and she was thankful for that.

However, upon being treated badly again in one of the worst days in her life, Beca couldn't help but put on her _I don't take shit from stupid people_ attitude to deal with all of them.

" _Babe, breathe..."_ Ashley's soft voice echoes in her head, and she complies. After she deems that she's calm enough and her hands aren't shaking anymore, Beca walks back to Chloe's room. Then Lily leaves immediately to go back to the cafeteria.

"Everything okay Becs?" Chloe asks worriedly.

With a soft smile, Beca nonchalantly replies, "Everything's fine, Chlo."

"Are you sure?" Chloe seems to not believing the tiny brunette.

"Completely." Beca says without hesitation while taking her porridge again. "Let's finish our dinner. I'm starving."

"Okay." Chloe smiles fondly. Then she giggles upon seeing a bit of porridge on Beca's cheek, and she takes a tissue before wiping the porridge away as she says, "Babe, you've got porridge all over your cheek."

Although the act and the pet name stun Beca, she takes the tissue from Chloe, smiling weakly as she wipes her own cheek and mutters, "Thanks."

As much as Beca loves Chloe, but the kisses, the hugs, and the way Chloe's been treating her the whole day; it feels a lot like she is cheating on Ashley. For the tiny brunette, it certainly doesn't feel good at all.

Then Beca sighs deeply, hoping that this conflicted feeling will go away as time goes on.

* * *

After Beca has left, the rest of the Bellas remain silent for a while until Lily comes back and asks, "Did you set her straight?"

With a sharp glare, Emily turns to Aubrey and says, "I think you owe them some explanations Bree."

"Yeah." CR says in upset. "Why do I get a feeling that you've forced Beca to leave her fiancé for Chloe?"

"It's uh... complicated." Stacie replies sheepishly.

"No kidding." Fat Amy chips in as upset. "One day Shawsank was engaged to blondie, and the next day she's building a love nest with ginger. What the hell is going on?"

"It's nothing you need to worry about." Aubrey says firmly.

"Hell, I'm sure it's not." CR crosses her arms on her chest. "But you're gonna tell us anyway."

Finally, Stacie cracks and tells them about the talk at the conference room two days ago, and about how Aubrey had insisted for Beca to choose again this morning. In the end, the rest of the Bellas need to pick their jaw up from the floor again.

"So you're telling me that Captain's pretending to be Chloe's girlfriend at this moment?" CR asks with wide eyes toward Aubrey. "And you were the one who pushed her into this?"

Without looking at her friends, Aubrey nods. Then CR turns to Stacie and Emily, and asks, "And you two aca-bitches let her do this to Beca and Chloe?"

Avoiding the disappointment in CR's and Fat Amy's eyes, Stacie and Emily glance away shamefully.

"Look. I knew it wasn't a good idea." Aubrey tries to reason.

"Oh, I'm sure you do." CR scolds. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"No offense to you Nazi. But I'm with Shawsank." Fat Amy comments. "She was right to tell you that this would not end well."

Getting upset of her friends' accusations, Aubrey retorts in upset, "Do you think I didn't know that? I'm just doing what's best for Chloe. _Our_ best friend."

"Yeah. By ruining _our other_ best friend." Fat Amy says as upset. "You can't take side on something like this. You should've let them decide."

"I'm with Aubrey." Flo says certainly. "After everything Chloe's been through because of Beca's selfishness, Beca has to take a responsibility."

"Yeah." Jessica chips in sharply. "Chloe tried to kill herself twice. So whatever reason she had, it wouldn't be enough to repay for what happened to Chloe because of her."

"She's not getting off of this easily." Ashley says in upset. "Not without giving something up. The way Chloe has given up so many things for her."

Then Lily elaborates, "The three extra years in college, the times looking for her ten years ago, the pain, and Kristen, and most importantly, her own life."

"About that..." Stacie mutters shamefully. "In a way... Beca also tried to kill herself. In a way."

Most of them are either slacked jaw or exclaiming, "What?!"

After blowing out a long nervous air through her mouth, Stacie explains Beca's condition after leaving the Bellas ten years ago, including her heart condition, and how Ashley has been the person who's able to help Beca on her feet again along with Harvey and Donna.

While Stacie is explaining, Emily seems so upset with her arms crossed on her chest, Aubrey seems annoyed, but the rest of the Bellas are dumbfounded.

However, being defensive, Flo says in upset, "She brought it to herself. She drank and smoked, and then she had heart attacks. It was all on her. But Chloe, she has a psychological condition. She couldn't help it."

"And who says that Beca doesn't have one?" Emily retorts coldly.

Aubrey snorts, "Another excuse. Beca has always had excuses to be selfish. It's not a secret. It's in her nature."

While Emily, CR, and Fat Amy are dumbfounded, Stacie warns, "I think it's enough Bree. You need to stop despising Beca every chance you have."

With annoyed look, Aubrey huffs harshly but stays silent. Then CR asks, "What shorty has, legacy?"

Emily sighs deeply and says, "I'm not supposed to tell you this. But seeing how... some of you are wearing your ass on your head, I have to."

Everybody pay a close attention to the youngest Bella, and then Emily says, "Beca has Persistent Depressive Disorder with Anxiety. That's why she drank and smoked for years. She was unable to cope with the regret of leaving us, of leaving Chloe. Thankfully, she had Donna who kept her in line, especially for work. And it was a relief that Beca found a comfort from working back then. Then Harvey and Ashley came along, and the three of them have never gone soft to Beca. They've never let her dwell and drown on her feelings and negative thoughts. And with therapy, she got better and became more resilient over times. But from time to time, when things got too hard, she would fall back to what Ashley called _dark place_ in her mind."

"Why didn't she tell us?" Flo asks defensively.

"Yeah." Jessica adds, and Ashley joins them, "If she had wanted us to understand her reasons, she should've told us."

"Did you give her the chance?" Emily asks coldly. "Did you take a moment to ask her without snapping at her after what happened to Chloe?"

Again, the rest of the Bellas seem more and more shameful, and then Emily adds as cold, "You all need to admit that you're not purely angry for Chloe. This is also about your own anger for being left ten years ago. And Chloe's condition is so convenient for all of you to pour out your bottled up anger to Beca."

Flo, Jessica, Ashley, and Lily seems ashamed, but Aubrey says, "Doesn't matter. The fact is, she left Chloe again, even after finding out Chloe's condition."

"It matters." CR says in upset. "After all she's been through with Ashley, you expected her, you dared to ask her to leave her fiancé for Chloe? And not only that, you had the decency to ask Ashley to let Beca go for Chloe?"

"No offense, Nazi." Fat Amy says in annoyance. "You know I love ginger and all. But I think at some point, Chloe needs to grow up. You need to let her stand on her feet."

Emily scoffs, "Oh no. Aubrey is Chloe's guardian angel. It's too much for her to let Chloe deal with the slightest pain as an adult. Let alone to take responsibility of her own decision."

"What do you mean?" Aubrey hisses angrily.

With an annoyed eye roll, Emily states without hesitation, "You've been condoning her in everything. And Beca was right to say that Chloe needs a bit of tough love."

"You think I don't know that?!" Aubrey exclaims angrily. "I did being tough on her! I yelled at her for god's sake! Telling her to give up on Beca! I didn't even let Stacie to call Beca after she got back with Ashley when Chloe was so depressed! I thought Chloe would've been able to handle the pain! But look where Chloe ended up! So I did what I deemed what's best for Chloe!"

"And you can't accuse Aubrey for being overprotective toward Chloe!" Flo snaps at the youngest Bella. "Not with the way you've been defending _your lovely Pop_!"

Again, Emily scoffs and says, "And who's gonna be on Beca's corner then? Certainly not you. Or Jessica and Ashley. Or Lily. CR and Fat Amy don't even have a say because the six of you were either too busy blaming Beca over everything, or pushing her to do the thing that we clearly know is the wrong thing to do. At least I know when to tell Beca that she's wrong. Unlike some people who keep making the same stupid mistake in excuse for Chloe's sake."

Feeling embarrassed, Stacie sheepishly says, "Well, in our defense, Beca did reject the idea, yet she's the one that changed her mind."

CR flashes Stacie a look that say  _are you fucking kidding me?_ when she asks in upset, "With the rich choices you gave her?"

"I don't want to be here when all of this blow up on your face." Fat Amy shakes her head in disbelief. "It'll be stinky and messy all over the place."

Aubrey seems like she is going to blow chunk. Therefore, she takes a deep breath and says, "It's not going to blow up on our face. Beca will fall in love with Chloe again, and everything will fall back into its place."

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that." CR says sarcastically. "You're not the one who's gonna live with it."

"I've told you that it wasn't a good idea." Aubrey hisses angrily. "I knew that clearly. But Chloe is afraid of being abandoned. So I'm giving her all that she wants, showing her that we're not leaving her, that we'll be there for her no matter what. And if it can prevent Chloe from trying to kill herself again, I'll do it all over again. And all of you saw how happy Chloe was when Beca walked into the room."

"It's not a real happiness, Bree!" CR insisted. "It's all just... a lie!"

"What will happen when ginger finds out?" Fat Amy shakes her head tiredly. "She'll be crushed."

"She is not going to find out!" Aubrey warns harshly. "None of us will tell her anything. Anything! About this!"

"And what about Beca?!" Emily snaps angrily. "Now that she pretends to be with Chloe, do you have any care about what will happen to her and Ashley?! What will happen to Chloe when Beca chooses to go back to Ashley when she's all better?!"

"No!" Aubrey snaps at the youngest Bella. "I don't care about Beca and Ashley! And from now on, Beca will have no other choice but staying with Chloe! And _I_! will make sure of that!"

Emily is at loss of words, simply staring at Aubrey with her jaw slacked open and her eyes wide in disbelief. Apparently, she's not the only one, because the rest of the Bellas are stunned too but they say nothing. Again, defying the furious blonde captain is not an option.

Knowing that this discussion are going nowhere, Stacie sighs tiredly and says, "Look. There's nothing we can do to change this now. Chloe seems to be so much happier, and Beca is... well, she's here. We'll just... let's just be supportive and be there for the two of them."

They all know that Stacie is right. Therefore, with defeated sighs, the rest of the Bellas rest the case. Then CR says, "Let's go back to Chloe's room."

However, knowing how high the tension still is, Stacie hurriedly says, "Why don't you all go back to the hotel and come back tomorrow? We can't let Chloe see the tension. And you know how sensitive she is with this kind of stuff."

In the end, other than Aubrey, Stacie, and Emily who have been staying in the hospital in the last few days, the rest of the Bellas decide to come back to the hospital the next day.

* * *

When Aubrey, Stacie, and Emily walk back into Chloe's room, the redhead is laughing so hard at a joke Beca is telling her.

"Not only that." Beca says comically. "He was so angry with me, and when he turned around, he tripped on his feet, and with all of those jellos in his hands-"

"Stop..." Chloe says through a laughter. "Stop Becs. I... I can't breathe..."

While Chloe is still trying to steady her breaths from laughing so hard, Beca is chuckling lightly upon seeing how cheerful Chloe is. Then the tiny brunette turns to look at the three other Bellas who seem to be upset.

Then Beca sighs deeply, feeling a bit of regret of treating her friends harshly, especially for Stacie who had helped her so much. Therefore, she casually asks, "Where's Belle, Stace?"

Feeling so surprised yet relieved that her best friend is talking to her again, Stacie looks up from her dinner, smiling with slightly teary eyes as she says, "With my mom. I asked her to come to L.A. and look after Bella."

Beca simply nods lightly, but suddenly, You Are Me I Am You by Dave Koz rings from Beca's phone. Feeling half-confused yet half-happy, Beca hops off the bed, pulls out her phone, and starts to walk away. However, Chloe holds her hand to stop her on her track.

Although she is torn, Beca gives Chloe an apologetical look and says, "I'll be just a minute."

Then she gently pulls her hand away and walks outside before picking up the phone with a huge grin on her face as she says, "Hi."

" _Hi."_

"Uhm... Everything alright?"

" _Donna is here."_

"Oh... mom just snitched on me, didn't she?" Beca asks jokingly, and it earns her a scold.

" _It's not funny, Beca. You need to start taking care of yourself."_

"I know, I know. I just... I forgot." Beca replies with a slight strange of joy because Ashley is worrying about her.

" _You can't keep making me worry about you."_

The sadness in Ashley's voice is obvious, and it certainly hits Beca hard in her chest. Sadly, she mutters, "I know. I'm sorry."

" _No more skipping meal and meds, okay?"_

"Yes ma'am."

" _Donna didn't mean to tell me. She's here to check on me and pick up your stuff."_

"Hm."

" _And I'm sending Pascal to bring you an overnight bag with some clothes and your meds. Take it as it should, okay?"_

"Okay."

" _Do you need anything else so I can put it together with your uh... other stuff?"_

Again, Beca can hear a hint of sadness in Ashley's voice, and her chest tightens when the realization hit her; she's moving out from a place she's called home in the last three years. Nevertheless, she replies, "I uh... just clothes, I think. I don't know. Just uh... put anything you think I will need."

" _Okay."_

"Is Troian there?"

" _Yeah. She and Shay will be staying here for a while. You know, to uh... be here with me."_

"Good."

" _We'll stay out of your sanctuary. Don't worry. Troian is an exception only for today."_

"Uhm... It's uh... your place. Just uh... do whatever you want with it."

" _It's still... Becs, I... okay..."_

Upon hearing how Ashley's cracked voice, Beca dares herself to ask, "How are you feeling?"

" _Like under the rock bottom."_

It hurts to hear how broken Ashley sounds. They remain silent for a moment, but eventually, Ashley says, _"I've got to go, Mozzie."_

Although she is disappointed, Beca chuckles lightly upon hearing the nickname and says, "Okay. I lo- uh... I'll see you around Bee."

Beca was tripping and almost said the L word, and she couldn't help but call Ashley _Bee,_ the first nickname she gave before they started dating officially, taking it from the blonde's last name's initial. That was the reason why she called Ashley Honey after they started dating, for Honey Bee. And over time, it was shortened to Hon.

" _See you around."_

After the phone call ended, Beca takes a deep breath to compose herself and walks back into the room.

Instantly, Chloe shots her a questioning look, to which Beca only returns with a shrug.

"What did she want?" Chloe seems to be panicking. "Does she change her mind? Because if she does, I..."

Upon seeing that Chloe's heartbeat is getting faster on the monitor, Beca hurriedly says, "No, she doesn't change her mind Chlo."

With a relief sigh, Chloe asks, "Really?"

"Really." Beca reassures. "She just called to tell me that Donna is there to pick up my stuff since uh... I'm moving out."

Everybody is stunned after the revelation, especially since Stacie, Aubrey, and Emily still thought that Beca was just pretending to be really with Chloe while still preparing her wedding with Ashley behind the redhead.

Emily and Stacie change worried look. They didn't know that Beca had broken up with Ashley because of Chloe, again. This might be less complicated than the pretending and hiding scenario, but still, they know how much Beca and Ashley love each other, especially Emily.

However, they say nothing, knowing that there is nothing more they can do.

On the other hand, without hiding the relief on her face, Chloe asks, "You are?"

With a sad smile, Beca simply nods at the redhead. But Aubrey blurts out, "Why would you? Isn't it your house? Is she taking advantage of you?"

Stacie immediately slaps her wife on the arm, while Emily sends deathly glare toward the blonde. In the contrary, Beca nonchalantly replies, "Nope. I signed the land with Ashley's name since day one. Besides, I don't really need a house that big."

"Where are you moving to, Pop?" Emily asks cautiously.

Beca shrugs and says, "Back to my old apartment before I lived together with Ashley. Apparently, Donna still keep it after all this time."

"Hmmm..." Emily nods absentmindedly and takes a spoon of porridge before saying, "Well, if you need a place to stay while your apartment is being prepared, you can stay with me and Andre."

With an appreciative smile, Beca says, "Thanks, Em. But Donna has already taken care of it. I can move in whenever I want. Besides, I'm staying in the hospital until Chloe get out of here."

"You are?" Chloe is beaming in joy.

With a look that says _obviously_ , Beca says, "Of course I am."

Chloe is over the moon. One day she wanted nothing but die, and the next day she got the one thing that she'd always wanted; Beca. Then she grabs Beca's hand and squeezes it gently, staring at the tiny brunette with her blinding megawatt smile.

"Besides, I think Aubrey, Stacie, and Emily can use a break." Beca says, gesturing her chin toward the three other Bellas.

"No need, Beca." Aubrey says firmly. "I'm staying until Chloe get out of the hospital.

Beca simply shrugs, and suddenly, she remembers about the psychological assessment. Therefore, she asks toward the redhead, "How was your psychological assessment this afternoon?"

"It was uh..." Chloe seems nervous.

"It was fine." Aubrey says firmly.

"And it's a lie." Emily says matter-of-factly, and Aubrey glares angrily toward the youngest Bella.

Then Stacie clears her throat to warn Aubrey and Emily subtly before she cautiously says, "Pauline still strongly recommended for Chloe to have the Dialectical Behavior Therapy for at least a year, combined with medication for her depression."

"It's a strong course therapy." Beca says softly toward the redhead. "I had it too three years ago, Chlo. It takes time, but in the long term, it will help with so many aspects of your life."

"Chloe is not having any therapy." Aubrey says firmly.

"Why?" Beca asks in confusion, more to the redhead.

"I uh..." Chloe seems to be more nervous now. "I just don't think it will work. Besides, like I said, I have you now."

"Chloe..." Beca sighs tiredly. "I know having a therapy can give you a certain stigma. But if it can help you, and it will, then why don't you try?"

Upon seeing how Chloe is on the verge of crying, Aubrey hurriedly says, "She has us. As long as none of us is _leaving_ her, she'll be fine."

Beca turns to look at the blonde in disbelief, and then she asks in upset, "Are you really that stupid? Seriously. You went to Harvard right?"

"Becs..." Chloe pleads. "It's not Bree's fault. It's my decision."

"A stupid one." Beca says matter-of-factly, forgetting that Chloe is still fragile.

"I..." And the redhead starts to cry.

"Chlo..." Beca says worriedly, yet starting to be impatient. "I'm just... telling you the truth. You should be in a therapy. You're not stupid. But you're making a stupid decision now."

However, upon seeing how unsettled the redhead has become, Stacie says, "Let's talk about this again some other time."

Beca wants to argue, "But-"

"Please..." Chloe pleads in tears.

Not used to deal with this much tears because Ashley rarely cried unless for huge stuff, Beca simply sighs in defeat and nods weakly, still with worried look on her face. Then she wipes away the tears from Chloe's face gently.

It takes a while, but eventually, Chloe stops crying, still holding Beca's hand tightly.

To bring the tension down, Emily asks, "Where is your apartment Pop?"

Although she's confused for the sudden change of topic, Beca replies nevertheless, "It's uh...near the studio. You know the tall apartment building by the corner of the street?"

"Yeah." Emily says.

"I have a penthouse over there." Beca says casually. "On the top floor."

"Oh." Emily simply replies. "If you need help to move your stuff, just tell me. I'm available."

Beca smiles softly toward the youngest Bella and says, "Thanks Kid."

"No problemo, Bam-" Emily stops. "Er... Pop."

Then Beca simply snorts, knowing how much the youngest Bella loves to tease her along with Ashley.

Meanwhile, Chloe is deep in thought. Although she knows that it is way too soon - _talking about it hasn't been a day since they are in a relationship_ , Chloe doesn't want to wait anymore. She has waited to be with Beca for 14 years, and now that the tiny brunette is finally hers, she wants nothing but to actually be with her.

Therefore, with hope glimmering in her blue eyes, Chloe nervously says, "Speaking of which... Do you think it's too soon for us to uh... can I uh... do you mind if I stay with you after I get out of this hospital? I mean, to live with you?"

Beca's eyes widen in surprise. She is taken aback, and all she can do is sitting with her jaw slacked open.

Upon seeing that Beca has become speechless, Stacie takes over and says, "I think you should stay with us, Chloe. I mean, Beca is gonna be busy, and you will be alone at her apartment."

Chloe pouts toward the tiny brunette as she pleads, "But I want to be with you."

Since Beca hasn't gained her senses back, Aubrey hurriedly chips in, "Or Beca can come and stay with us. We just don't want you to be alone, Chloe."

Being more shocked by Aubrey's offer, Beca turns her head to look at the blonde, still with her dumbfounded face as she stutters, "I uh... what?"

Knowing that Beca has always been a slow poke in almost everything, Chloe smiles, squeezes the tiny brunette's hand, and softly says, "I know you have your own pace in everything. And I've waited for more than 10 years, I can wait some more if you want. But we've been in love with each other for a very long time. I'd really love to finally spend more time with you. Besides, it's not like we've never lived together before."

Beca's brain must have been electrocuted because she is not only unable to produce proper words, but she also can't turn the gear in her mind to even think. The only thing she can do is looking back and forth between the redhead and the blonde with dumbfounded look.

As usual, Emily comes in and saves her day by saying, "Uhm... Chloe, why don't you keep staying with Aubrey and Stacie for a while until... you know, you really get better, and Beca can stay in her apartment. It's not like she won't come to see you every chance she gets."

The gear in Beca's brain finally works again. Emily's idea is actually a good one. With that, she will have her space yet still have her pace to adjust into this situation. However, upon seeing the hope and pleading in Chloe's eyes, Beca feels like she needs to make it up for the redhead over the last ten years.

"How about this," Beca says cautiously. "You stay at Stacie's place, and I'll keep my stuff at my apartment, but I will come over whenever you want. Then when you're... we're... uh... when the time is right, we'll talk about living together again."

It's enough to make Chloe smiles and nods before teasing, "But I will ask you to come over and stay the night every day."

Beca chuckles lightly and replies, "I don't doubt that. What have I got myself into?"

When Chloe's face turns white, Beca hurriedly adds, "Kidding Chlo. Kidding."

After she sees Chloe sighing in relief, Beca can't help but thinking that the situation with Chloe is more fragile and sensitive than she has imagined. Subtly, she glances worriedly toward Emily who just shakes her head very lightly toward her.

Suddenly, there is a knock on the door and Pascal comes into the view.

"Hey Pas." Beca greets him, walking toward her bodyguard.

Pascal hands a bag to Beca as he says, "This is your stuff, and your meds are in there."

"Thanks." Beca takes the bag.

"Beca, since you're uh... you know." Pascal waits to see the brunette nods before he continues, "Do you want Rico and I around? We can stay outside of this room."

"No need, Pas." Beca says firmly. "I need you both to be with Ashley 24/7 and keep her safe. Stay at your residence near the mansion, up the security measure. You know how paparazzi can be when the news come out. Just send me your second. I don't know, Adrian or someone else. You will work for Ashley from now on."

"Understood."

"Good." Beca gives him soft warning look. "And I want you to call me ASAP if anything happen to uh... the blue thunderbird."

"Will do, Boss." Pascal replies jokingly, catching that it's the code for Ashley. "I will take care of your _cars_ , especially your blue thunderbird."

Beca rolls her eyes playfully yet flashes him an appreciative smile before he walks out.

There is definitely a nagging on the back of Chloe's mind upon seeing how Beca is still so attached to Ashley. However, she tries to reason that it's expected because they've been together for a long time.

Then Chloe takes a deep breath and brushes the feeling off, hoping that it will be just temporary. Besides, she doesn't want to sound accusing or demanding since she just got Beca back.

" _Beca chose you."_ Chloe thought to herself. _"So you shouldn't be worried at all."_

Then the redhead looks at Beca, who's checking the bag in her hands to ask, "Got everything you need Babe?"

"Uh huh. Just clothes and meds." Beca replies. Then her eyebrows furrow when she sees a note on the top of the clothes. She holds her bag up in front of her face to read the short note.

_You better take a good care of yourself, or I'm gonna kick your tiny ass, Mozzie. -Bee_

Upon seeing the tiny brunette is smiling on her own while looking down at her stuff, Chloe asks, "What is it?"

"Nothing." Beca replies, failing to hide the smile on her face. Then she quickly pulls out her phone and sends Ashley a text.

_Got the message, Bee. I'm terrified and shaking on my tiny feet. –Mozzie._

It isn't long until she gets the reply.

_You should be, Moz. And if you think that I'm joking, just give it a try and we'll see. –Bee_

Beca can't help but laughing lightly, earning a questioning look from Aubrey and Chloe. On the other hand, Emily and Stacie know that beaming look on Beca's face; it's the look she reserves only for Ashley.

"Who is it, Becs?" Chloe asks curiously.

"Ashley." Beca simply replies, being so careless upon hasn't adjusted to the situation that texting her ex-fiancé would certainly alarm the redhead.

With fear written all over her face, Chloe asks in upset, "Why would you text her?"

_Shit_. That is the first thought that comes into Beca's mind. She forgets how delicate this situation is. Trying to convince the redhead that there is nothing to worry about, Beca clears her throat and says, "I just wanted to thank her. You know, for preparing my stuff and all."

When Chloe keep staring at her with doubtful look, Beca sighs deeply and explains, "Chlo... it's just a simple thank you text. Nothing more."

"I want to see it." Chloe demands.

"See what?" Beca asks in confusion. "My bag? My clothes?"

"The text." Chloe states.

Beca scoffs, thinking that the redhead is joking. But when Chloe sticks out her hand, Beca's jaw drops for a second before she says in disbelief, "You've got to be kidding me."

Upon seeing Beca's reaction, Chloe is afraid of upsetting her, and she stutters in panic, "I just... Babe... It's her and... and... you seem happy... and I..."

Tired of tiptoeing on eggshells, Beca sighs deeply, sits next to Chloe, and takes her hand before she softly says, "Chlo... Ashley and I are over. But it doesn't mean we don't care about each other anymore. She's not only my girlfriend in more than five years. She's also my best friend. But we're over. Trust me. I... I choose you. You have to believe me."

Chloe pulls Beca closer and nuzzles her nose into the crook of the brunette's neck before she says, "It's just... I love you, Becs. I'm afraid I might lose you again to her. You understand right?"

Again, Beca sighs deeply, rubbing Chloe's back gently as she says, "I do understand, Chlo. But like I said, you don't need to worry, because you won't lose me again."

Chloe pulls away and stares at the tiny brunette with pleading eyes. "Promise?"

"Promise." Beca replies with sad look.

"I love you, Becs." Chloe nuzzles back into the crook of Beca's neck.

Beca sighs deeply again for the umpteenth times and softly replies, "And I you."

Thinking that it's an unusual way to reply I love you, Chloe giggles and asks, "Where did you learn that?"

Knowing that she shouldn't tell the truth yet she couldn't lie either, Beca racks her mind and then says, "It was uh... it was from a show Ashley really liked; Once Upon a Time. I had to watch it with her. So... there's this scene between Robin Hood and the Evil Queen where they're, you know, falling in love and declaring each other's feelings. Well, after the Evil Queen said I love you, Robin Hood simply replied, _and I you_."

"You're adorable." Chloe kisses Beca under her jaw but fails to notice how Beca has tensed up.

After taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Beca says, "Am not adorable, Red."

"You are, Babe... Adorable." The redhead says over a yawn.

"And you're sleepy." Beca replies with a light chuckle. "I'm gonna wash up and join you."

"Mmmkay." Chloe says sleepily. "But don't take too long."

"Okay." Beca replies with a soft smile.

After she has already washed up and changed, Beca walks back next to Chloe's bed, strokes her hair gently, and kisses her forehead before saying, "Have a good sleep. I will be on the couch, right next to you."

Chloe moves to spare some space on the bed and says, "Get on here. I want to sleep with you."

"I don't think it's-" Beca starts to refuse, but upon seeing the pout and puppy eyes on Chloe's face, she sighs subtly, gets on the bed, and playfully warns, "Don't blame me if you fall off the bed in the middle of the night."

Chloe giggles, "You will fall off with me because I'm gonna hold onto you so tight, you'd be lucky if you could breathe."

"Oh, what a relief." Beca rolls her eyes playfully, earning another giggle from the redhead.

It's the usual banter for them like back in college, and it feels nice to have her redheaded best friend back. Then Beca let Chloe nuzzles into the crook of her neck and kisses her jaw. Although she isn't comfortable at first, Beca takes a few deep breaths, thinking that she needs to get used to this.

"Goodnight Babe." Chloe says through a yawn.

Hesitantly, Beca kisses her crown and says, "Goodnight Red."

After Chloe falls asleep, Beca texts Ashley to say _Goodnight Bee. Sleep well._

It takes a long while until Beca gets the reply consisted of two words that can bring a soft smile on her face. _You too._

Then Beca hums softly as usual until she herself falls asleep, and so are the other three Bellas who've been staying quite to give the couple some space.

At midnight, Beca starts to twitch and mumble out words incoherently, and it certainly wakes the redhead up.

"Becs?" Chloe mumbles sleepily, but the tiny brunette doesn't wake up. Then she shakes Beca gently, but still, Beca keep trashing weakly in her sleep.

"Bree!" Chloe calls louder, and the three other Bellas wake up instantly upon hearing the redhead's worried voice.

After Emily tried failingly to wake the tiny brunette up gently, Aubrey shakes Beca harshly, and the tiny brunette wakes up abruptly, sitting up, panting hard, and sweating cold. They don't even have a chance to ask her yet when she rushes her way to the bathroom and throws up on the toilet.

Emily immediately walks in and rubs Beca's back worriedly. Meanwhile, Chloe has become more panic, insisting to come to the bathroom, but Aubrey holds her tightly, saying, "She's going to be fine Chloe. Emily is helping her."

After pouring out all of her dinner, Beca leans on the wall, still panting hard with her clothes wet from the cold sweat. Emily hurriedly offers her a glass of water, and Beca drinks it immediately.

While her body is still shaking hard, Beca breathes out, "Clo- close the door..."

And Emily complies before sitting next to the tiny brunette. "You okay Pop?"

Still panicking, Beca nods weakly and says with ragged breaths, "I'm fine... Ju- just a nightmare."

"Do you uh..." Emily is hesitant, but she asks, "Do you want me to call Ashley?"

"No." Beca replies certainly, still trying hard to catch her breaths. 'I... She'll worry... and... and she'll come here... So no."

"What can I do to help you?" Emily asks worriedly.

"Ju- just hold me tightly..." Beca pants out. "It... it will calm my- my nervous system."

Emily complies and hugs her former captain tightly from aside. At first, Beca feels suffocated, but she knows that it will pass in a moment, and then she will calm down. Therefore, she doesn't fight it, and put her attention on her breaths instead.

It takes a while, but eventually, Beca's breaths become steadier and she gently free herself from Emily as she weakly says, "I'm fine now, Em."

"Are you sure?" Emily asks almost in tears, doesn't have the heart to see how vulnerable Beca has been lately.

With a soft weak smile, Beca says, "I'm okay. Thank you Em."

Then Emily helps Beca up because apparently, the tiny brunette is still shaking lightly on her feet.

Upon seeing Beca walks out from the bathroom with Emily's help, Chloe worriedly asks, "You okay Babe? What happened? Why did you throw up? Are you sick? Was it the food?"

Stacie patiently says, "Chloe... let her breathe for a moment."

After Beca lying back on the bed, Chloe hurriedly hugs her tightly, and the tiny brunette says, "I'm fine Chlo..."

The tiny brunette certainly can't tell the redhead that she has a nightmare because she's been suppressing and brushing her anxiety the whole day. Not the mention the emotional moment with Ashley the whole night until this morning, and with the Bellas in the evening.

Stacie and Emily change worried look again but say nothing. It takes a while, but eventually, Beca falls asleep because of the exhaustion. Meanwhile, the two tall brunettes stay awake with their own thought even long after Beca, Chloe, and Aubrey fall back to sleep.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another long chapter. And that would be chapter 24. How was it? Not like most of you have expected, I believe. Peace dudes and dudettes :P
> 
> Chloe's still unstable, and yeah, Aubrey is enabling her while Stacie is torn too to see how distressed her wife has become after Chloe's suicide attempt. And you've seen the rest of the Bellas' reaction too, and they're still taking side.
> 
> In the next chapter, we'll see how Beca and Chloe spend the first couple of weeks of their relationship. 
> 
> I'll update again in a couple of days. Since class has started again, and with the assignments and all... I'll try to update at least twice a week. Hopefully.
> 
> Until then, sit tight and make good choices. Thank you for reading :)


	25. All I Ask Is Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey. Good day, folks :D
> 
> As usual, I'd like to thank all of the people who read, favor, follow, and review this story :D
> 
> Now, for the story. In the previous chapter, you'd seen the day Beca and Chloe finally became a couple. Not in an ideal relationship per say, but... in a relationship nevertheless. This chapter will be about the beginning of their relationship starting from the second day. Just a kind reminder, it's not going to be rainbow and sunshine. But I do hope you enjoy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are two songs in this chapter, and it will be Remember Home by Sebastian Kole ft. Alessia Cara, and All I Ask by Adele. Take your time to listen to it in the particular part.
> 
> I don't own Pitch Perfect, nor the characters, neither the songs. Let's dig in :)

 

**November 5** **th** **2025.**

It's eight in the morning, but Stacie has gone to work, and Emily is going out to get them some breakfast. Therefore, the only people in Chloe's room are Aubrey, Chloe, and Beca. The tiny brunette is still sleeping, Chloe is washing up, and Aubrey is working with her laptop.

After washing up, Chloe simply watches Beca sleep closely, smiling ever so fondly upon seeing how adorable Beca's frowny sleeping face. Then when she can't hold the urge anymore, she starts kissing Beca from her ear down to her jawline.

"Hmmm..." Beca smiles automatically, pulling the person who's kissing her closer.

However, when she hears a soft giggle that doesn't belong to Ashley, she tensed up instantly, and everything hits her back all at once; the break-up with Ashley, and the start of her relationship with Chloe.

Beca takes a deep breath before gently pulling herself away to put some space between them, lying on her side facing the redhead. Then she opens her eyes, looking at the redhead with a sleepy smile and softly says, "Hey."

"Morning Babe." Chloe says fondly with her eyes lighten up.

Then Chloe leans closer to kiss her lips, but Beca is quick to cover her mouth with her hand, muffling, "I haven't brushed my teeth yet."

Chloe giggles again and says, "You are so, so adorable Babe. And I don't mind."

Still with her hand on her lips, Beca muffles, "But I do mind."

Upon seeing the pout on Chloe's lips, Beca gestures her thumb to the bathroom behind her, and nervously says, "I uh... I'll just go shower first."

Then Beca hurriedly hops off the bed and rushes her way to the bathroom after snatching her overnight bag, trying hard not to trip on her feet. The redhead simply giggles upon seeing how adorably awkward Beca is; the Beca she loves.

In the bathroom, Beca stands against the door, trying to calm her nerves by taking a few deep breaths. Instead of thinking about Chloe, she's flexing her neck, trying to tune down her desire to have Ashley's soft skin against hers.

Then the tiny brunette decides to take a long cold shower to brush off the vivid image of her sex montage with her ex-fiancé from her mind. After putting on a shirt and jeans, the tiny brunette walks out of the bathroom and finds that Emily is already back with breakfast.

"Hey Pop." Emily greets the tiny brunette without looking up from her breakfast.

"Hey Kid."

"Becs..." Chloe opens her arms, asking for a hug, and Beca walks toward her.

After sitting next to the redhead, Beca wraps her in a hug and kisses her forehead before letting the redhead nuzzles into the crook of her neck. Then she softly asks, "Did you sleep well?"

Chloe shakes her head and softly says, "I was worried. What happened to you last night?"

"Hmmm." Beca sighs, torn between telling the truth that will possibly hurt the redhead, or lying that she's not comfortable with. Then she takes a deep breath and tries to nonchalantly say, "I had a nightmare."

Chloe pulls away to stare at her girlfriend with puzzled look and asks, "About?"

"Doesn't matter anymore." Beca shrugs nonchalantly.

With her eyebrows furrowed, Chloe keep staring at her girlfriend for a while until Beca softly says, "Let's have breakfast. I have to go to work today."

"Why?" Chloe pouts.

Beca chuckles lightly and teases, "Because that's how work works, Red. You have to go everyday, unless it's weekend."

"Can't you take a couple of days off?" Chloe says with pleading eyes.

"I've taken too many day-off lately, Chlo." Beca tucks a strain of Chloe's hair behind her ear while patiently explains, "You know, I went to Atlanta for a week, and then with the eng- uh... some other stuff... So, I'm kind of out of day off for the next two years."

"Fine." Chloe pouts. "But you have to reply to my texts and pick up my phone calls."

"Err..." Beca smiles nervously. "When I can, I'll reply to your text and call you back. I don't like getting any distraction when I'm working, Chlo."

"But-"

"Besides," Beca hurriedly cuts her off softly. "The more I concentrate on work, the faster it'll be done, and the earlier I can come back to you."

Chloe sighs in defeat and says, "Okay."

With a soft smile, Beca kisses her forehead again and asks, "Breakfast?"

"Breakfast." Chloe smiles.

"Okay then." Beca stands up to take their breakfast, and just before she's going to feed the redhead, Chloe says, "Let's eat together. I can eat on my own."

Grinning from ear to ear, Beca simply replies, "Great idea."

Then they eat together, talking and joking with each other, while Aubrey and Emily look at them from the corner of the room, smiling in relief upon seeing how a day with Beca can make a difference to Chloe.

After they've eaten and taken their meds, Beca kisses Chloe on the forehead and says, "Be good Red."

Then Chloe leans closer to kiss the tiny brunette on the lips, and this time, Beca let her even though she's unaware that she's holding her breath.

After pulling away, Chloe softly says, "Come back as soon as you can."

"I will." Beca replies before walking out from the hospital room.

"Pop!" Emily calls.

Beca turns back around and responds, "Yea?"

"Are you going to the studio?" Emily puts her stuff together into her purse, talking without looking at the tiny brunette. "If you are, I'm coming with you."

"Sure." Beca says, and then she walks out of the door.

Then Emily hugs the redhead and says, "Bye, Chloe. I'll come back with Pop after work."

"Take care of her for me, Em." Chloe softly says.

"Sure." Emily replies before walking out of the room. "By Bree."

"Hm." Aubrey responds without moving her eyes from the laptop.

* * *

Beca is very busy that day. She has a meeting with two different artists, and still have to start working on the songs for the musical. Nevertheless, she tries to reply Chloe's texts and call the redhead from time to time.

When the time hits 1 PM, Emily shows up in her office and asks, "Pop, can I borrow Justin and Adele for lunch?"

"Sure." Beca replies without looking away from the sheets in her hands.

"You sure Mitchell?" Justin asks. "We still have a lot to work with."

"It's fine." Beca says casually. "Go have lunch with Emily. I have to stay here to re-check the song before our recording session after lunch."

"Okay then." Adele says. The two artists know better than disrupting the tiny brunette when she's in her working mode.

After the two artists are out of her office, Beca resumes tweaking the idea they've been working on, and then Donna walks in to ask, "Anything you want for lunch, monkey?"

"Anything will do." Beca replies without moving her eyes from her computer screen, and Donna leaves her to work and order lunch for her.

There's a buzz coming from her phone, but Beca ignores it, thinking that it must be Chloe again. However, when her phone buzzes again around ten minutes later, Beca checks it to find she's got two messages from Ashley. The first one is  _Moz, lunch!,_ and then the second one is  _Now!_

Beca can't help but chuckling lightly, feeling this warm sensation in her stomach. Then she replies _Yes ma'am_. _Donna is getting me one._ While waiting for her lunch, Beca sends a text to the blonde, attaching a picture of her with the artists she is working with that day, stating, _Look who I'm working with today. The incredible Adele, and your favorite JT._

Ashley simply replies with a grinning emoji. Nevertheless, that is more than enough to get her through the day with a goofy smile on her face. When the time hits seven in the evening, she calls Emily, asking if the youngest Bella will go back to the hospital with her.

Then they go back together. They are talking about work while walking into Chloe's room, but Beca hasn't even said anything yet when her face is being hit with a pillow.

"What the hell?" Beca retorts in upset. Then she looks around the room to find that all of the Bellas are there, and most of them are staring at her angrily.

There is no surprise there since she's been getting the same look in the last couple of days. However, she is shocked to find that the person who just threw the pillow at her was Chloe, her girlfriend. The worst conclusion comes into Beca's mind; Chloe has found out about her walking out on them three days ago.

Trying to tune down her anxiety, Beca takes a deep breath before asking the redhead as calm as she can, "What's wrong Chlo?"

"What's wrong?" Chloe asks in upset. "You dare to ask me what's wrong?!"

With her heartbeat racing, Beca looks at Emily who shrugs with her eyebrows furrowed, and then she turns to look at Stacie who seems to be torn. Then, she looks back at the obviously angry redhead to ask, "What happened, Chlo?"

Chloe sticks out her phone angrily as she exclaims, "See it for yourself!"

This time, Beca is confused. Nevertheless, she takes the phone and looks at the screen. There is a picture and news about Ashley, dressed in disguise, walking into Beca's studio that day with Troian by her side. It's definitely Ashley with a huge sunglasses, wearing Beca's leather jacket and one of Beca's beanie on her head.

The news stated that Ashley was going to have lunch with the tiny brunette in the studio. However, Beca didn't even know that the blonde was in her studio that day.

"What is it Pop?" Emily asks worriedly.

Feeling a bit relieved yet still at lost, Beca shows the youngest Bella the picture and asks, "You know anything about this?"

"Oh." Emily rolls her eyes in annoyance. Then she looks at the furious Chloe and explains, "Ashley had lunch with me, Chloe. Not with Beca. Beca didn't even know that she was there."

This time, with her arms crossed on her chest, Aubrey coldly says toward the tiny brunette, "You need to get better at lying, Beca. Letting Emily taking your fall is very low, even in your standard."

"Huh?" Beca is dumbfounded.

"She didn't let me take the fall, Bree." Emily says in annoyance. "Ashley was with me. Not Beca. She might not be Beca's fiancé anymore, but she's still one of my best friends. She was broken-hearted, and I wanted to cheer her up. Since Adele and Justin Timberlake, her favorite singers were at the studio, I pushed Troian to take her there. Then the five of us; Ashley, Troian, Justin, Adele, and me; we had lunch together. That's all."

"I don't trust you." Chloe says in upset, talking with raised voice. "You're always on her side. On their side. I trusted you this morning! I told you to take care of my girlfriend! Not letting her meeting her ex!"

Emily simply looks at Beca with wide eyes and tight lips that says _Sorry Pop. I've tried. You're on your own now._

After taking a deep, deep breath, Beca walks toward the redhead, ignoring the angry staring from the usual people; Flo, Jessica, Ashley, Lily, and Aubrey. Then she sits on the edge of the bed and takes Chloe's hand in hers, but the redhead pulls it back harshly.

With a long tired sigh, Beca says, "I swear I didn't know anything about it."

"Liar!" Chloe snaps at her, and Beca is taken aback. "No wonder you didn't reach me during lunch! You were with her!"

Beca takes a deep breath again, and as calm as she can, she says, "I'm not lying to you. I was in my office the whole day."

Still, Chloe seems so angry, and she simply stares sharply at the tiny brunette with her teary eyes and her arms crossed on her chest.

"Do you ever have a limit in hurting Chloe?" Aubrey asks in upset. "Seriously. It seems to me you can't live _even_ a day without hurting her and the people around you."

While Beca is ignoring the blonde, Stacie is glaring angrily at her wife as she firmly says, "Let's get out of here. All of us. Let them talk."

After the rest of the Bellas are already out of the room, Beca explains patiently, "Chloe... I knew nothing about it. I swear."

"I don't trust you!" Chloe snaps angrily. "I don't trust you, I don't trust you, I don't trust you!"

Again, Beca takes a deep, deep breath and patiently says, "Chloe, you need to learn how to trust me. If you easily trust the media about me, then we'll fight every single day. There were thousands of story about me cheating on Ashley, and none of them was true. So is this one. You are allowed to be angry, to be mad when things like this come up. But at least ask me about it first, and listen to my explanation before throwing stuff at me."

With a sharp glare, again, Chloe angrily snaps, "You keep talking to, _and_ about her! If you want to go back to her, then go! Leave me! I don't care!"

At first, Beca says nothing but simply staring at the redhead with unreadable look, and then she calmly asks, "Is that what you really want?"

Chloe is taken aback. She thought that Beca would've been panicking, begging for her forgiveness, like Kristen always did. However, that is not the case.

"I don't do shit like this, Chlo." Beca says still as calm. "I don't do passive aggressive where you tell me to go, but in fact, you want me to stay. If I make a mistake, and you walk away from me, then yea, I'll chase you back. I'll do everything I can to get you back. But if you accuse me with something I don't do without at least listening to my explanation, and you ask me to leave, hoping that I will beg you to take me back, then you can bet on your life that I'll leave."

Upon seeing that the redhead is still speechless and most likely terrified, still as calm, Beca says, "So I'm gonna ask you one more time. Do you really want me to leave? To go back to her?"

This time, Chloe sighs in defeat, but says nothing. Beca can see that the redhead is terrified but doesn't want to back down. Therefore, Beca dares herself to kiss her on the forehead gently, and Chloe immediately wraps her in a tight hug as she says, "I'm sorry. I was just..."

"Jealous." Beca finishes her sentence calmly. "I know. I understand. But I'm very serious about you asking me to leave unreasonably. So next time, think before you say those words."

"Hm." Chloe responds. Then Beca sighs in relief, kisses her hairline before pulling away and cups her cheeks. "How are you today? Other than being jealous?"

"I'm fine." Chloe smiles lightly. "Have been missing you all day. And Doctor Grey said that I could be discharged tomorrow."

Beca smiles softly and says, "Great news. I'll try to be here to take you home tomorrow. And what about the therapy. Have you set any schedule with Pauline yet?"

Instantly, Chloe seems nervous, biting her bottom lip while diverting her eyes from her girlfriend.

"Chloe?" Beca calls with a warning tone. "Don't tell me you still won't have the therapy."

"But..." Chloe pleads. "I... I've been there before. And I still... did this. The therapy didn't work for me, Babe."

"Chloe..." Beca says tiredly. "Therapy isn't a one way linear graphic. Life itself has its ups and downs. And having therapy is not only about preventing suicide. It's more about how to regulate your emotion, to function better in daily life without a constant overwhelming fear that I will leave you again. That anybody will leave you."

Now Chloe is on the verge of crying when she pleads, "But Bree said-"

"What did your stupid best friend say?" Beca demands impatiently.

"She said..." Chloe's voice is shaky now. "I don't have to do therapy if I don't want to. And she was right. I was afraid of losing you... But now that you're here..."

"No Chlo." Beca says firmly. "Regardless of the fact that I'm here with you, you need to do this for yourself. Not for me, and certainly not for Aubrey. You clearly need this."

"But I don't like to be in a psych ward." Chloe pleads.

"Who said that you'd be in a psych ward?" Beca asks impatiently. "Your BPD isn't a severe one. Pauline said that your symptoms are now showing more likely to low than to medium. You'll be an outpatient. You'll have the therapy maybe once or twice a week combined with a group therapy, depending on the plan you will discuss with your therapist."

"But I don't want to..." Chloe pleads again while tears start running down her face. "The last time I was in a therapy... people weren't nice..."

"The hell with other people, Chlo." Beca says in upset. "Do you think I wanted to be in a therapy? That I was happy to do it at first? Hell. I hated the idea. But I did it anyway."

"Why?" Chloe sniffles softly while wiping the tears in the corner of her eyes.

"Because it was necessary." Beca says firmly. "I had two choices back then. Either I went to therapy to be better, or Ashley would leave me. For good. She loved me too much to see I wrecked myself while she couldn't do anything about it. And I loved her. I loved her more than enough to swallow my pride. I wanted to be a better person that deserved her love."

The mention of Ashley's name upsets the redhead again. Therefore, she wipes her tears away harshly and says in upset, "Ashley again. Are you saying that I don't love you enough?"

"I'm not saying that." Beca says with her eyebrows furrowed, feeling half-confused and half-upset. "I'm saying, try. Do the therapy regardless of how you feel about it. I, we, Aubrey, Stacie, Emily, and I; we're not professionals, Chlo. We can't offer you the help that you need. And the therapy is necessary to make you better. To make you feel better."

"I already feel better!" Chloe snaps, and again, Beca is taken aback. But the redhead keep on snapping, "I'm feeling much better with you here! So stop pushing me to do something that I don't want to! I know what's best-"

"Chloe!" Beca snaps back impatiently, but then she soften her voice yet still firm when she says, "Listen to me, and you listen close. _I_ , am putting my foot down. And _you,_ are having this therapy. Regardless of how you feel about it."

"No!" Chloe snaps angrily. "You can't push me! If you love me enough, the way Bree loves me, then you'll let me decide what's best for me!"

Beca rolls her eyes and says in annoyance, "I'm gonna talk to your stupid best friend, and I'm gonna pull the foot out from her stupid mouth."

As Beca is walking away from her, Chloe angrily calls, "Becs! Come back here!"

However, Beca ignores her and keep on walking out from the room. Apparently, the Bellas are listening closely from the other side of the door. Beca ignores all of them, staring angrily at Aubrey and coldly says, "Posen. A word?"

In annoyance, Aubrey follows the tiny brunette to the corner of the hallway while Stacie is also following them from behind.

With her face showing anger, Beca crosses her arms on her chest and asks, "In what kind of fucked up world that you think someone with BPD doesn't need a therapy? Are you fucking retarded?"

"Unlike you, I know what's best for Chloe." Aubrey says coldly. "And I know that letting her make her own decision, and backing every of her decisions will make her stronger."

Beca rolls her eyes and says angrily, "Chloe doesn't know any better. And I might not know what's best for Chloe. But _you_ , clearly, as clear as the day, you know nothing about what's best for Chloe. You think that the doctors, the professionals are joking? Do you think they're playing with us when they recommend therapy for Chloe? That this is only about money for them?"

Aubrey crosses her arms on her chest, leaning forward to fiercely say, "Do not talk to me in that tone."

Beca scoffs, "It's the most suitable one. You know, judging from how thick your brain is."

With angry tone, Aubrey angrily says, " _I_ , have kept Chloe safe for years. Without you. And _I_ , will keep her safe again. _With_ or _without_ you. Don't ever think that just because Chloe wants you, then I will let you treat us as shitty as you want!"

Again, Beca scoffs and sarcastically says, "Oh, is that why you only gave me two choices? Because you knew you could keep Chloe safe _with_ or _without_ me?"

Aubrey is taken aback for a second, and she is ready to blow a vessel, but Stacie hurriedly says, "Beca. Stop bringing that up. Aubrey... she doesn't want to push Chloe. Not after the last time she pushed her, Chloe decided to... harm herself. Give her a break, shorty."

With her eyebrows furrowed, and still with her arms crossed on her chest, Beca sardonically says, "Oh. Do you know what we call it from where I come from? _Over_ compensation. _You_ , feel guilty about what happened to Chloe, so now you're enabling her to ease your own guilty feeling."

When Aubrey can't do nothing else but staring at her with wide eyes, Beca continues in annoyance, "And you know what? You're also displacing your anger, your guilty feeling for yourself, _to me_. That's why you hate me. Because as usual, it's too hard for you to admit that you could make a mistake; that you could be wrong."

Still, Aubrey is unable to say a thing, letting Beca's words sink into her mind while Stacie seems to be torn because honestly, she agrees with the tiny brunette.

Then Beca raises an eyebrow and firmly says, "You can hate me all your way to China, Posen. Hell, to Pluto if you want. But I won't let you drag Chloe down with you just because you have too much ego to save."

It certainly nicks Aubrey's blood vessel, and she yells, "You!-"

"Enough Beca!" Stacie snaps at the tiny brunette, cutting her wife off. "You stop treating my wife like shit."

Beca steps closer to Stacie and firmly says, "Then tell your wife to stop being and acting like shit, Stace. You teach your wife to stop meddling with my relationship, whether it is with Ashley, or with Chloe. From now on, you take care of your woman, and _I_ , will take care of mine."

With that being said, Beca walks back toward Chloe's room, leaving a very unsettled Aubrey crying in her wife's arms.

As for the rest of the Bellas, even though Beca and Aubrey were talking by the corner of the hallway, it didn't mean that they couldn't hear all of the conversation.

Then CR stops Beca right in front of Chloe's room by calling, "Shorty."

"What?!" Beca bites harshly, feeling angry because her slightly good day is now ruined.

"I uh..." CR seems nervous. "I want to apologize. You know, for the other day. For not standing in your corner. And you have every right to be angry with us. Especially since... you're hurting right now from losing..."

Beca closes her eyes and sighs deeply, feeling her anger eases down gradually. Then she says, "It's... okay. I was wrong to hide all of those things from all of you, and all of you just love Chloe so much. I know that."

After getting the explanation from Emily and Stacie about everything the other night, and now finding out the fact about Beca's break-up with Ashley as well as the picture, the rest of the Bellas also come to apologize to the tiny brunette. After CR, there is Fat Amy, then followed by Lily to Jessica and Ashley, and then the last one is Flo.

The tension is still there, but it's much less than before. In the end, Beca says, "I'm sorry. For leaving all of you, and letting you cleaning up my mess with Chloe ten years ago. I also apologize for keeping so many things from all of you. You didn't know any better. I understood why you did what you did, and why you said what you said."

It's as awkward as it can be, but it's a start, and Beca isn't the one to hold a grudge. There are no hugging but only gentle patting on the back and shoulder between all of them. Nevertheless, it shows that they already have understanding for the whole situation and to each other. For the guilt and shame that remain, it will be time's part to ease.

After they have apologized to each other, Beca excuses herself to go back into Chloe's room. She finds that Chloe is crying her eyes out with her face on her palms. Then, with a long tired sigh, Beca approaches the redhead and hugs her gently.

"I... I thought you'd left..." Chloe sobs.

"No..." Beca says tiredly. "I didn't. I was... I was talking to our sisters out there."

"Don't leave me Becs..." Chloe cries. "I love you so much... a- and I can't live without you..."

Beca swallows hard, trying to calm her nerves. It's been so emotionally draining for her lately. Then she takes a deep breath and softly says, "I'm not leaving you, Chlo. Not ever again. But you should be able to live with or without me; without this constant fear that I'll leave. So can you please, please have the therapy?"

Chloe pulls away to stare at her girlfriend with tears running down her face, pleading, "Babe... please... Give it times. I promise I'll do better. Ha- Harvey gave you the same chance. So please..."

With her eyebrows furrowed in frustration, Beca stubbornly says, "Chlo... it was different. For me, there were actually stuff that I should stop consuming. But for you, this is something you can't just... stop doing, and it needs to be treated properly. The sooner the better. Besides, I might have left the addiction behind, but the addict characteristics, the traits, the core problems in my personality, it stayed. And it kept on dictating my life until I got help. Sometimes it still does when things get too hard, even though I've been in therapy for years."

"Please..." Chloe keep pleading. "Please Babe... Can we at least wait? Please... I promise I'll think about it when I'm feeling better..."

Again, Beca sighs deeply and tiredly. She knows well that there is no use persuading, let alone pushing someone in this kind of state. Therefore, she says in defeat, "We'll put this off for now. But we'll talk about it again. Okay? You really need this Chlo. If I didn't think that you'd get better with therapy, I wouldn't be pushing you so hard. I do this because I care about you."

"Th- thank you... for understanding..." Chloe sobs while wiping her tears away. "I- I love you, Babe."

With another defeated sigh, Beca replies, "And I you."

Then Beca gets on the bed and holds Chloe until the redhead falls asleep before gently pulling away to shower. After she's showered, all of the Bellas are already back into the room, and they simply have dinner together, talking casually.

The only person who stays silent is Aubrey, who seems distressed, and Stacie just holds her tightly from aside. Nevertheless, Beca doesn't care even for a bit. She knows that Aubrey needs someone to set her right from the way she's loving the redhead.

Later that night, after she's already lying next to a sleeping Chloe, she got a message, a picture to be exact, from Ashley. It's a picture of Olive and Walter, biting and fighting over Beca's boots. There is no caption in that picture, but it sure gives Beca some comfort.

Then Beca replies, _I guess they've missed me too much already._ However, wait as long as she can, there's no any reply coming from Ashley.

Suddenly, she remembers about several Bali sarongs that Donna brought from Ashley's place earlier that day upon hearing about the nightmare the tiny brunette had last night.

The tiny brunette hurriedly takes one out from her messenger bag and smells it. It has the mixture of her and Ashley's scent on it; and it feels like home for her. Beca closes her eyes, enjoying the warm sensation in her chest that brings a fond smile on her face.

In the beginning of their relationship, after finding out that the tiny brunette couldn't sleep without a blanket, Ashley bought so many Bali sarongs for her.

It was a win win solution for the two of them, because Ashley couldn't sleep even if it was only a bit warm, while Beca couldn't sleep without a blanket covering half of her body no matter the weather was. Therefore, they had a bunch of those soft fabrics on their bed.

Then, with the Bali sarong covering half of her face down to her chest, Beca falls asleep. As predicted well by Donna, the tiny brunette doesn't have any nightmare that night.

* * *

**Three weeks later, November 27** **th** **2025: Thanksgiving Day.**

Two days after Chloe got out from the hospital, the rest of the Bellas bid their goodbye. Fortunately, their relationship with Beca had become much better, and it seemed like they already mended.

It was somehow still a little bit awkward and tense - _no wonder judging by how bad the feud was_ , but they were getting much better and starting to be able to joke with each other again.

Everybody already accepted the fact that Beca would stay with Chloe without hiding or pretending, and Beca already forgave all of them for the judging and blaming.

Well, everybody else but Aubrey, who had been giving Beca a hard time every chance she got so far.

The blonde didn't back down from siding with Chloe in everything, including every time Beca tried to bring up the talk about therapy. And since the tiny brunette practically had been living at Stacie's in the last three weeks, there was no room for her to talk to Chloe in person.

Ever since Chloe was out from the hospital, there was not a day passing by without a fight between them over everything. Everything Beca did so far turned out to be wrong for the redhead, and it had been exhausting for the tiny brunette.

Chloe, insisting to have Beca almost all the time, and the constant texting or phone call that if the tiny brunette didn't have time to reply immediately, would earn her a wrath from Chloe Beale featuring Aubrey Posen when she got back at Stacie's.

Chloe, showing up unannounced at Beca's studio, insisting to have lunch together without any regard if the tiny brunette was in the middle of a meeting or a recording session.

Chloe, getting her knickers in a twist when she found out that Beca still hung out with Ashley's best friends, who're also her best friends; Troian and Patrick.

Chloe, constantly over the edge, terrified that Beca would leave her _for,_ or cheating on her _with_ Ashley. Therefore, the redhead had become very controlling and overly possessive.

Every moment they had together so far was spent with either Chloe would go wreaking havoc at Beca for being such a shitty girlfriend, or Chloe would be crying her eyes out for wreaking havoc at the tiny brunette.

To make it all worse, Aubrey was always there, standing by Chloe's side, spitting out her judgement and anger toward Beca for making Chloe angry or crying. When Beca couldn't take it anymore, she would snap back, and Chloe would cry. Therefore, in the end Beca would stay silent, simply letting the redhead and the blonde yelling at her while she herself put her attention to count her breaths with her eyes closed.

In addition, Stacie couldn't do or say anything to help Beca, because there were enough fights between her and her wife already lately. The only person who seemed to be on Beca's side was Emily, whose opinions were most of the times being ignored by Chloe and Aubrey.

The lack of sleep didn't help either. Beca always had to stay at Stacie's because Chloe would become anxious and think of the worst every time Beca wanted to stay at her apartment, hence the tiny brunette couldn't have her much needed space to take a break.

Therefore, Beca decided to take so many projects at work so she could avoid going back to Stacie's place early. More than often, she made sure that the redhead was already asleep before going back. It certainly made Beca a worse and shittier girlfriend, and it would make Chloe became angrier.

Based on that, it is more than safe to say that these past three weeks had been ball and chain for Beca. She was indeed exhausted and distressed. The worst part was, she had been missing Ashley so much. There's no denying how much they still love each other.

Thankfully, there were things that help Beca got through everything in the past three weeks. She and Ashley had been maintaining some sort of communications through texting. They texted each other every day with nothing extravagant but only two words _Moz, l_ _unch!_ from the blonde, or a simple _Have a good day, Bee._ from Beca.

Sometimes, when it became unbearable, they would call each other, trying to find just any reason to hear each other's voice, most of the times talking about their puppies. It was done without Chloe knowing certainly.

Other than that, Beca had been seeing her therapist at least once a week, having acupuncture at least twice a week, hanging out with Patrick once in a while without Chloe's knowledge, and having Donna sparing at least two hours for her to take a nap and meditate during the day at the studio every day.

The good news was, until today, the media hadn't found out about the separation between Beca and Ashley yet. Their publicists and Donna had been doing a very good job and working so hard, flipping upside down to keep it under the wrap, even though there had been questions above the air about why Ashley hadn't posted any of their picture together in Instagram in last three weeks.

Then as for today, thanksgiving had come, and it was especially hard for Beca. In the past five years, Beca and Ashley had always spent holidays together; thanksgiving with Harvey and Donna, Christmas with Ashley's family, and then new years with their friends.

This year, Beca would still spend Thanksgiving with The Specter's family. However, instead of going with Ashley, this time, Beca would go with Chloe. Nevertheless, there was no way to avoid the dinner because Chloe wanted to be introduced to the people that Beca had considered a family in the last ten years.

* * *

**Thanksgiving Dinner at The Specter's Mansion.**

When they've arrived at Harvey's, Stephan rushes her way to greet his godmother and ask, "Bec, where's my favorite aunt?"

Knowing that Stephan is asking about Ashley, Beca smiles sadly and deflects, "It's good to know that I'm still your number two, buddy."

Then Stephan turns to look at Chloe and asks, "Who is this pretty lady, Bec?"

Nervously, Beca answers, "This is Chloe. My uh... girlfriend."

In confusion, Stephan looks at Chloe with his eyebrows furrowed and says, "No, she's not. You're with Aunt Ashley."

Chloe kneels down, smiling as she patiently explains, "Hi, Stephan. I'm Chloe. You must not know yet, but I'm Beca's girlfriend now. She and Ashley are not together anymore."

The boy certainly doesn't notice the tension as he turns toward his godmother and asks, "You and Aunt Ashley are not together anymore? Why?"

"We uh..." Beca doesn't have any idea of how to explain the situation to her almost six year old godson. Thankfully, Harvey comes and saves the day.

"Hey, Steve." Harvey calls his son. "Let's take our guests into the dining room. The dinner's ready."

"Come on, Steve." Chloe smiles, taking Stephan's hand in hers. "Show me the dining room."

As soon as Chloe and Stephan are already way further ahead, Harvey asks the tiny brunette, "You okay there, monkey?"

Beca simply huffs out a long tired breath through her mouth.

"Stupid question." Harvey says sympathetically, wrapping an arm on Beca's shoulder from aside and squeezes it tightly, knowing how distressed Beca has been lately, and the tiny brunette simply gives him a tired smile.

Then both of them walk into the dining room, and upon smelling the food, Beca cheerfully says, "Smelling good, Donna."

"Of course." Donna replies smugly, and when Beca tries to take a piece of tiramisu, Donna slaps her hand playfully, scolding, "It's for dessert, monkey."

"Geez _mom_." Beca teases, winking toward a giggling Stephan. Then she wraps her arm around Chloe's shoulder, clearing her throat before saying, "Harv, Donna, I'd like you to meet my uh... girlfriend, Chloe. Chloe, these two are my family in the last ten years."

Being the cheerful one, Chloe immediately pulls Donna in a hug, to which the older redhead returns half-heartily.

"It's nice to finally put a name on a face." Chloe says softly before pulling away from Donna and looks at the older redhead, smiling as she says, "Beca has told me so much about the two of you. Thank you for being there for her when we weren't."

Donna simply gives her a wide yet tight smile that Beca clearly knows that it's her fake smile when she's upset. Then Harvey simply offers his hand for a handshake, saying, "Harvey Specter."

Chloe shakes his hand and says, "Chloe Beale. Nice to meet you."

Like Donna, Harvey simply puts on his tight smile. It's not a surprise that after having Ashley around for five years, and knowing how much pressure the Bellas, especially the redhead and Aubrey has been putting on the tiny brunette lately, Chloe is the least favorite person for the couple right now.

When they are starting dinner, Beca tries to take her own food, but Chloe takes the plate from her hand and softly says, "You said that your girlfriend get to do this, Babe. So let me."

Beca simply smiles while Harvey and Donna change subtle look. Then just as the redhead is going to pour gravy on Beca's turkey, Donna coldly says, "You shouldn't put any gravy on it. It's not good for her heart."

Instantly, Beca flashes Donna a warning glare, but Donna simply shrugs nonchalantly.

On the other hand, Chloe clears her throat and says, "Thank you, Donna."

Still not satisfied, Donna adds, "And you should put more veggies on her food."

Although she is feeling uneasy from the not so subtle resentment in Donna's voice, Chloe smiles and replies, "Of course."

Trying to ease the tension, Harvey clears his throat and asks, "So, Chloe. Beca told me that you're a teacher."

Chloe turns to him and cheerfully replies, "Yes, I am."

Then they talk about Chloe's work and other casual stuff with a couple of snarky remarks from Donna that earn deathly glares from Beca, to which Donna ignores.

Suddenly, Donna says, "Monkey, I just want to remind you. You'll have to record an interview for Ellen show on December 10th with Adele, and it will go on air on December 13th."

"Hm." Beca keep on eating, and then Donna continues, "Adele specifically requested you to perform with her."

Beca looks up at Donna and says, "She can sing. I'll just... be a silent guest."

"Well, good luck telling her that." Donna playfully says.

Beca scoffs yet doesn't say anything, and then Chloe asks in surprise, "Babe, you're gonna be in an interview with Adele and you didn't tell me?"

For one specific reason, Beca didn't tell the redhead about it. Now she seems nervous as she says, "It's uh... nothing. Just the usual stuff. I just wrote and produced a song for her. We're uh... friends."

"Babe, it's not nothing." Chloe smiles so bright. "It's huge. I'm so proud of you."

"Uhm... thanks Red." Beca replies, and then she changes the subject by asking her godson, "How's school, Steve? Are you and Bella still friends?"

Stephan nods excitedly, and they spend the rest of dinner talking about Stephan and Bella. Chloe seems to be happy to see that her goddaughter is best friend with her girlfriend's godson, and Stephan seems so happy to learn that Chloe is Bella's godmother.

Despite of the fact that Donna hates Aubrey for the obvious reason, she let her son be friends with Bella, knowing that children shouldn't be included in parents' feud.

After dinner and pleasantries, Beca and Chloe excuses themselves and decides to go back to Stacie's place. On the front porch, Donna kisses Beca's forehead and worriedly says, "You need to take a better care of yourself, monkey. It's been years since you seem so tired and distressed. And since I couldn't always be there for you-"

"I'm fine Donna." Beca cuts her off, knowing that Donna is trying to warn Chloe indirectly. "I'm taking a very good care of myself. You know it well."

Then Donna turns to Chloe, staring coldly at the younger redhead as she says, "You need to treat her better."

Surprisingly, Chloe smiles lightly and says, "I'm doing my best."

"Then do better than your best." Donna replies still as cold. "I'd never needed to worry about her when she was wi-"

_"Donna."_ Beca says firmly while her eyes are glaring at the older redhead, and the older redhead simply rolls her eyes.

Chloe clearly knows what Donna is trying to say, but she brushes it off, turning to Harvey instead to say, "Thank you for having us."

"Just glad to have our monkey around." Harvey says calmly. "It's been a while since we have her here."

"We'll come again." Chloe says as calm.

Then Harvey squeezes Beca's shoulders and says, "Take care monkey."

"Will do, _Dad_." Beca rolls her eyes in mock annoyance, and then she turns to Donna to say, "Thank you for dinner, Donna."

Donna scoffs lightly, rolling her eyes in half-annoyance and says, "We're happy to have you here. You should come more often."

"We will." Beca says with a warning tone, knowing how angry Donna is because Chloe rarely let Beca go anywhere without her unless to the studio.

Then the younger couple get into the car. As she's paying attention on the road while driving, Beca nervously says, "I'm sorry about Donna. She was just... worried about me."

"It's okay." Chloe replies calmly. "She cares about you. I just need to show her that I care about you too."

It's strange to have a very calm Chloe. Beca had expected another thunderstorm as soon as they were alone judging by how cold Donna was treating the redhead. Surprisingly, it seems to the tiny brunette that it's not the case this time. Nevertheless, she cautiously asks, "Are you sure that you're okay?"

Chloe takes Beca's hand in hers and says, "I'm sure, Babe. I know it's hard for her and maybe Emily too, to see that I can love you better than Ashley. It takes time, but I'll show them that no one can love you better than I do."

Relieved by the calmness that hopefully doesn't come with a delayed storm, Beca sighs, smiling as she says, "Okay then."

"Let's just go home." Chloe says softly. Then she playfully says, "I've missed you so much because you've been so busy lately. Aubrey and Stacie are out of town, and we have the place for ourselves."

Doesn't know what to say, Beca simply smiles tightly.

* * *

**Posen-Conrad's House.**

Beca hasn't even closed the front door yet when Chloe pushes her against the door, and starts kissing her while pushing back her suit.

"Uh... Chloe." Beca feels so awkward and tensed.

"Hm?" Chloe keep on kissing Beca on her neck.

"I- I don't think we uh... should be doing this."

Confused of the hesitation, Chloe pulls away and asks, "Why?"

"Uhm... you just had a surgery three weeks ago." Beca explains one of the reasons why she can't exactly make love with the redhead.

Thinking of how considerable her girlfriend is, Chloe smiles and answers, "Don't worry Babe. Doctor Grey had already cleared me this morning."

"Oh." Beca swallows hard. "Uh... good. I guess."

She might sounds relief, but her mind is frantically finding another reason to avoid having sex with the redhead. However, Chloe has already wrapped her arms around the tiny brunette's neck, hovering her lips on Beca's as she breathes out, "So... what are you waiting for, Mitchell? Get your girlfriend to the bed."

Upon seeing Beca's dumbfounded look, Chloe giggles and pulls Beca into her bedroom. Once they've got into the room, Chloe immediately pushes her girlfriend onto the bed before undressing herself.

On the other hand, Beca is panicking, trying so hard to calm her nerves while Chloe is already starting kissing her again.

When Chloe pulls up to look at her girlfriend's face, Beca is taken aback to see Chloe's blue eyes that have the same shade with Ashley's, and the feeling of cheating on her ex-fiancé becomes stronger.

Chloe can see the terrified look on Beca's face, and she asks, "What is it Babe?"

"Uhm..." Beca blinks her eyes several times to brush off Ashley's image in her mind. "Nothing, I guess."

However, Chloe has seen the look, and she starts rambling in panic, "Am I pushing you? Did I do something wrong? I'm so sorry Babe, I-"

"No, no, no, no. Chloe, it's nothing." Beca hurriedly says to calm the redhead down.

Everything about Chloe is still delicate and fragile. Therefore, Beca closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, and flips their position so she is on top of Chloe right now. "Just uh... let me take care of you."

Chloe smiles and pulls Beca down for a kiss. Being true to her words, Beca indeed takes a really good care of Chloe. In the end, the redhead is panting hard and breathless after Beca has done the favor to her.

"Babe..." Chloe breathes out through her ragged breaths. "That was... earth shattering... mind blowing... I couldn't even..."

The only thing Beca could do is smiling weakly, feeling so bad that the whole time, she was thinking about someone else.

However, Chloe doesn't seem to notice because she's already starting unbuttoning Beca's shirt as she asks, "Babe, how could you still fully clothed?"

Hurriedly, Beca grabs her hands to stop her and says, "It's okay, Chlo. Let's make tonight just about you."

In confusion, Chloe asks, "But don't you wa-"

"I uh... I'll be fine." Beca cuts her off, trying to deflect. Lately, it's been easier for her to lie to her girlfriend just to avoid Chloe's wrath. "Uh... you must've been waiting for this for a while now. Just let me... do it to you."

"Well, let's start another round then." Chloe smirks before pulling Beca in a searing kiss, to which Beca returns half-heartily.

Beca is torn, thinking about which one is worse, feeling as if she is cheating on her ex-fiancé, or thinking about her ex-fiancé while she is doing her girlfriend. One thing she knows for sure though, none of those is okay.

It's ironic because Beca won't be able to do the favor if she isn't thinking about her ex-fiancé. However, with the level of how insatiable the redhead is, Beca clearly has no room to decide which is worse, even though her mind is filled with Ashley all the time.

It's not that Chloe isn't hot enough, because she indeed has a body of a model. However, she isn't Ashley, and Beca can only do it with the person she truly loves. Therefore, she just closes her eyes, and go with it.

After a couple of rounds, Chloe finally falls asleep, cuddling up with her bare back pressed onto Beca's front, who is still in her button up shirt and pantsuit, and very much awake. Beca gently untangles herself from the redhead, and heads to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water before walking to the backyard.

After taking a seat on the bench, Beca simply stares at the night sky while drinking her water slowly. In this moment, she can't help but missing her ex-fiancé. She wants nothing else but to at least call the blonde to tell her what she's feeling.

Nevertheless, Beca knew that it wouldn't be fair to the blonde. Therefore, she closes her eyes, letting Ashley's face and the things they've been through come into her mind, and then, a fond smile appears on her face.

After a while, she doesn't know why, a song comes up into her mind, and she starts singing it. It's the song she wrote and produced when she had to stay in London for six months. She wrote it after her fight with Ashley.

_One million songs and counting_  
_A million miles I've come_  
_Oh one million eyes have called to me_  
_Still I remember home_  
_Oh one thousand words stuck in my head_  
_And a thousand towns I've gone_  
_Oh one thousand ways for me to say  
_ _That I remember home_

There had been so many songs she wrote for her ex-fiancé, so many places she'd been even after they were in a relationship, with so many fans calling out her name outside of the booth, and so many women wanted to be with her, yet Ashley had always been the one that made her feel like home.

_Baby_  
_Found a star to lead me back to you_  
_Shines like you do_  
_It shines like you do_  
_Send my love so you won't feel alone  
_ _Baby as soon as I can, oh, I'm coming home_

Every time they were away from each other and she missed Ashley, Beca simply took her time, staring at the night sky, counting the days down to go back to Ashley, knowing that the blonde felt the same, and hoping that Ashley knew that she wasn't feeling it alone.

_Oh one hundred nights I've dreamed of you_  
_A hundred visions strong_  
_Oh one hundred times I've cried for you  
_ _When I remember home_

_Oh, found a star to lead me back to you_  
_Shines like you do_  
_It shines like you do_  
_Send my love so you won't feel alone_  
_As soon as I can, oh  
_ _Oh you know that I'm coming home_

There were so many times Beca felt like giving up on their relationship, so many times that Ashley felt the same, and so many heart wrenching fights that were supposed to tear them apart, but they kept on coming back to each other.

_Nights so empty_  
_I'm wondering if you miss me_  
_So baby, I'm coming home_  
_Yeah..._  
_Nights so lonely_  
_I need you to hold me  
_ _So baby, I'm coming home_

Tonight, the feeling of missing the person she loves the most is overwhelming. The loneliness she's been feeling lately, that she hasn't felt in a very long time, it brings her down to her knees, hoping and wishing upon the star for a do over, for a way back, even if only for a night.

_Found a star to lead me back to you_  
_Shines like you do_  
_It shines like you do_  
_Send my love so you won't feel alone_  
_Baby as soon as I can, oh, I'm coming home_  
_As soon as I can, oh, I'm coming home  
_ _Soon as I can, oh, I'm coming_

After singing the song, Beca just keep looking at the sky, fighting the urge to go and see Ashley, to go back to the person she calls home.

However, try as hard as she might to fight it, eventually, she relents and decides to go to Ashley's place. After making sure that Chloe is still asleep, she hops into her red Aston Martin Valkyrie, and drives as fast as she can to Beverly Hills.

Surprisingly, when she has finally arrived at her former house, she can't bring herself to walk through the front door. Instead, she sits on the stairs at the front porch, staring at the sky, sinking in the feeling of missing Ashley.

One by one, Beca starts to count the dreams she has achieved ever since she's met Ashley, thinking and wondering of how life before Ashley just passing by with her sitting, watching from the sidelines.

Then she found Ashley in her life, and everything changed for the better. She can't help but feeling afraid of what will happen to her when she really leaves this all behind, when she finally let go of her love to Ashley.

_Will I be able to leave you behind and get you off my mind this time, Ash?_

Suddenly, an idea for a song that will fit into the musical she is working on fills into her mind. Beca pulls out her phone and starts to type the lyric that flows right out of her brain.

After she is out of idea, she stands up and starts to walk slowly toward her car. She turns to look at the house for a moment before getting into her car and drives back to Stacie's.

When Beca has already arrived at Stacie's place, she is relieved to find that Chloe is still asleep. Then she changes her clothes, grabs her Bali sarong, and carefully gets onto the bed. She smiles lightly when Chloe immediately reaches out and stirs closer to her.

Beca pulls the redhead closer before kissing her forehead and then closes her eyes, feeling grateful that a day without Chloe yelling, or crying, or doing both is indeed a good day. With her chest feeling lighter, Beca falls into her slumber.

Unknowingly to the tiny brunette, Ashley was watching her the whole time after getting a phone call from Pascal, telling her that Beca had come. However, she couldn't bring herself to walk out of the door, knowing that she wouldn't be able to hold herself back if she had.

Therefore, she decided to watch Beca from the window until the tiny brunette walked away. Then she went back to the sanctuary and cried for the hundreds times in the last month since they broke up, holding one of Beca's favorite Bali sarongs tightly on her chest.

* * *

**Ellen Show: December 13** **th** **2025**

Things hasn't got any better for Beca and Chloe even though it's been more than a month since Chloe is home. It's like they are in this vicious circle where the more Chloe tries to pull the tiny brunette by being controlling and overly possessive, the more Beca pulls away from her.

As for today, Beca is in her studio, watching the Ellen Show she just recorded three days ago. In that interview, she was performing with Adele. At first, she had refused, but Adele being Adele, she just refused Beca's refusal.

Beca certainly had her reason why she didn't want to perform. The song Adele performed in that show was a song that came up to her when she was showering in the morning before she came to the hospital. A couple of days after that, when she had a meeting with Adele, the British singer loved the song and insisted to make it her newest single.

Now the tiny brunette can't help but worrying about Chloe's reaction if she watches the show.

"Monkey!" Donna calls a bit loudly upon seeing that the tiny brunette is so lost in her own thought. "The show has begun."

With a weak smile, Beca replies, "Yeah."

Then they watch the show together. After watching the show, Beca takes a deep breath, knowing that there will be hurricane waiting for her when she gets back to Stacie's place tonight.

"It was great for your very first interview on TV, monkey." Donna smiles smugly.

"Hm." Beca responds with a sad smile.

Donna doesn't push, knowing that Beca is not excited upon not having Ashley with her in one of the most significant things she's ever done in her life. Instead, she asks worriedly, "Does your girlfriend know about this song?"

"Nope." Beca says tiredly. "I didn't tell that I'd perform a song for Ashley. I didn't think that Adele would ask me to perform with her in this show. And when you told me on that thanksgiving dinner, I just... I didn't think that letting her know about the song would be a good idea."

"Hmmm..." Donna nods absentmindedly. "Will she... be mad?"

"I bet." Beca scoffs tiredly. "I'll just prepare myself. It'll be bad tonight."

With a sympathetic smile, Donna says, "You'll get through it, monkey."

"I have to." Beca smiles weakly.

Donna says nothing else but patting her back gently. Then suddenly, there is a knock on the door, and Beca's therapist for acupuncture comes into the view.

"Ready for our session?" Doctor Edgar asks.

"Sure doc." Beca replies before walking into her small bedroom next to her office.

* * *

**Ashley's Mansion: December 13** **th** **2015, 04.00 PM**

"The show is on, Ash!" Troian calls out from the entertainment room on the second floor.

"Coming!" Ashley shouts while running down the stairs.

Donna had told Ashley that Beca would be a guest on Ellen along with Adele. It wasn't a surprise for her anymore.

Then the blonde simply watches the show, sitting in between Troian and Shay on the couch while Ellen is starting the show with a monologue, and at some point, she calls the guests.

"Let's have it!" Ellen exclaims. "Adele and Beca Mitchell with All I Ask!"

The curtain opens, showing Beca sitting next to a white grand piano, and Adele standing behind a mic.

Ashley puts her sole attention on her ex-fiancé, staring at how Beca closes her eyes, starting to play the piano slowly, and then Adele's heavenly voice follows with the lyric.

_I will leave my heart at the door_  
_I won't say a word_  
_They've all been said before, you know_  
_So why don't we just play pretend_  
_Like we're not scared of what is coming next  
_ _Or scared of having nothing left_

By the first verse, Ashley immediately knows that the song is about their break-up; the eventful night when they decided to break up.

_Now I'm scared the hell out of my mind of having nothing left!_

It was the same exact words Beca yelled out that night.

_Look, don't get me wrong_  
_I know there is no tomorrow_  
_All I ask is_  
_If this is my last night with you_  
_Hold me like I'm more than just a friend_  
_Give me a memory I can use_  
_Take me by the hand while we do what lovers do_  
_It matters how this ends  
_ _Cause what if I never love again?_

Remembering the love they made that night still feels painful though also bitter sweet, and Ashley can't help it when tears start running down her face silently. She couldn't be more agree when Beca said in the note that she'd never love again, not the way she did with the tiny brunette.

_I don't need your honesty_  
_It's already in your eyes_  
_And I'm sure my eyes, they speak for me_  
_No one knows me like you do_  
_And since you're the only one that matters  
_ _Tell me who do I run to?_

Ashley remembers how her chest was tightened, how suffocating it was when they were simply staring into each other's eyes, fully understood without any word to say, that it was their goodbye.

_Look, don't get me wrong_  
_I know there is no tomorrow_  
_All I ask is_  
_If this is my last night with you_  
_Hold me like I'm more than just a friend_  
_Give me a memory I can use_  
_Take me by the hand while we do what lovers do_  
_It matters how this ends  
_ _Cause what if I never love again?_

The way they touched and held each other that night, it still makes Ashley shivering from the emotion, the heavy feeling of letting each other go. Nevertheless, a light smile appears on Ashley's teary face, agreeing about how the way they ended their relationship mattered for the two of them.

_Let this be our lesson in love_  
_Let this be the way we remember us_  
_I don't wanna be cruel or vicious_  
_And I ain't asking for forgiveness  
_ _All I ask is_

When Beca left, she didn't apologize, and Ashley didn't need one. It was simply a mutual understanding to do the right thing between the two of them.

_If this is my last night with you_  
_Hold me like I'm more than just a friend_  
_Give me a memory I can use_  
_Take me by the hand while we do what lovers do_  
_It matters how this ends  
_ _Cause what if I never love again?_

After the song ends, there is a deafening cheering from the audience, and it pulls Ashley out from her daze. She hurriedly wipes her tears away and keep watching the show.

"Whoa!" Ellen exclaims. "What a crowd today! No wonder! We have one of the most talented music producer of all time, Beca Mitchell, and one of the best singers in the whole world, Adele! The combination of these two could definitely shift the earth!"

With a light smile, Beca and Adele walk to the couch, waving and smiling toward the cheering audience before greeting Ellen and sit down.

"Wow! That song is amazing!" Ellen exclaims in awe. "Beca Mitchell, what a genius!"

Beca responds with a shy shrug and simply says, "Thank you."

Then the short-haired blonde turns to Adele to say, "And Adele! Your voice, your soulful voice. It's crazy and I'm still shivering from it!"

"Thank you." Adele smiles. "Although to be honest, all I did was singing. This little one did all the hard work. The writing, the arranging, the producing. There're too many talents to fit in her tiny body."

Beca chuckles and says, "Thank you. To be honest, when the inspiration hit, I was in a shower, and it came with Adele's voice in my head. So..."

"You were thinking about Adele in the shower when you wrote this song?" Ellen asks jokingly, earning a bark of laughter from the audience.

With her cheeks flushing red, Beca mutters, "Well... now that you put it that way, it sounded a lot dirtier than it actually was."

Then the audience laugh even louder, including Adele. Even Ashley let out a light damp chuckle upon seeing her awkward ex-fiancé.

"You were so into the song back there." Ellen says curiously. "Singing silently along. Is it based on your love life? I mean, the inspiration for this song, did you write it for someone?"

Ashley is not aware that she's holding her breath, even though she knows clearly that Beca will deflect the question, and she is right.

"That..." Beca smirks teasingly. "Would be for me to know, and for you... to never find out."

"Aw... come on. Is it for Ashley Benson? You two are still together right?" Ellen asks again curiously, knowing that there is a rumor about their separation.

"No personal stuff." Beca replies playfully, and when Ellen stares at her intensely, she playfully scolds, "Come on! You have the greatest Adele sitting on your couch. Her talent is more interesting than my private love life. Go nuts."

"Alright... alright..." Ellen smiles understandingly before turning her attention toward Adele. "Let's talk about you Adele. I've heard that you're nominated for Grammy's again. It's for this song, right?"

"Yeah. Thanks to DJ Mitchell." Adele replies, smiling toward the tiny DJ. "And she's also nominated for the same song."

After that, they just talk about Adele's son and future projects. It isn't long until the show is finally done, and the two musicians bid their goodbye to the host and audience.

When the show ends, Patrick asks, "Is that a song about the two of you?"

Troian turns to him, rolls her eyes, and says, "Obviously, Babe. Who else would it be about?"

"Wow." Patrick says with wide eyes. "It's beautiful. Being so close to her, knowing what a dork she is, sometimes I forget about how crazily talented she is."

Still sinking in sadness, Ashley doesn't say anything but smiling weakly. Therefore, sympathetically, Shay wraps her arms around Ashley's shoulder and softly asks, "You okay, Ash?"

Ashley knows that Shay is only trying to be a good friend. However, after breaking up with Beca, she can't shake off this uncomfortable feeling every time Shay tries to hold her. Although she clearly knows that she needs to move on at some point, she's just not ready yet.

Trying not to hurt her best friend's feeling, Ashley gently shrugs Shay off and weakly says, "Not at all."

"You need anything at all?" Shay asks worriedly.

With a restraint voice, Ashley replies, "I need her... I need Beca in my life..."

"Ash..." Shay says stubbornly. "You need to forget about her. She's not coming back, Ash. She's not here anymore. But... But I am. I have always been."

Ashley closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, trying to tune down her annoyance and be calm when she says, "I just broke up, Shay. What is wrong with you?"

Feeling upset now, Shay raises her voice, saying, "There's nothing wrong with me. But everything is wrong with you right now. You need to wake up because she's not coming back. You need to move on, Ash! And I'm just trying to help you!"

"Well don't!" Ashley spits out angrily. "If your idea of helping me is by wooing me when I'm broken hearted, then I don't need your help!"

Then the blonde walks out from the entertainment room, heading to the sanctuary, leaving her three best friends a bit stunned by the amount of anger she just poured out.

Nonchalantly, Troian says to Shay, "You just have to throw it to her face, again, and again. You know that it's not gonna help you to get her, right?"

Shay huffs in annoyance, "Whatever. I'm just trying to wake her up."

"It's only been a month, Shay." Patrick comments calmly. "You need to cut her some slack. She's never had it this bad before. They were together for more than five years, and they were happily engaged. And then everything changed over a night."

"I just-"

"No more _I just_ , Shay." Troain warns. "She's trying her best to deal with the broken heart. You better let her have her phase, or otherwise, she'll end up hating you."

Meanwhile in the sanctuary, Ashley is crying her eyes out while holding Beca's favorite Bali sarong again. Lately, this particular soft fabric has become her comfort since she can't find Beca's navy hoodie anywhere.

* * *

**Posen-Conrad House: December 13** **th** **2025**

Beca comes back from the studio around 11 PM. When she walks into the living room, Stacie and Aubrey are making out heavily on the couch, topless.

Feeling so awkward but unable to pass the chance to embarrass Aubrey, Beca closes her eyes with her hands, and announces her presence by exclaiming overdramatically, "My eyes! My eyes! God! My brain!"

"Beca!" Aubrey yelps, trying failingly to cover her bare chest with her hands.

Still, Beca just keep exclaiming overdramatically, "My eyes! Oh God! My brain is burning!"

Stacie, who is never shy of her sexual activity, just laughs while her wife is flushing red and feeling upset. Then the blonde hurriedly puts on her shirt and scolds, "You can open your eyes now, idiot!"

Still with a teasing smirk, Beca peeks out from between her fingers before nonchalantly says, "God, Posen. I think my eyes almost burn my brain. And Stace, put on your shirt. Don't you two have a room?"

"You are so fucking childish, Mitchell!" Aubrey scolds angrily.

Nonchalantly, Beca simply says, "Chloe must be in her room. I'll just go there now."

"We need to talk." Aubrey says firmly, and Beca knows clearly that it's said toward her. However, she just ignores it.

Right before Beca reaches the stairs, Aubrey is going to snap at the tiny brunette, but Stacie glares at her and calmly calls, "Shorty?"

"Hm?" Beca responds, but she doesn't turn to look at the tall brunette, trying to avoid staying any longer to face Aubrey's wrath.

"She's uh..." Stacie sounds nervous now. "She watched Ellen Show earlier."

Beca stops on her track for a second before replying, "Okay. Thanks for the heads up."

Knowing that there will be a storm waiting for her, Beca takes a deep breath and heads to Chloe's room. After opening the door, Beca finds that the room is dark, but she can see Chloe's figure from the dimmed light in the hallway, curling up on the bed with her back facing the door. Then she softly calls, "Chlo?"

When she doesn't get any answer, Beca walks in and sits on the edge of the bed, looking at Chloe closely. The redhead is obviously awake because Beca can see her blue eyes shining in the dark. With her hand stroking Chloe's head gently, Beca softly says, "Hey Red."

Upon not getting any response, Beca gently puts the back of her hand on Chloe's forehead to check if the redhead has a fever or something. Fortunately, Chloe is not having any fever. Then she softly asks, "You okay, Chlo?"

However, Chloe doesn't say anything. She just pulls Beca down in a searing kiss, and it certainly confuses the tiny brunette. Therefore, Beca pulls away and mutters, "Uhm... Chlo?"

Instead of stopping the kiss, Chloe pulls out her own shirt and says almost in pleading, "Just kiss me Babe. I need you to kiss me."

Still confused, Beca grabs Chloe's hands gently and softly says, "Chloe... talk to me."

"I don't want to talk." Chloe pushes the tiny brunette onto the bed. "I want you to make love to me, and show me that you love me."

When Chloe starts unbuttoning her shirt, Beca grabs her hands again and says, "Chloe, stop. I know you're upset. Talk to me."

"I said," The redhead seems angry now. "I don't want to talk!"

Although she has become upset too, Beca takes a deep breath and says, "Chloe-"

"What is it Becs?!"

Didn't think that Chloe would relent, Beca became speechless. Then Chloe uses that chance to ramble out her anger, "You said you wanted to talk? Okay, let's talk. You said you choose me, but you wrote a song about another woman, and you never wanted to have sex with me, not without me begging you first!"

Stunned by the revelation, Beca actually can't say anything for a moment. Then she sighs heavily and tiredly says, "Chloe... You and I, we're together now. But Ashley and I, we were together for five years. It was five birthdays, five Christmases, five new years, five anniversaries, and five thanksgivings. And I'm not gonna lie to you. We... we were happy. She's the only woman that I've ever loved after you. And though I'm with you now... she wasn't just anybody, Chlo. I was engaged to her. So, can you please... please... cut me some slack. It's not that easy to just... leave without having any feeling left."

Chloe scoffs, "It was easy for you when you left me. We were best friends for four years, Becs. Four years! You didn't feel like you needed to text me, or call me, let alone to write any songs for me. You just... left."

"Not this again, please." Beca says tiredly. "It was different. I was a different person."

In a mixture of anger and fear, Chloe snaps out, "And loving two different women! I can see clearly that you love her more than me!"

Upon seeing Beca's dumbfounded face that most likely showing the truth, Chloe angrily spits out, " _Maybe,_ you don't really love me, Becs! _Maybe,_ you were just afraid that I would try to kill myself again if you didn't choose to stay with me! _Maybe,_ you were confused and you got your feelings all mixed up! _Maybe,_ you're just-"

Beca cuts the redhead off by flipping their position and starts kissing her, that to which, the redhead complies whole-heartily, more precisely, angrily.

When Chloe was starting to spit out her conclusion about their relationship, the only thing that Beca could think of to stop the doubt was by doing the favor to the redhead.

It was mean, and Beca knew that. However, she was afraid that she would tell Chloe the truth and hurt her if they kept talking. Therefore, she did what she thought as an easy way out.

Beca doesn't stop until the redhead falls asleep. Then she gently kisses the back of Chloe's shoulder repeatedly, wanting to show just how much she feels bad about it.

" _This would be another sleepless night."_ Beca thought to herself, sinking in her guilty feeling.

The next morning, Chloe wakes up with a blinding smile on her face, and she doesn't ask about the song anymore.

Stacie keep on teasing them about Chloe's loud moan all night long on breakfast, earning deathly glares from the tiny brunette, while at the same time, Aubrey seems relieved to see how happy Chloe is.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it. Chapter 25. Things haven't got any better for the new couple so far. And the next chapter, it will be... darker. Then slowly, things will get better.
> 
> So... until then, sit tight and make good choices. Thank you for reading :)
> 
> P.s. The song Beca wrote on the front porch, it would appear in chapters to come. Still a long way, but you're free to guess what song it is. Just like the note Beca left for Ashley in the bathroom was a piece of All I Ask by Adele.


	26. Finding Closure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey there :D
> 
> First of all, so sorry for the delay, and thanks to RJRMovieFan who reminded me to update. I almost forgot that I hadn't update in almost a week. Thanks dude :)
> 
> And thank you for the readers, followers, people who favor, and the reviewers. It's been hard, folks. Thanks for staying :)
> 
> Okay. Let's go back to the story. In the last chapter, things were as dark as it was. And I did tell you that it would only get darker in this chapter, especially for Chloe. The plot is gonna be a roller coaster, and it's intended. So... brace yourself Chloe shippers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are several songs in this chapter, and I'll give the list by the end note. I don't own Pitch Perfect, nor the songs, neither the characters.
> 
> Hope you enjoy, and let's dig in :)

**Ashley's Mansion: Thursday Morning, December 18** **th** **2025**

It's been 44 days since Ashley and Beca broke up, and it's been as long since Ashley stays in the sanctuary every night. The room is now filled with so many stuff that Beca doesn't take with her because her apartment is too small. Beca only took half of her wardrobe and Ashley's heart with her when she moved out.

There are tons of their framed pictures in so many sizes; Beca's favorite cushions, blankets, pillows; the rest of her wardrobe; and other stuff. Since there are too many stuff, Ashley has never thought that the huge sanctuary is actually not that big, and it certainly breaks her heart.

Last night, to celebrate Ashley's birthday, her best friends and the rest of PLL casts took her to a club. Usually, she didn't drink much, especially when she was with the tiny brunette, unless for social drinking with colleagues and friends. She rarely got drunk since Beca sobered up.

However, last night was an exception because she was extremely upset for not having Beca on her birthday like in the past five years. Therefore, she drank out of her bodyweight. Thankfully, Troian, Patrick, and Shay took care of her by taking her home and staying at her mansion.

"Ash!" Troian knocks the sanctuary door loudly. "Wake up!"

"Urgh..." Ashley's head is pounding hard, but she wakes up anyway, and then she changes into casual clothes before walking out from the room.

Instantly, Troian hugs her tightly and cheerfully exclaims, "Happy birthday, sleepyhead!"

"Aw..." Ashley grumbles, holding the side of her head tightly and weakly whines, "Inside voice please. My head is killing me."

Troian chuckles lightly and retorts, "Who told you to drink out of your bodyweight last night?"

Again, Ashley simply groans and pulls away from her best friend before walking downstairs, heading to the kitchen. As soon as she reaches the kitchen, Shay pulls her in a tight hug, kisses the side of her head, and says, "Happy birthday, dear. I wish you another great year."

"Thanks." Ashley mutters before pulling away gently.

It's been more awkward than usual for Ashley to be around Shay since the tall brunette asked her out on a date two days ago. Politely, she said that she'd think about it.

Sensing how grumpy Ashley is, Shay softly says, "Cheer up, Ash. It's your birthday."

"Trying." Ashley grumbles in annoyance, not because of the attention, but because of the situation.

"Not succeeding." Patrick chips in before pulling the blonde in a hug. "Happy birthday, Benzo. Just one more year until you join us in the thirties."

"Thanks, Patrick." Ashley bites. It has become harder to be cheerful because she hasn't got over the fact that she has to spend her birthday without her ex-fiancé, who she still loves so much.

Trying to be casual, Ashley clears her throat and walks away to get herself a cup of coffee. Then she notices some stuff on the kitchen table, and she says in mock annoyance, "I'm 29 guys. I certainly don't need any present anymore."

"It's not from us, Ash." Troian says nonchalantly.

With her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, Ashley sips her coffee slowly before asking, "From whom then?"

"We don't know." Patrick tries to look at the presents. "We thought you'd want to see it first. There's a bouquet of lilies, and some other boxes."

Then Ashley's eyes widen in surprise, and she hurriedly puts down her cup before opening the boxes.

"Easy there, Ash." Troian says playfully. "Nobody's trying to snatch those things from you."

"It's from Beca." Ashley says without diverting her attention from opening the boxes.

"What?" All of her friends respond in confusion at the same time.

As usual, Shay, the hotheaded and obviously the jealous one, starts bad-mouthing the tiny brunette. "What's this asshole trying to do? Sending you a bunch of presents to keep you around after she chose her so called first love?"

Troian immediately slaps Shay on her arm, and Ashley warns, "It's none of your business, Shay. And for the record, it was our mutual decision. She's just as miserable as I am. None of us wanted this."

"But why would Beca send you a bunch of presents?" Patrick asks in confusion. He knew that if his DJ best friend had any plan to surprise the blonde, there was no way she didn't ask for his help.

With a sad yet fond smile, Ashley replies, "Because she's a dork."

Seeing the confusion in her friends' faces, Ashley turns her attention on a small object in her hand, smiling sadly as she softly explains, "Every year on my birthday, I would receive a lot of presents because Beca had a year to plan what presents to give. Every time she found something, she would just send it via post to arrive on my birthday. Like this one." She shows her friends a flash drive with a date on it. "This was from around March. It's almost nine months ago."

Her friends' eyes widen in comic surprise while reading the small note that comes with the flash drive; _My wish for you Hon. –Love, Beca._

Then Ashley opens another box, and she's surprised to find Beca's navy hoodie in it. No wonder she couldn't find it even though she had been flipping the house upside down since Beca left. Immediately, Ashley puts on the hoodie and smells Beca's faint scent on it, and instantly, she feels warm in her chest.

While reading the note, Troian says, "She packed this one a couple of days after you came home, Ash. Here's the note."

Ashley takes and reads it hurriedly.

_Since you love this old faded ripped navy hoodie so much,_

_I got myself a new shiny one so you can have this one._  
_For whenever you miss me, and I can't be there for you.  
_ _Though, I really hope that it doesn't happen often._

 _October 30_ _th_ _2025  
_ _-Love, Beca_

_p.s. Remember I wore it for three days after you came back? Well, I didn't wash it. My bad._

Ashley is still reading the note longingly when Patrick's voice pulls her out of her haze.

"Whoa!" Patrick exclaims while opening a box of DVD's. "Ten seasons of Friends in DVD's. Where did she find this gold?"

"What's on the note?" Ashley asks, and then Patrick hands her a piece of paper that says,

 _For whenever you're having a bad day,_  
_and I'm not there to cheer you up._  
_I believe Chandler will remind you a lot of me._  
_You know, since he's almost as hilarious as I am._  
_Kidding, he's Chandler freaking Bing for God's sake._  
_No one's more hilarious than he is._  
_Well, after more consideration, except me.  
_ _I was the one who taught him to be that hilarious._

 _June 30_ _th_ _2025  
_ _-Love, Beca_

_p.s. Okay. I lied. It was the other way around. He's my master._

While Troian and Patrick are laughing lightly, Ashley bites her bottom lip, thinking before her eyes lighten up, and she says, "This was from the day after I had _that_ bad day and she sang ridiculously to comfort me like six months ago. This was the day I got her the engagement ring."

Meanwhile, Shay is staring at the blonde anxiously and Troian is smiling softly. On the other hand, Patrick is already opening up another box, and he exclaims. "Damn!"

"What?" Ashley asks.

"Beca is all out." He says with wide eyes, impressed by the present. "She wasn't joking when she said that your birthday is her favorite day of the year." Then he shows Ashley a small object in his hand. "Look at this. Isn't it a car key?"

"The note." Troian hands a piece of paper to the blonde without reading it first.

 _I saw you eyeing this hot stuff on the day I bought Valkyrie._  
_Nu uh. Don't even deny it._  
_And stop rolling your eyes._  
_I swear to God, I shouldn't have taught you that!_  
_Anyway, go and take Troian for a drive. She will go nuts._  
_But drive safe, Hon. Always._  
_Please take a really good care of_ _the most precious thing for me in this whole world.  
_ _The car._

 _March 31_ _st_ _2025  
_ _-Love, Beca._

_p.s. Kidding. It's you, Hon._

Ashley laughs, thinking about how right Beca's prediction upon her reaction.

"What car is it?" Troian asks in excitement.

Knowing well that Troian really loves classic coupe, Ashley smirks and says, "Red Lyonheart K."

"She did not!" Troian gasps.

"She did." Ashley nods her head with a smug smile on her face.

Upon seeing how special the presents from Beca, Shay is getting antsy and she hurriedly opens another box. When she sees the content, she sighs in relief and says, "At least this one is just a cake."

Remembering this particular cake closely, Ashley eyes lighten up as she softly says, "This isn't just any cake."

Upon seeing the puzzled look on her best friends' faces, Ashley explains, "We went to Venice last February to celebrate Valentine's Day, and we found a little bakery that has the best cheesecake I've ever tasted." Then she reads the note.

 _Happy birthday, Hon!_  
_I know you love this cake so much._  
_What was it again that you said after the first spoon?_  
_It feels like orgasm in your mouth?_  
_Huh. Maybe this isn't a good idea._  
_You know, giving you an orgasm from something else but me._  
_Well, screw it!_  
_You can have this fresh baked cheesecake all on your own today!_  
_So screw your diet for a day! I'll love you anyway!_  
You and that cute little double chin of yours!  
_Since I couldn't bring you there on your birthday,_  
_I brought the cake here instead._  
_Or the old couple that has the bakery to be precise.  
_ _They'll get a free holiday in L.A. in exchanged for this cake._

 _February 14_ _th_ _2025  
_ _-Love, Beca._

_p.s. I didn't tell the old couple that we don't have snow in winter. Let's hope they don't find out about it until they go back to Venice._

After reading the note, Ashley immediately takes a piece of the cake and puts it into her mouth, moaning, "Oh God! It's still as good! All of you should try it."

Then one by one, her best friends take the cake and try it.

"God!" Troian moans. "It's better than sex!"

"Told you." Ashley says with wide eyes before licking her fingers clean from the cream.

"I'll be damned." Patrick comments after taking a bite.

On the other hand, being the opposite team, Shay rolls her eyes in half-annoyance and says, "It's fine."

After finishing his piece of cake, Patrick pushes a big white box with a blue ribbon wrapped around it as he says, "Here's the biggest one."

Upon seeing the content, Ashley is stunned to find a beautiful Faviana Glamour aqua blue dress in it with a purse, a pair of heels, and a note with it.

 _I saw this dress the other day,_  
_and it reminded me of your mesmerizing blue eyes._  
_Wear it tonight Hon._  
Pascal will take you to your favorite restaurant at 7.  
_I have a surprise for you there._

 _June 28_ _th_ _2025  
_ _-Love, Beca._

_p.s. just a bit of clue, Christmas might come earlier for you this year._

Troian and Shay looks at the dress in awe, and then Troian says, "It's beautiful, Ash. I didn't know that grumpy pants has a good taste in fashion."

Ashley smiles softly and says, "She's always had a good taste."

With a light scoff, Patrick adds, "Look at the women she has fallen in love with."

While Troian is glaring playfully at her fiancé, Ashley is already half-way opening the last box, and she finds a key with an address in it. In confusion, she says, "It seems like a key for a house."

"Read the note." Shay comments.

 _This is your last stop, Love.  
_ _Come here after dinner. I'll be waiting._

 _July 11_ _th_ _2025.  
_ _-Love, Beca._

_p.s. the owner doesn't know about it at all. So come in quietly._

"She's crazy, Ash." Shay says in upset. "Don't do it. You'll get arrested for breaking and entering."

"Technically, it's not breaking in if you have the key." Troian says matter-of-factly. "Just entering."

Ashley sighs heavily and weakly says, "Doesn't matter. I'm not going."

"Why?" Troian asks.

After clearing her throat from the lump, Ashley replies, "What for? She's not gonna be there."

With a sympathetic smile, Troian simply hugs her blonde best friend from aside. Then Patrick comes in with his laptop and puts the flash drive in it. The three other women simply look at him in confusion.

"What?" He asks. "Aren't you curious of the content?"

Shay shots him a warning glare as she angrily exclaims, "We shouldn't! It might have inappropriate stuff in it."

Knowing that Beca won't do such thing, Troian rolls her eyes in annoyance and says, "There's no way Beca would do something like that. Not her style at all. Put it on, Babe."

The flash drive only has one file in it, and it is a video. After getting a light nod from Ashley, Patrick opens it, and Beca's face comes into the view.

The tiny brunette is putting the camera on, and checking it as she retorts, _"Is it on yet? Oh, shit! It is."_

Then Beca takes a seat on a stool in her home studio, and puts a huge headphone on her head before reaching for her favorite black guitar. After that, she looks at the camera, grinning goofily as she exclaims, _"Happy birthday, Love!"_

In the video, Beca takes her time to tune her guitar before looking back at the camera, smiling ever so fondly as she says, _"I would always cherish this day; the day you were born, Hon. I believe when God, or the universe, or something in between made you 29 years ago, they must have been thinking about me. Because I've found everything that I need, in you. I love you my dearest, my dream come true, my everything! I wished you some stuff that I could say better in the same old way I always had, singing. I got the inspiration for this song around a week ago when I came home late, tired as hell, but you had prepared a hot ginger milk and a hot bath for me. Then we ended up talking about the stuff you wanted to do after PLL at the balcony. So, here it is. My Wish."_

Then Beca starts strumming her guitar and sings.

 _I hope the days come easy and the moments pass slow_  
_And each road leads you to where you want to go_  
_And if you're faced with the choice and you have to choose_  
_I hope you choose the one that means the most to you_  
_And if one door opens to another door closed_  
_I hope you keep on walking 'til you find the window_  
_If it's cold outside, show the world the warmth of your smile  
_ _But more than anything, more than anything_

The things they talk about that night comes back into Ashleys' mind. She told the tiny brunette that she wanted to travel after PLL is over at least for a year, preferably around Europe. Surprisingly, Beca agreed and wanted to go with her.

 _My wish for you_  
_Is that this life becomes all that you want it to_  
_Your dreams stay big, your worries stay small_  
_You never need to carry more than you can hold_  
_And while you're out there getting where you're getting to_  
_I hope you know somebody loves you_  
_And wants the same things too  
_ _Yeah, this is my wish_

_You can do whatever you want, Hon. Don't worry. Anything you've ever dreamed to achieve, I'll be there in every steps of the way, wanting the same things, loving you the same way._

Those were the words Beca told her that night when she was anxious about what to do next. Ashley knew that Beca really meant it back then. However, obviously, life had another plan for them.

 _I hope you never look back but you never forget_  
_All the ones who love you_  
_And the place you left_  
_I hope you always forgive and you never regret_  
_And you help somebody every chance you get_  
_Oh, you find God's grace in every mistake_  
_And always give more than you take  
_ _But more than anything, yeah more than anything_

This certain verse sinks into Ashley's mind; how to forgive but never forget and regret. It's something she finds really hard to do in this particular moment, especially when she's been wondering if the decision to break up with the love of her life is the right one.

They did it to help someone, indeed. However, she couldn't help but wondering whether it was a mistake, or even whether or not she could find the silver lining this time.

 _My wish for you_  
_Is that this life becomes all that you want it to_  
_Your dreams stay big, your worries stay small_  
_You never need to carry more than you can hold_  
_And while you're out there gettin' where you're gettin' to_  
_I hope you know somebody loves you_  
_And wants the same things too  
_ _Yeah, this is my wish_

After the song ends, suddenly, Ashley is being hit with this heavy feeling of sadness because the only thing she wants the most on her birthday isn't around.

Upon seeing tears starting to pool in Ashley's eyes, Troian worriedly asks, "What is it, Ash?" 

"All of this stuff," Ashley cracks out while wiping the tears in the corner of her eyes. "But she's not here with me."

Troian immediately hugs the blonde without saying anything. However, Ashley pulls away rather quickly and says with restraint voice, "I'm sorry guys, but... I want to be alone. You are welcomed to stay, but please don't go to the fourth floor."

With that being said, Ashley takes all of the notes and the flash drive from Beca, and then heads to the sanctuary.

When Shay wants to chase her, Patrick holds her elbow and says, "You heard her."

Still, Shay wants to defy, and then Troian shots her a warning glare and says, "It's not the time, Shay. Let her be."

"But Troian," Shay says worriedly. "In the eight years I've known her, I've never seen her this broken before. I... I'm just afraid that she'll do something stupid."

"Such as?" Troian asks with her eyebrows furrowed, shaking her head lightly in disbelief.

"You know..." Shay mutters weakly. "Stupid thing."

Troian rolls her eyes in annoyance and says, "You mean like killing herself?"

"Uh..." Shay seems embarrassed right now.

Patrick scoffs, "You know clearly that Ashley isn't that stupid."

"She's strong, Shay." Troian says matter-of-factly. "She just needs time. In time, she'll be fine. But _you_ ,"

"Me?" Shay seems confused.

"Yeah. _You_." Troian says with a warning look. "You need to stop doing stupid thing like pushing her to date you. You know it doesn't work that way with Ashley."

Shay rolls her eyes in annoyance, sighing before saying, "Fine."

"We know you love her, Shay." Patrick says sympathetically. "But give it times. Give her times. Be there for her as a friend. When she's ready to open up herself again, maybe, maybe, she'll open her heart to you."

Shay simply sighs heavily.

Meanwhile in the sanctuary, Ashley is drowning in her tears. Needed to feel at least the presence of Beca, Ashley gets on the bed and pulls Beca's pillow, inhaling the slight soft scent of the tiny brunette on it, crying her eyes out upon missing her ex-fiancé.

After her tears subside, Ashley reaches her phone to check the time. It's around ten in the morning. She got many messages from her friends, family, and fans, wishing her happy birthday. Then her eyes widen when she sees Beca's name on the list, and she hurriedly opens it.

 _Happy birthday, Bee._  
_I hope you have a blast today,  
_ _and I wish your dreams come true._

The text was sent at 12.00 AM last night. It isn't anything romantic, but she smiles lightly with teary eyes, knowing that Beca wanted it so badly to be the first person that wished her happy birthday.

Then she open her iTunes, playing a song that she's been listening to every day ever since the break-up.

 _All I Do_  
_Is think about you_  
_Sleep late and wake up then_  
_I'll just stay in my bed_  
_A little afternoon, I'll go get some food  
_ _Call up anyone, to go do something fun_

By the first verse, Ashley starts to cry again. There's no hard sob, but a single tear drop running down her face and it doesn't stop. Then she opens up her picture gallery, and it's full off pictures of her with Beca; from the silliest ones to the most romantic one.

 _Tell me if there is a way_  
_To fall out of love with you_  
_Cause all I do, I do all day  
_ _Is missing my time with you_

Then she scrolls down to the bottom to find Beca's sleeping face in the morning after they make love for the first time. After that, she scrolls to the picture of their first anniversary. Beca had wanted to prepare breakfast in the bed, but Ashley woke up to the smell of burned toast instead.

In that picture, Beca was holding a plate with burned toasts on it, pressing her lips tightly like an upset child while Ashley, who took the picture, was laughing so hard. The bittersweet memory brings smile to her teary face.

 _Now that I don't have you  
_ _It's all I do_

After that, she finds the picture of their second anniversary. It was a couple of days before their huge fight where she left the tiny brunette. Again, Beca tried to make Ashley breakfast in bed, and she succeeded that time. Ashley remembers it closely, how proud Beca was, puffing her nose and patting her own chest when she brought the slightly salty omelet to the bed.

 _I'll go to dance_  
_Class ends at 9 pm  
_ _I'll go right back home again, oh_

Then on their third anniversary, Beca got that tattoo on her left chest, and she told Ashley about it by singing a song to her. The tiny brunette wrote a song that then being sung by Hunter Hayes; Tattoo. When Beca showed her that tattoo, Ashley couldn't help herself to kiss the tiny brunette passionately in front of their friends, and apparently, Troian, who had dinner with them along with Patrick in their backyard, took a picture of it.

 _Tell me if there is a way_  
_To fall out of love with you_  
_Cause all I do, I do all day  
_ _Is missing my time with you_

On their fourth anniversary, Ashley was the one who cooked Beca's favorite meal, including tiramisu. In the picture, Ashley was comically licking Beca's cheek that was covered with tiramisu all over, yet the goofy grin on Beca's face could only be competed with a child who got two ponies for Christmas.

 _Tell me what I should do_  
_I'm on my knees, I pray_  
_That I will be okay_  
_You're just a memory to me_  
_But still all I do, all day, is living a lie  
_ _Thinking what it'd be like if you stayed_

The last anniversary, Beca sang to her in the karaoke bar. Patrick had taken the picture where Beca held her up, and Ashley herself was throwing her head back, laughing joyfully. Then the last picture she sees is their engagement picture; the one she sent to Emily.

 _All I do  
_ _Is think about you_

There had been five anniversary, five years of ups and dows, but now that they wouldn't have the sixth one, Ashley couldn't help but wondering, what it'd be like if Beca and her didn't break up.

 _So tell me if there is a way_  
_To fall out of love with you_  
_Cause all I do, I do all day_  
_Is missing my time with you  
_ _Tell me what I should do_

By now, Ashley is sobbing, "I miss you Babe. Tell me... Tell me how to fall out of love with you..."

 _It's all I do_  
_It's nothing new_  
_It's all I do  
_ _Is think about_

The waterworks keep going because Ashley is feeling so miserable for losing her ex-fiancé. After a while, with the music playing in repeat, Ashley falls asleep out of exhaustion.

In the afternoon, Troian comes up and pushes her to eat something. As usual, Ashley complies, knowing clearly that wrecking herself won't bring Beca back; won't change the decision they've made.

However, after eating, Ashley comes back to lock herself in the sanctuary again, spending her time watching the video Beca made her repeatedly.

* * *

 **The Posen-Conrad House: December 18** **th** **2025**

It's already 9 PM. Aubrey and Stacie are getting Bella to sleep, while Beca and Chloe are cuddling on the couch in the living room, watching some show that Beca can't be more careless.

The thought of not being with Ashley on her birthday has been occupying Beca's mind the whole day. She couldn't even concentrate at work, let alone watching a crappy show. The thing that alarms Beca the most is that Ashley hasn't replied her text yet.

Beca is so lost in her thought, and she doesn't even notice that Chloe has been talking to her all along.

"Babe!" Chloe pinches her harshly on the side of her stomach.

"Motherfuck-!" Beca rubs the side of her stomach, feeling the sting of the pain that bring tears to her eyes. "What was that for?"

Chloe glares at her girlfriend and snaps, "I was talking to you!"

As upset as she is at the redhead, Beca is too tired to have another fight, especially today. Therefore, she takes a deep breath and says, "I'm sorry. I was... It's just..."

"Work! I know!" Chloe snaps again, getting angrier from Beca's incoherent answer. "See? That's your problem. You're always at work, and when you're here, you're thinking about work. I don't have a place in your day at all!"

Knowing that there is no use to argue, Beca chooses to remain silent. She just presses her lower palms on her forehead, leaning forward with her elbows resting on her thigh, trying to take a few deep breaths to calm herself.

This has been a routine for them. Beca came for dinner, they watched some shows, and then suddenly there were always reasons for Chloe to complain. Either it was about her bad day at school, or Beca didn't reply her messages, or grading endless paper, or Beca usually came home late, or her coworker had been insensitive, or Beca wasn't paying enough attention to her.

The hardest part was, whenever Beca wanted to talk about her own feelings, Chloe would feel offended, feeling as if the tiny brunette was blaming her. Therefore, Beca doesn't talk about her feelings anymore. So far, Beca has been trying to understand that the way Chloe has been acting isn't Chloe per say. Her mental disorder makes her overly sensitive.

However, when it hit the bottom, nobody could be too patient, especially since Chloe refused to get herself helped. It's exhausting and tiring; no, the proper term would be draining. It's draining the life out of Beca. It doesn't mean that Beca doesn't know that she has a part in that. She indeed still finds it hard to adjust to her _not so new anymore_ relationship.

"Are you even listening to me, Becs?!" Chloe snaps again.

Upon hearing her name, Beca looks up at the redhead and tiredly says, "I'm sorry, okay? Can we just... keep watching... whatever this show is?"

Chloe scoffs and stands up in front of Beca with her arms crossed on her chest. "Whatever this show is? Did you even enjoy spending time with me? I was having a bad day, and I hoped that I could tell my girlfriend about my shitty day so she could comfort me. But guess what? Her work has always been more important than me!"

Too focused on scolding Beca, Chloe doesn't realize that Aubrey and Stacie have come back to the living room, watching the redhead snapping at her girlfriend again, while Beca is tiredly messaging her scalp. They have become used to this scene because it happens almost every day.

On the other hand, Beca closes her eyes, rubbing the back of her neck and flexing it as she weakly says, "I'm tired, Chloe."

By the mention of the word _tired_ , the hell break loose. Chloe waves and points her hands toward Beca, yelling, "You're tired?! You have the decency to tell me that you're tired?! You took tons of fucking projects! You rarely spent times with me, and you spent every fucking tiny moment with me tired as hell, and not paying any attention at all! And you dare telling me to my face that you're fucking tired?!"

Seeing that Beca is already on her last straw, Stacie cautiously asks, "What's wrong in here?"

Chloe turns to look at the tall brunette instantly with fire in her eyes, snapping, "What's wrong you ask?!" She scoffs harshly. "What's wrong is your fucking best friend always feel tired every fucking waking moment she spent with me! She didn't pay attention to me, didn't ask about my day, and she didn't even talk to me! That's what's wrong!"

After taking another deep breath, Beca stands up slowly, taking Chloe's hands in hers, trying to be as calm as she can to say, "Chlo, I'm sorry. Come on, let's just sit down and talk. How's your day?"

"It's too late, Beca!" Chloe pulls her hands away harshly.

Seeing how upset the redhead is, as always, Aubrey takes her side, and talks firmly to Beca, saying, "You could at least try, you know."

Stacie glares at her wife and pulls her back, but still close enough to hear and look at the other couple.

As usual, when she could, Beca would ignore the blonde and focused on Chloe. She takes Chloe's hand and doesn't let go when the redhead wants to pull away, and then she drags the redhead to sit on couch.

"I'm sorry, Chlo." Beca softly says. "I was... distracted. And I'm sorry. How was your day?"

"It's ruined now!" Chloe snaps while pulling herself away from the tiny brunette.

Beca is getting impatient, but she sighs heavily, flexing her neck tiredly before taking a few deep breaths again to calm her nerves. When it doesn't work, she closes her eyes and puts one hand on her heated forehead to calm her mind.

"Look." Chloe scoffs. "Here she goes again. Closing her eyes from the things around her. From me! Can you at least try to do better than that?!"

"I'm fucking trying!" Beca snaps back, and Chloe is taken aback.

This time, Aubrey jumps in, snapping at the tiny brunette, "Don't you dare snapping at her!"

It's so hard not to cry at this point, but Beca swallows the lump in her throat and says with restraint voice, "If this is what I get for trying..." Then she turns on her heels and walks away.

Upon seeing Beca is walking away from her, Chloe scoffs harshly and yells, "There you go again, Beca! Walk away! Is there anything else you can do better than walking away?!"

"That's enough Chloe." Stacie firmly says.

However, Beca doesn't turn back, not even when Stacie calls, "Shorty, come back."

The tiny brunette doesn't even aware that she has left her phone on the coffee table. She just keep on walking out of the house, and hops into her Valkyrie, driving away to the only place she knows that nobody will find her in the corner of Malibu.

After she has arrived, Beca goes to the balcony in the master bedroom, staring at the waves, taking her time to think about her relationship with Chloe. In desperation, she can't help it when Ashley's fond smile comes into her mind.

Beca has been missing Ashley so much, and she spends a long while in silent, letting her mind wandering back to the day she walked away from Ashley. Eventually, she starts singing with restraint voice, trying hard not to cry.

* * *

**Ashley's Mansion.**

Ashley has spent the whole day in the sanctuary, only coming out to get something to eat. It's already eight in the evening, and suddenly, there's a knock on her door followed with Troian voice. "Ash, there are people here to see you."

"Tell them to go away." Ashley replies tiredly.

"I can't." Troian says. "They insisted to see you."

Not up to entertain her friends who are probably trying to get her out of the house, Ashley stubbornly says, "I insist not to see them."

Then Troian firmly says, "It's either you come out of this door, or I break it and drag you out."

Ashley groans but complies to follow Troian downstairs.

"Sweetie?"

Upon hearing her mother's voice, Ashley's eyes widen, and she rushes her way downstairs before exclaiming in surprise, "Papa? Mom? Shaylene?"

"Hey Honey!" Her father exclaims joyfully. "Happy birthday!"

Feeling a sudden rush of relief filling in her chest, Ashley immediately hugs her father tightly, softly crying, "Papa..."

"Hey..." Jeff rubs her daughter's back gently, and then Shanon and Shaylene join them in a family hug.

"Happy birthday, sweetie." Shanon, her mother says softly.

"You're old now, sissy." Shaylene teases.

Ashley chuckles lightly; wiping the tears away from the corner of her eyes and says, "I've missed you guys."

"We've missed you too." Shanon says softly.

Then Ashley pulls away, smiling as she says, "Let's talk in the living room."

Once they're already sitting down, Ashley bombards her family with questions, asking, "What are you doing here? When did you get here? Why didn't you tell me that you're coming?"

With a light chuckle, Jeff says, "Whoa, slow down, Ash. It's Beca's idea to give you a surprise. We were supposed to have dinner together, but you didn't show up. So, here we are." Then he looks around with his eyebrows furrowed. "Where's my favorite soon to be daughter in law?"

"We..." Ashley chokes on her tears. "We broke up."

Then Ashley can't hold the sadness anymore, and she break-down in tears in her mother's arms. Her family seem to be shocked by the news, but they don't interrupt while Ashley explains everything in tears. Finding it hard to explain everything in between sobs, Ashley asks Troian's help to fill in the gaps, and then they simply let Ashley pouring out her sadness, anger, frustration, and pain.

"It's okay, sweetie." Shanon says while holding her shaking youngest daughter tightly. "It's okay to feel this way."

It takes a while to comfort Ashley, but eventually, her tears subside into soft sniffling. Then Shaylene matter-of-factly says, "For what it's worth, Beca seems to have assholes as best friends. _If_ they're worthy enough to be called best friends."

"I second that." Troian chips in, also matter-of-factly. "Most of them anyway. Junk isn't one."

"Junk is here?" Shaylene is surprised.

"Yep." Troian replies. "She's been living in L.A. since two months ago. More or less."

"Hmmm..." Shaylene nods absentmindedly. Then the two of them along with Patrick and Shay are continuing the talk about Beca and Ashley's situation, much for dissing the Bellas.

On the other hand, Jeff doesn't say anything but keep rubbing his daughter's back gently while Shanon says, "We're here for you, Sweetie."

"Thank you Mom." Ashley sniffles while wiping her tears away. "You should stay here. I'll ask Nina to prepare the guest rooms for you."

"Sure." Shanon smiles sympathetically. "Don't worry about us."

Ashley simply smiles at her mother but stays silent. After a while, Ashley turns to her father and asks, "Pa, do you think we did the right thing? Throwing away our relationship for another person? I mean, we were engaged, and happy, and in love, and then..."

When Ashley can't finish her sentence because she's choking in tears again, Shaylene says in annoyance, "The fire nation attacked."

Shay, Patrick, and Troian snort upon hearing the joker of the family comparing the Bellas with the enemy in Avatar: The Legend of Aang.

Meanwhile, Jeff takes his time to think about the response, cleaning his eyeglasses with his shirt before looking back at his youngest daughter and softly says, "Well, I don't think that it really matters anymore for both of you. You've made a decision, and now you're living with the consequences. What's done is done."

"But..." Ashley tries to hold her sobs back, clearing the lump in her throat before saying with restraint voice, "It's just... the hole she left... it's suffocating, Pa... And I... I can't breathe... And this house had never felt so, so empty... And nothing feels right without her..."

Upon seeing Ashley breaking down in tears again, her best friends and sister become silent. On the other hand, Jeff kisses his daughter's forehead and says, "It's hard. It must be. Because you two love each other so much. But this is how it's supposed to feel like, Honey."

Then Ashley wraps her arms around her father, choking in tears, "But this pain... knowing that we love each other bu- but can't be together... I've never felt like this, Pa... It feels like... It feels like someone died."

"I know..." Jeff says sadly, feeling the pain in his chest upon seeing her usually a strong daughter is so broken. "It's painful... I know Honey. But you'll be okay. Eventually, you'll be fine again. Trust me. This pain, it will pass."

Ashley pulls away and wipes the tears on her face, coughing out the lump in her throat before saying almost in pleading, "I know the pain will pass Pa... You've always said that time heals. But... what if I never stop loving her? What if... she's it for me?"

With a sad smile, Jeff replies, "It's something you don't need to worry now. Right now, you need to focus on putting one foot in front of the other, and then repeat. Baby step every day. And eventually, without you knowing... you've been walking further ahead than you've ever thought you can."

After taking a few deep breaths to calm herself, Ashley remains silent for a while, thinking about her father's words, and nobody breaks the silent. Then eventually, she asks, "Where do I start? I mean, how _..._ do I start?"

"Well," Jeff starts calmly. "You've started from the right point, by grieving. Right now, all you need is closure. Find your closure. A reassurance that... it's really over for you, regardless of how Beca is feeling right now. As painful as it will be."

Knowing that her father never overstate or understate things, Ashley nods absentmindedly with teary eyes, staring blankly at nothing in particular, and they remain silent for a little while again.

Suddenly, Ashley remembers the house that Beca mentioned in her note; where she'd be waiting for her tonight. She knows that Beca won't be there, but maybe it's all that she needs, to find out that Beca won't be a part of her life; that the tiny brunette won't be waiting in every corner for her anymore.

Then Ashley stands up, and Shanon asks, "Where are you going?"

"I'm finding my closure." Ashley says before running upstairs to the sanctuary, leaving her friends and family in confusion.

When Ashley comes down, she rushes to the kitchen to take the key for the house, and then hurriedly says goodbye to her family and friends before heading out.

"Where are you going?!" Troian stands up abruptly, trying to chase Ashley who's walking fast to the front door.

"I'm finding my closure!" Ashley yells without looking back.

"Let her Troian." Jeff stops Troian from getting Ashley back. "She needs this. Let her be."

"But she left her phone." Troian says stubbornly.

"She won't need it." Jeff says calmly, and then Troian complies.

On the other hand, Ashley doesn't even care that she is only wearing Beca's hoodie and a pair of jeans. She drives her Audi A9 E-Tron to the address that is stated in her present.

* * *

 **Malibu: December 18** **th** **2025, 11.18**

Ashley arrives at the address around 11 PM. It's a house in a secluded area of Malibu with private beach. The house isn't too big, but it sure looks elegant and edgy; her type of house.

Then she walks into the house with the key she has, failing to notice another car behind the house. Ashley takes her time to explore and look around until she finds a room with a balcony. From the size of it, it must be the master bedroom.

Ashley is surprised to find that the door to the balcony is opened, and she becomes even more surprised to see Beca there, sitting on a large patio couch that looks more like a bed.

The brunette is singing softly, doesn't even realize that Ashley is there, and Ashley stays quiet to listen to the song while composing herself from the torn feeling of happiness yet also vulnerability of seeing her ex.

 _I remember when you were all mine_  
_Watched you changing in front of my eyes_  
_What can I say_  
_Now that I'm not the fire in the cold_  
_Now that I'm not the hand that you hold  
_ _As you're walking away_

 _Will you call me to tell me you're alright_  
_Cause I worry about you the whole night_  
_Don't repeat my mistakes_  
_I won't sleep 'til you're safe inside_  
_If you're home I just hope that you're sober_  
_Is it time to let go now you're older_  
_Don't leave me this way_  
_I won't sleep 'til you're safe inside_

 _Everyone has to find their own way_  
_And I'm sure things will work out okay_  
_I wished that was the truth_  
_All we know is the sun will rise_  
_Thank your lucky stars that you're alive_  
_It's a beautiful life_

 _Will you call me to tell me you're alright_  
_Cause I worry about you the whole night_  
_Don't repeat my mistakes_  
_I won't sleep 'til you're safe inside_  
_If you're home I just hope that you're sober_  
_Is it time to let go now you're older_  
_Don't leave me this way_  
_I won't sleep 'til you're safe inside_

 _If you make the same mistakes_  
_I will love you either way_  
_All I know is that I can't live without you_  
_There is nothing I can say_  
_That will change you anyway_  
_Darling, I could never live without you_

_I can't live, I can't live  
_

_Will you call me to tell me you're alright_  
_Cause I worry about you the whole night_  
_Don't make my mistakes_  
_I won't sleep, I won't sleep_  
_If you're home I just hope that you're sober_  
_Is it time to let go now you're older_  
_Don't leave me this way  
_ _I won't sleep 'til you're safe inside_

 _Will you call me to tell me you're alright  
_ _Cause I worry about you_

After Beca's done singing, Ashley takes a deep breath and softly calls, "Moz?"

Upon hearing Ashley's voice, Beca whips her head to look at the source with her eyes wide in surprise. "Bee? What are you doing here?"

Narrowing her eyes in confusion, Ashley asks back, "What are _you_ doing here?"

"I just..." Beca smiles weakly. "I needed a place to think."

"Hmmm..." Ashley nods absentmindedly. She indeed has tons of questions to ask, but upon seeing how tired her ex is, Ashley doesn't push. Then she takes a seat next to Beca but puts a decent space between them.

"How did you know this place?" Beca asks in confusion.

Ashley chuckles, "Your presents. Duh."

"Oh." Beca responds with her eyebrows furrowed. "I thought I'd asked Donna to cancel the whole things. I... I didn't want to upset you. She must've forgotten or something."

"It's okay." Ashley smiles lightly with a slight hint of sadness in her eyes. "I like them. Besides, Papa, Mom, and Shaylene are in the house."

"Shit!" Beca slaps her forehead. "I totally forgot that I invited your parents here. Are they angry?"

"No, they're not." Ashley says reassuringly. "They found out about our situation though. I uh... told them."

"I understand." Beca replies softly. "It's better for them to hear it from one of us than from the media."

"Yeah." Ashley mutters weakly.

Then they remain silent for a while until Beca dares herself to ask, "So, how's your birthday?"

"Hm..." Ashley tries to look casual. "It was okay. Thank you for the presents by the way. And the song, it's beautiful."

"You're welcome." Beca smiles softly, but then her eyebrows furrow when she says, "So, your family's here, your friends are with you, you're having an okay birthday, then... what are you doing here?"

Ashley turns to look at the ocean, clears her throat, and mutters, "It's uh... hard... The first birthday without you after having 5 others with you."

With a sad smile, Beca simply nods absentmindedly, and then Ashley says with a weak smile, "Well, you know what people say; there's always the first time for everything."

Suddenly, Beca checks her watch, smiling as she says, "Uhm... not exactly. It's only 11.43. So you still have 17 minutes until your birthday is over. Since I'm here... what do you want to do?"

A warm feeling creeps into Ashley's chest, and it makes her smile. Then she shrugs and says, "I haven't blown any candle yet."

"Wait a second." Beca says with a huge grin as she stands up and walks inside.

Then the tiny brunette comes out with a candle and a lighter in her hand. She lights the candle up, and holds it in front of Ashley, in between the two of them. Beca can see Ashley's eyes lighten up, glimmering under the orange fire of the candle, bringing such a contented feeling into her chest.

As a fond smile growing on her face, Beca softly whispers, "Happy birthday Bee. Now... make a wish and blow."

Ashley closes her eyes for a moment, can't help the goofy grin on her face when she's making a wish. Then she opens her eyes and blows the candle softly.

After Beca puts the candle away, she turns to Ashley and asks, "So, what did you wish for?"

Ashley sucks her teeth, smiling and shaking her head before she says, "Not telling. It's a secret."

"Hm." Beca holds her smile by pressing her lips tightly before saying, "A secret huh? We'll see if I can break you."

Ashley furrows her eyebrows, staring at her ex with puzzled look, and then Beca jumps her and tickles her restlessly.

"Oh my God!" Ashley squeals in between laughter. "Beca! Stop!"

"Nope!" Beca exclaims joyfully, not stopping tickling Ashley on the side of her stomach. "Not until you tell me!"

"Nev- agh!" Ashley squeals again through laughter.

It's not until the blonde is breathless from the laughter that Beca finally stops but still caging Ashley by the waist in her arms. The two of them are panting hard, trying to catch some breaths from the hard laughing.

Upon seeing how carefree Ashley is from aside, Beca can't help but thinking about how easy, and open, and crazy it is to be around the blonde. A fond smile appears on her face for feeling the most contented she's been in the last month.

Since Beca has't let her go yet, Ashley turns aside to look at her ex in confusion, not aware of the proximity of their faces. Both of them are frozen up and lost in each other's eyes for a couple of seconds.

Then slowly, Beca leans closer, and Ashley turns her face away, but Beca nuzzles her nose on Ashley's cheeks, resting her forehead on Ashley's temple.

With her eyes closed, Ashley stirs her neck slightly from the electrical sensation. The desire from that simple touch is unbearable, and her senses are overwhelmed.

When Beca uses her right hand to turn her face back gently, Ashley let her, and now they're facing each other; Ashley still with her eyes closed, while Beca with her breaths slightly labored. Both of them are on the edge of blowing up.

From Beca's warm breath on her lips, Ashley knows that her ex is so close from kissing her, and then the gear in her brain starts to turn again. She pulls away, clears her throat, and mutters, "We can't."

Trying to hold the pain in her chest, Beca swallows hard and pulls herself away, freeing Ashley from her arms. With her cheeks flushing red, Beca stutters, "It's uh... well, at least I tried."

Thinking that Beca is talking about them almost kissing, Ashley blurts out, "Tried?"

"Yeah." Beca smiles tightly. "To get you to tell me the wish."

"Oh that..." Ashley sighs in relief, and then she smirks as she says, "And you failed miserably, Mitchell."

Beca laughs lightly, and then she checks the time again before saying, "Aaand... it's 19th already. So, let me ask you again. How's your birthday?"

"Much better now." Ashley smiles fondly. "Thanks."

"Glad I can help." Beca shrugs nonchalantly before turning her eyes back to the ocean.

Then they fall into a comfortable silent, simply sitting together, looking at the ocean, listening to the waves.

Eventually, Beca asks, "How's your family? Everybody good?"

"U huh." Ashley replies. "Papa missed you though. He asked for you, and I quote, _where is my favorite soon to be daughter in law?_ "

With a smug smirk, Beca retorts, "Favorite huh?"

"Don't be too smug, Moz." Ashley rolls her eyes in mock annoyance. "You're the only soon to be daughter in law he's ever had."

Suddenly, Beca's smirk turns into a sad smile as she weakly mutters, "Were."

The pang in her chest is painful, but Ashley puts on a weak smile and says, "Yeah. Were. Sorry."

Ashley's cracked voice certainly suffocates Beca, but she takes a deep breath and asks, "How are you, Ash?"

Trying to be nonchalant, without looking at the tiny brunette, Ashley shrugs and says, "Broken hearted."

Feeling the same hurt, Beca moves her left hand slowly across the couch to touch her little finger on the tip of Ashley's little finger, wanting to show the blonde that she isn't alone. Then Ashley immediately links their little fingers together.

It's certainly not enough, and they need more to feel closer, but none of them push it. They simply enjoy the slight relief from the touch. For a long while, both of them stay quiet, savoring the feeling together, but also on their own at the same time.

After a while, Ashley says, "You seem tired, Moz."

"I _am_ tired." Beca says matter-of-factly, but the sadness in her voice is obvious. "But uhm... I'm holding on."

Although Ashley knows that Beca is hurting, she doesn't really know Beca's condition. Every time they called each other, they avoided talking about their feelings and condition. Since Emily and Donna also refuse to tell her about Beca's condition, Ashley doesn't have any idea about Beca's relationship with Chloe.

After swallowing hard, Ashley dares herself to ask, "Everything okay with you and Chloe?"

Beca scoffs tiredly, still staring at the ocean when she says, "Nothing is okay now."

When Ashley let go of her pinky and grabs her hands gently instead, Beca takes it as an encouragement to go on. Then Beca turns to look at her ex, staring at her person, the only one who had taken everything she had ever thrown at her, no matter how bad the situation was in more than five years.

It calms and grounds her. Therefore, Beca turns her attention back to the ocean and says, "I'm... drained."

After years being together, Ashley has already known well how to let Beca take her time in talking. She turns her head slightly toward Beca and do nothing but wait patiently.

"It's been..." Beca sighs heavily. "Challenging being around Chloe. Well, you know, since we haven't been friends in the last ten years, and it's hard to... talk to each other. So uhm... yeah, I'm worn out.

Ashley squeezes Beca's hand gently and says, "It's okay, Moz. You can tell me."

After taking a deep breath, Beca tiredly says, "Chloe's been uh... you know... clingy, demanding, and sensitive. So I'm constantly over the edge... afraid of saying or doing the wrong thing. And uh... she wanted me to be with her 24/7 even when I was at work. So it's... kind of hard to have a space to work without distraction, let alone a time for myself. And I practically live at Stacie's, and Aubrey is just..."

Beca sighs heavily before saying with raised voice, "I mean, if it was only Chloe, okay, I understood. She couldn't help it. But with Aubrey in the equation, it's just... I know I'm not there yet, the girlfriend that deserve to be with Chloe. But damn it, did I try! And she just... she's making it so fucking hard for me to stay. One of these days... just one of these days, it's either me killing myself, or me killing Aubrey."

"Moz..." Ashley warns softly. "I know it's hard. But thinking about killing yourself won't help."

Instead of being upset for getting a lesson, Beca laughs lightly and retorts, "So it's okay if I only think about killing Aubrey?"

Ashley chuckles and teases, "Well... I won't reject the idea right away. I mean, if you need help to hide the body, you know my number. And just so you know, I do have a huge chunk of land where you can hide a body and nobody will ever find it."

This time, Beca laughs whole-heartily, and Ashley follows suit. After the laughter subside, Beca retorts, "How is it so easy to be with you? I mean, I haven't laughed this hard since the reunion."

Ashley shrugs nonchalantly, "I kind of have a role model who uses _funny_ as her middle name."

With her nose puffing proudly, Beca smugly says, "I kind of have that effect on people."

Ashley rolls her eyes playfully before shoving Beca's arm gently and scolds, "Wipe that cocky grin off your face, Mitchell."

"I've missed you." Beca blurts out, and Ashley is stunned. Then Beca continues with restraint voice, "Like... crazy."

After swallowing hard and taking a deep breath, Ashley says in barely a whisper, "I know. I feel the same. But... it doesn't matter anymore."

With a long heavy sigh, Beca replies, "I kind of wished that we could go back."

"We can't." Ashley replies sadly.

Beca swallows hard and says, "I know." Then she puts on a tight smile and asks, "What are you gonna do now? You know, since we're... over."

As casual as she can, Ashley says, "Shay asked me out."

A hard pang in her gut combined with a bucket of cold-water wash all over Beca, making her feeling like throwing up. She flexes her neck in circle, exhaling a long breath before she asks, "What uh... what did you tell her?"

Ashley shrugs and answers, "I said I'll think about it."

"Hmmm..." Beca nods absentmindedly, trying to push down the suffocating lump in her throat before she forces a smile and says, "You should take her offer. She's uh... she's a good person."

Finding it hard to believe in Beca's word, Ashley scoffs and says, "You're such a terrible liar, Moz."

Beca chuckles lightly, "You'd know." Then her face turns serious as she says, "But seriously Ash. Shay... other than being jealous, she's a good person. I think she can make you happy. I hope."

When Ashley only responds with another shrug, Beca turns her attention back to the waves.

There is a long moment of silent between the two of them until eventually, Ashley asks, "How does it feel? To say those things?"

Beca turns to look at Ashley, smiling sadly as she answers, "Telling you that you should be with someone else that can make you happy? Hoping that you can be happy with her?" After getting a light nod from Ashley, Beca turns back to look at the ocean and calmly says, "Surprisingly painful."

Ashley scoffs lightly and says, "Well, it gets better."

Hearing a hint of skepticism in Ashley's voice, Beca chuckles and asks, "Does it?"

"I don't know." Ashley shrugs. "But I'm determined to be optimistic."

"Okay." Beca replies with a soft smile on her face. Then she holds Ashley's hand and squeezes gently. "I mean it, Ash. I... I know that Shay's been in love with you longer than I have." She swallows hard. "If she uh... and you feel like... well, you know..."

"Stop talking Beca." Ashley warns, feeling not only sad, but also slightly upset.

Beca takes deep breath, trying to calm herself as she says, "I want you to know that... Well, you heard the song... Maybe it's time for us to let go. You should move on and find someone who can-"

"Beca, stop talking." Ashley says louder than before, glaring her teary eyes toward the tiny brunette. She's getting more upset because her ex, who clearly knows that she's still in love with her, is pushing her to move on.

Ignoring the warning, Beca says stubbornly with a hint of sadness, "Ash... I just want you to be happy with someone who can make you happier and love you better. And Shay, I'm sure she's-"

"I said, stop talking!" Ashley chokes on her tears angrily.

Upon seeing that the blonde has broken down in tears, Beca closes her eyes and takes a deep breath to hold her own tears. Then hesitantly, she wraps Ashley in a hug tightly, and she sighs in relief when Ashley doesn't push her away.

With her shoulders shaking, Ashley says in between sobs, "You- you know how hard it's been... so don't... please... Don't push me to move on... or... or... to love someone that I don't. I- I can't, Beca... So please... don't... not now..."

Beca pulls away and holds Ashley's face gently in her palms. Seeing Ashley crying is so heart wrenching for her, especially when she's the one who causes the waterworks. With her thumbs caressing Ashley's cheeks gently, Beca mutters, "I'm sorry."

Unable to respond because she's still crying, Ashley simply shakes her head lightly. Then Beca relents to the urge she's been holding back, and kisses Ashley gently on the lips before saying, "I'm sorry."

Ashley doesn't kiss her back, yet also doesn't pull away, and then Beca kisses her again repeatedly, saying in between kisses, "I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry."

This time, Ashley presses her lips back hesitantly, but Beca can feel it's becoming less hesitant in every kiss. She can't hold the rush in her chest, and she leans in to kiss Ashley again, more determined this time.

Hesitantly, Ashley kisses her back. It starts slowly, cautiously, but then Ashley puts her hands behind Beca's neck and gradually returns the kiss as eagerly.

Every nip of lips make them shuddering from the bottom of their spine, every touch make them shivering on the back of their neck. One of Beca's hand finds its way to Ashley's silky blonde hair while the other one is drawing Ashley closer by slipping down the curve of her side.

Gradually, they deepen the kiss. No one is in a rush, nobody is trying too hard, and none of them is fighting for dominance. It's warm, gentle, tender, and passionate. It's like they have all of the time in the whole universe.

Gently, Beca leans forward, pushing Ashley to lay down on her back while her lips keep kissing Ashley's. Then she pulls away slightly from the kiss and pushes a strain of Ashley's hair to the back of her ear, looking longingly into Ashley's teary blue eyes, panting lightly as she says, "I don't want to stop. But I will... if you want me to."

With her bottom lip between her teeth, Ashley shakes her head lightly, and it's enough answer for Beca. The tiny brunette leans downward to kiss Ashley again; deeper, bolder, holding her tighter.

At the same time, Ashley slides her hands under the tiny brunette's shirt, wanting to feel Beca's heated soft skin under her touch while her lips are kissing Beca's warm lips hungrily.

Their breaths, panting hard, melt into one, wrapping them in a warm bubble, safe from the cold, safe from the painful reality, safe from the unfair universe.

"Becs..." Ashley breathes out heavily. "I... I need you... inside me... now."

Beca grunts from her throat, and pushes down her hand under Ashley's pants. She make love to Ashley like there is no tomorrow. Every moves, every touches, every kisses are done with delicacy, admiration, yet also determination.

The fire in Ashley's chest is unbearable, spreading all over her body, yet making her shuddering under Beca's touch. Then she burst into flame as the wave slams her down, calling out the tiny brunette's name with raspy voice.

Upon hearing Ashley chanting out her name, Beca feels like everything is right; everything fall back into its place; and everything is clear for her; this is how it's supposed to feel like to make love with the love of her life.

While staring at the blonde, who is still trying to take even the slightest sip of air with her eyes closed, Beca smiles fondly, brushing away the messy blonde hair from Ashley's sweaty forehead and says, "You're beautiful."

With her eyes closed, Ashley simply smiles, still catching her breaths, still savoring the contented feeling from making love with the tiny brunette. After her breaths even out, Ashley smirks and says, "Your turn Mitchell."

"Have been waiting." Beca replies with a matching smirk.

Somehow, around two in the morning, they move to the bed in the master bedroom. Eventually, after the waves come down, they finally fall asleep in each other's arms, feeling the most contented in the past month.

* * *

**Meanwhile at the Posen-Conrad's house after midnight.**

Chloe is pacing back and forth in the living room worriedly because they can't find the tiny brunette. Stacie had gone to check her office, and Emily had gone to her apartment, but they found nothing. They have tried looking at every possible places, but they can't seem to find the tiny brunette.

Moreover, they don't dare to call and ask Donna because they know that the older redhead will flip, and most likely will drops them in the middle of Pacific Ocean if she ever finds out the reason behind Beca's leaving.

When Emily comes back into the living room after making a phone call, Chloe hurriedly asks, "Did Patrick know where she is?"

"Nope." Emily replies. "He said that Beca hasn't contacted him in the last couple of days."

"What if he lied?" Chloe asks impatiently.

"I wouldn't know." Emily says with a tight smile. "But I believe he didn't lie. This is Patrick and Troian. They were the one who told Ashley about the kiss. They wouldn't lie to protect Beca. Unless she really needs to be protected."

Then Chloe continues pacing back and forth while Stacie seems nervous when she asks the youngest bella, "Did you call Ashley?"

"Nope." Emily says certainly.

"Why?" Stacie asks in confusion.

"She's broken-hearted enough." Emily replies with a tone that says _obviously._ "We don't need to worry her more."

"But Beca could be with her!" Aubrey exclaims angrily, but Emily simply scoffs without saying anything in return.

"This is my fault." Chloe mutters with restraint voice. "I've been treating her badly. I've pushed her too far."

Aubrey pulls the redhead to sit on the couch, wrapping her shoulders as she says, "It's not your fault, Chloe. Beca has always been like this. She walked out every time things got hard."

"It means that things really got hard then." Emily says matter-of-factly, and Aubrey glares at her angrily.

With a long tired sigh, Stacie says, "Okay. I think we've already had enough tension." Then she turns to Chloe and says, "She'll come back Chloe. Let her take her time. She was just upset."

"Are you sure?" Chloe is clearly unsettled.

"Completely." Stacie reassures her before eyeing Emily worriedly. "Why don't you go and have some rest? Emily and I will wait for her."

"I can't rest, Stace." Chloe says worriedly. "What if something happen to her? Something bad. What if she's got into an accident? Shouldn't we call the hospital or the police?"

Stacie smiles tiredly and says, "I highly doubt that. But... I'll find out. You go have some rest. If we get any news, I'll wake you up."

"But-"

"Come on Chloe. I'll stay with you." Aubrey cuts the redhead off softly before pulling her to her bedroom.

After Aubrey and Chloe are gone, Stacie turns to Emily and asks, "You really don't know where Beca is, right Em?"

"Of course." Emily replies certainly. "And honestly? After seeing how badly your wife and Chloe have been treating her, I won't try too hard to find her until it's necessary. She really needs some space."

"Em..." Stacie warns tiredly. "They just..."

"What?" Emily says in annoyance. "Heartless? Ignorant? Inconsiderable about her feelings and condition?"

"They just want to make sure that Beca really wants to stay." Stacie replies tiredly.

"She's broken hearted for God's sake." Emily sounds upset now. "And your wife is really, really a hard pain in the ass, Stace. I think you need to tell Aubrey that, _if_ , and I say _if_ , in the end Beca really leaves Chloe again, it will be much because of her."

"Em-"

Emily holds her index finger up and firmly says, "Which part that she hasn't done for Chloe? Which unreasonable demands she hasn't met yet? _Your wife,_ pushed her to lie and stay with Chloe. And she did. _Your wife,_ pushed her to leave Ashley for Chloe. And she did. _Your wife,_ pushed her to stay here in your house with Chloe. And she did. _Your wife,_ pushed her not to push Chloe to have that much needed therapy. And, she, did! Now tell me what she should do more in her broken-hearted state to prove that she's staying?"

"But it's clear to us that she's still hanging on Ashley." Stacie says stubbornly. "She's still in love with Ashley, and it seems like she's ready to up and leave if she has the chance."

Emily scoffs and sarcastically says, "Well, your wife and Chloe are indeed doing their best to make it easier for her to make that decision. Crystal clear."

After huffing out a long tired sigh, Stacie says, "Em... Chloe is still unsettled. She's still insecure. And Aubrey is... she's terrified and distressed right now. Cut them some slack."

"Like they've been cutting some slack to Beca?" Emily retorts in upset. "And for the record, Chloe chose to stay unsettled, to stay insecure. She could have had that therapy, but she refused, again, and again, and again. She's using it as an excuse for her behavior, Stace. And both you and your wife let her."

"She's not-"

"Don't bother to deny it." Emily cuts her off firmly. "I've learnt enough to know that sometimes people with neurotic disorder use their condition as a _free from jail card_. That's what Beca did for years until she got the tough love and therapy. You and Aubrey really need to know that not pushing Chloe to have that therapy will only feed on her symptoms. You are drowning her."

"We're just trying to support her decision." Stacie says in frustration.

"Then you're doing a shitty job in showing support, Stace." Emily matters-of-factly. "Instead of supporting her bad decision, we should be supporting her to have the therapy; to show her that no matter how hard the therapy will be, we'll be there for her."

Again, Stacie sighs heavily and says, "Chloe knows what's best for her, Em. She just really needs Beca right now to be completely with her. Besides, she doesn't know about the agreement."

"Well, then maybe we should tell her." Emily states without hesitation. "Then maybe she'll try to make Beca stay in a much better way. And then, maybe she can really let Beca to be completely with her, without pushing her away even further just to test if Beca is really staying. Weren't those the _maybe's_ you're wife told her? Besides, your wife knew. Yet she still treats Beca like shit."

"You are on shorty's side." Stacie says firmly. "We know that. But maybe you can at least give Chloe some respect."

"Now you're so wrong about that." Emily replies certainly. "The thing is, I am on _their_ side. I hate to see Beca like this, and I know that pushing Chloe to have that therapy will help herself more than Beca. But do you know who take side? Your wife. She took Chloe's side, no matter how ridiculous Chloe has been acting. And you, you took your wife's side. In the end, nobody is on Beca's side. So excuse me if you feel like I'm always in her corner. Because I am. But it doesn't mean I'm not on Chloe's side."

There is no use debating the youngest Bella at this point. Not only because she's so stubborn, but also because she's mostly right. Therefore, Stacie simply drops her head down tiredly.

Upon seeing how torn and broken Stacie is, Emily takes a deep breath and sighs heavily before saying, "Sorry, Stace. I'm just... this situation, it's not only hard for Chloe and Beca. It affects us too to see them like this. And I," She sighs again. "I'm worried about them. And also Ashley."

"I know." Stacie shakes her head tiredly. "Aubrey and I rarely talk now. It has been fight after fight lately. And I have to admit, I'm so, so tired." She scoffs lightly. "I myself kind of want to run away. So I don't blame Beca if she needs some times to be alone. I just wished that she at least told us where she was."

Emily sighs again and says, "She'll be fine, Stace. I think we better let her have this space. Ashley is her emergency contact. And if something bad happen to Beca, she will tell me. Besides, if she's in the hospital or being arrested, don't you think that Donna will be here already, giving us hell?"

Finally, Stacie chuckles lightly and says, "I don't doubt that."

Upon seeing that Stacie is at least smiling lightly, Emily softly says, "Let's just clear up your house from the suicide hazard. You know, extraordinary measure for Chloe."

"Yeah." Stacie stands up and do as Emily said.

* * *

 **December 19** **th** **2025.**

Beca wakes up in the morning upon hearing the faint sound of Ashley's prayer, but the tiny brunette keep her eyes closed, just enjoying the presence of her ex-fiancé in her arms.

For a while after she's done her routine, Ashley simply trails the tip of her index finger on the tattoo on Beca's left chest.

Eventually, Beca softly asks, "You're thinking too loud. What is it?"

After a moment of silent, Ashley says, "I'm just wondering. What did she say about this tattoo?"

Beca clears her throat and nervously says, "She uh... she hasn't even seen it yet."

Ashley stops on her track for a split second before blurting out, "You haven't done it yet?"

Without looking at Ashley, Beca mutters, "Yes uh... no... uhm... not really."

"Not really?" Ashley asks in confusion.

Beca huffs out a long breath through her mouth before she says, "Well, I did her the uh... favor, but I uh... I couldn't bring myself to uh... let her do the same. And she uh... she hasn't seen me without any clothes yet."

"Oh." Ashley is dumbfounded. She's surprised to find out, because she knows how insatiable the tiny brunette is, and Chloe is ungodly hot; the kind of hot that should be considered a crime.

When Ashley doesn't say anything, with her cheeks flushing red, Beca rubs her own nose with her knuckle and shyly says. "For me, it's called making love for the obvious reason, Ash."

"Oh." Ashley can only give her the same respond, but from a different feeling. She's blushing now, because the warmth in her chest is somehow fulfilling.

However, Beca reads her expression wrong, and hurriedly says, "Don't be mad, please. It's just... I'm with her now, and I couldn't say no to her when she wanted to... you know. And it's hard to refuse her because she's uh... Chloe."

Suddenly, Ashley feels jealousy flaring up in her chest, and she kisses her ex fiercely as if she's claiming her, marking her territory. Then they end up having a steamy angry sex that leaves Beca breathless in the end, panting, "Whaa... what was that?"

"Nothing." Ashley says, trying to act nonchalant to cover up her jealousy.

However, Beca sees through her, and she simply staring at the blonde with an eyebrow raised.

After blowing out a half-annoyed huff, Ashley says, "You're with her now. I know. And we're over. But it doesn't mean that I don't feel jealous anymore."

Then Beca chuckles lightly and kisses the blonde chastely on the lips before saying, "You're cute."

Ashley simply rolls her eyes in mock annoyance before resting herself half on top of her ex. Then she laces their hands on Beca's stomach and matter-of-factly says, "You still wear our engagement ring."

Looking down at their laced fingers, Beca says, "Yeah. I uh... I kind of promised someone that I would never take it off, unless when I was showering."

Upon hearing how nervous Beca is, Ashley chuckles lightly before pulling herself up and kisses Beca chastely on the lip. Then she fondly says, "I love you."

The rush in Beca's chest is so overwhelming and she closes her eyes automatically, and then, with a fond smile on her face, she says, "Say it again."

Ashley rolls her eyes playfully, smiling as she softly says, "I love you, Beca Stephanie Mitchell."

Then Beca opens her eyes, smiling softly before she closes the gap between them, kissing Ashley with the sweetest prolonged kiss. After she pulls away, Beca looks fondly into Ashley's eyes and says, "I love you too, Ashley Victoria Benson."

With a restraint voice, Ashley says, "Now I know why you wanted to hear it twice. Say it again."

"It." Beca presses her lips tightly, trying to hold her laughter, and then Ashley slaps her arm playfully as she scolds, "Annoying."

After laughing lightly upon seeing how adorable Ashley is, Beca looks fondly into Ashley's blue eyes and kisses her forehead before she says, "I," then she kisses Ashley's nose tip. "Love," and the last one, she kisses Ashley's lips, lingering longer before pulling away. "You."

Upon getting the tiny brunette's signature kiss, Ashley grins from ear to ear and lays back down on Beca's chest before she casually asks, "Chloe didn't ask anything about it?"

"She did." Beca replies honestly.

"And what did you tell her?" Ashley asks again while her fingertips find their way to trail the tattoo on Beca's left hip absentmindedly. _260920 way back into love_. It was the date they started dating officially.

"That it's my favorite ring." Beca replies nonchalantly. "Which is true."

"Huh?" Ashley is confused because that ring is on Beca's left ring finger. "And she didn't ask anything more?"

"She did." Beca says casually. "She asked why I wore it on my ring finger, and I said because it's the perfect size and place for this ring. Also true."

The revelation takes Ashley by surprise, and with wide eyes, she asks, "And she didn't think that it was an engagement ring?"

"I don't think so." Beca replies unsurely. "Since uh... you know, let's just be honest, I'm the guy in our relationship. And I already gave you an engagement ring, so people wouldn't think that you'd give me one."

"Hmmm..." Ashley nods absentmindedly, smiling fondly as she says, "I'm glad that I did."

"Me too." Beca mumbles on Ashley's crown.

"Oh." Suddenly, Ashley is curious. "By the way, whose place is this?"

"What do you think of this place?" Beca replies with a question.

"It's gorgeous and edgy. I really like it."

"Hm." Beca nods absentmindedly before smirking as she says, "It's a good thing that it's yours then."

Ashley gasps and pulls up to look at her ex in comic surprise, exclaiming, "You did not!"

Beca chuckles, "Well, back in summer you said that it'd be nice to have a beach house. Since I knew you like edgy house and I needed the secluded area, I looked for it, and I found this place. I bought it and filled it with some of our stuff and clothes."

Then Ashley looks around and finds a couple of their pictures on the TV table. She didn't notice them until now. However, instead of feeling happy, Ashley is hit with sadness so suddenly, and she mutters, "I think you should keep it."

With her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, Beca asks, "Why?"

"It's... I..." Ashley clears her throat. "You bought it for the two of us. But since... you know... and you already let me keep the mansion. I... I don't want to have another place from you where I can't be with you."

"Ash..." Beca says stubbornly. "It's yours whether you like it or not, either you want it or not. It's a birthday present. You can do whatever you want with it."

Before Ashley can say anything more, suddenly, Beca's stomach roars loudly, and the blonde laughs.

With her cheeks flushing red, Beca mutters, "Apparently, I'm hungry."

"No kidding, Sherlock." Ashley teases. "Why don't you go shower? I'll go order some delivery and then join you."

" _The_ best idea ever." Beca replies with a childlike grin on her face, and Ashley chuckles, poking the tiny brunette's nose playfully.

"This place has a landline, right?" Ashley asks while putting on Beca's shirt. "I don't have my phone with me."

"Of course." Beca says before walking into the bathroom. Then she shouts, "Don't take too long!"

"I won't!" Ashley replies before making the phone call. Apparently, the food delivery isn't the only place she calls.

After showering and eating, Ashley makes sure that the tiny brunette take her meds, and then they simply lay on the couch at the balcony, wrapped in each other's arms silently.

Eventually, Beca says, "You haven't told me why you're here. I mean, why here when it felt hard to have a birthday without me."

Ashley sighs deeply and says, "I came here to find closure."

Then Beca lays on her side, holding her head up with her elbow with her lips resting gently on Ashley temple, and then she mumbles, "I'm sorry it's been hard for you."

"No." Ashley turns on her side and cups Beca's cheeks before she worriedly says, "It's been harder for you. From what you've told me..."

When Ashley doesn't seem to be able to finish her sentence, Beca kisses her forehead, smiling onto it before pulling away and says, "I'm holding on, Ash. Don't worry."

"You have to." Ashley says softly.

"Promise." Beca reassures. Then she asks, "So... did you find it? The closure?"

Ashley takes a deep breath, turning to lay on her back again and replies, "I found you."

With her lips resting on Ashley's temple, Beca mumbles, "What do you mean?"

"I don't know." Ashley says sadly. "It just feels... too convenient. I was so determined to find a closure, none of us knew that the other would be here, and then... I found you."

After taking a deep breath, Beca presses her lips on Ashley's temple harder and says, "Ash, I love you, but you know that-"

"I know, Beca. I do." Ashley cuts her off in frustration. "We've made a decision, and we have to live with it. But it's..." She clears her throat. "It's just..."

When Ashley can't finish her sentence because she has become too emotional, Beca wraps her arm tighter on Ashley's stomach and softly says with her lips still slightly touching Ashley's temple, "It's hard. I know. And I'm sorry. I really am sorry. I know that this isn't fair for you. And I... I promise that this would be the first and the last time I... took advantage of you."

Ashley scoffs, "It's not taking advantage if both sides have wanted it just as badly."

Beca brushes her nose gently on Ashley's cheek and says, "We're here now. Just you and I. Let's enjoy our little escape until we have to go back to reality tomorrow; to the place where everything is a mess and miserable."

With a defeated sigh, Ashley mutters, "Okay."

Then they simply lay in silent, Ashley is still laying on her back while Beca is laying on her side with her lips on Ashley's temple, humming lightly to a song.

Eventually, Beca start to sing softly, and Ashley turns on her side to look at Beca's fond eyes. The blonde smiles fondly upon feeling the ticklish sensation in her stomach.

 _Cause you make the darkness less dark_  
_You make the edges less sharp_  
_You make the winter feel warmer_  
_And you make my weakness less weak_  
_You make the bottom less deep_  
_You make the waiting feel shorter_  
_You make my crazy feel normal, every time_  
_You are the who, love is the what, and this is the why_  
_You keep the ship moving forward_  
_And you make it easy to try_  
_You make my crazy feel normal, every time_  
_You are the who, love is the what, and this is the why_  
_You are the who, love is the what, and this is the why  
_ _You are the who, love is the what, and this is the why_

Ashley is smiling fondly with her teary eyes, simply staring at her ex while her chest is filled with this light warmth. The love and tenderness in Beca's voice and steely blue eyes is so obvious.

Gently, Ashley pushes Beca to lay on her back while she herself climbs up on Beca, straddling the tiny brunette on her waist. Then she wraps her blonde hair and puts them on her right shoulder, simply staring at Beca, smiling shyly with her bottom lip in between her teeth.

"God! You're hot." Beca hisses through gritted teeth.

Still with her bottom lip in between her teeth, Ashley shakes her head and teases, "Not God. Just Ashley. But close."

Beca wraps her arms around Ashley's back, pulling her downward and kisses her lips gently before trying to steady her labored breaths.

Then, with her nose brushing on Beca's, Ashley whispers a song to the tiny brunette, _"I didn't know that I was starving 'til I tasted you..."_

"Damn it!" Beca hisses while her eyes rolls back, and Ashley smirks before singing the next part, _"Don't need no butterflies when you give me the whole damn zoo..._ "

With her skin heated in desire, Beca whimpers, trying to flip their position, but Ashley cages her tightly. Then the blonde hovers her lips on Beca's, singing the next part softly. _"By the way, right away you do things to my body... I didn't know that I was starving 'til I tasted you..."_

Then Ashley bites Beca's bottom lip gently, pulling it with her teeth softly, and Beca loses her mind. The tiny brunette flips their position, and this time, Ashley let her, still staring and smiling at her ex while biting her bottom lip.

Everything happens so fast, yet fulfilling. When it all ends, Beca breathes out, "That song... is evil... I've never heard of that one before..."

After her breaths become even, Ashley rolls to lay on her stomach, half on top of the tiny brunette, looking at the tiny brunette in the eye as she nonchalantly says, "It's my birthday present. From Junk."

"Huh?" Beca is confused, and obviously jealous judging from her slightly furrowed eyebrows on her cold eyes. "Em wrote you a song? That devilish song? Anything happen between you two?"

"Easy there." Ashley rolls her eyes playfully. "I was sad about the break-up, and she was with me and Troian. She told me that I should cherish the good feelings you left me instead of focusing on the miserable part. So, based on how I felt about you when we just started dating, she wrote this song. Starving. It will be released in a couple of days I think. And she'll be the singer."

"Oh." Beca feels relief, and it's so obvious. Therefore, Ashley kisses her lips chastely and teases, "So... you're jealous of Em."

"Meh." Beca deflects with her cheeks flushing red. "Am not."

"Reeeaaally?" Ashley teases with knowing tone, and then Beca rolls her eyes in half-annoyance and mutters, "A little bit."

"Sure." Ashley states while trying to hold her laughter. "No doubt."

"U huh." Beca failingly tries to look nonchalant. "You know, just tiny little bit."

This time, upon seeing how hard Beca is trying to seem casual while her reddish face gives her away, Ashley burst into laughter, and Beca simply stares at her while tucking a strain of her blonde hair behind her ear, smiling ever so fondly toward her ex.

"You take my breath away, Ash." Beca says softly, and this time, it's Ashley's turn to blush from her neck up to the tip of her ears.

Without saying anything in return, Ashley leans closer to kiss Beca gently on the lips. After that, they simply lay together on the couch at the balcony, talking about everything and nothing at all.

* * *

**The same day at The Posen-Conrad's House**

Chloe has been crying worriedly the whole day, so terrified of Beca's condition. The sun was already set, but nobody could reach the tiny brunette. They still don't dare to ask Donna, thinking that the older redhead hasn't found out yet.

While holding a crying Chloe tightly, Aubrey angrily says, "Where is she?"

"This is my fault..." Chloe cries. "I shouldn't have... I shouldn't have..."

"Shush..." Aubrey failingly tries to comfort her best friend. "It's not your fault Chloe. Beca is just simply a jerk."

Don't want to add more tension, Emily simply rolls her eyes in annoyance while Stacie sighs heavily.

"God..." Chloe shakes her head. "What if something bad happen to her? Wha- what if she hurt herself?"

"I don't think so, Chloe." Emily says as calm as she can. She herself has becoming more and more anxious because not only she can't get ahold of her former captain, but she's also unable to reach Ashley. Yet she says nothing about it.

"Ho- how do you know?" Chloe asks, still crying her eyes out.

"I'm just..." Emily huffs in frustration. "I just know. If anything happened to Beca, it would be in the news already Chloe. And we're probably already dead from the wrath of Donna Paulsen slash Specter."

It doesn't reassure the redhead at all, and she cries, talking to herself, "Where are you, Babe? Please be okay... God please let her be okay... I promise I'll treat her better... Just please don't let anything bad happen to her..."

Meanwhile, Bella is sitting on Stacie's laps, looking back and forth between the adults around her in confusion. Then she whispers at Stacie, "Ma, where is Bec-Bec? And why Aunt Chowee won't stop crying?"

With a sad smile, Stacie softly says, "We don't know where Bec-Bec is, and Aunt Chloe is missing her."

"Why don't you just call her phone?" Bellas whispers in confusion.

Stacie chuckles weakly and replies, "She didn't take her phone with her, Bells."

"Hmmm..." Bella nods absentmindedly, and then Stacie says, "Now, why don't you go play in your room?"

"I want to stay." Bella whispers. "I will be quiet, Mama."

Stacie simply kisses her daughter's forehead before letting the little blonde sitting back on her laps, watching her godmother crying her eyes out with sad look and teary eyes.

After a while, Chloe says in between sobs, "Ma- maybe we can report her a- as a missing person, Bree."

"We can." Aubrey says without hesitation.

"I don't think it's a good idea." Stacie says weakly. Upon seeing the confused look from Aubrey and Chloe, she clarifies, "She walked out of here willingly, with uh... with a reasonable excuse. And knowing Beca, I believe she's just staying somewhere to calm herself."

"But she's done this before, Stace!" Chloe snaps angrily, startling her goddaughter who immediately hold on to her mother tightly. However, it doesn't stop Chloe from snapping more, "She did this ten years ago, remember?!"

"Chloe..." Emily says tiredly. "Beca is not a teenager with nothing to lose anymore. She's an adult with a real life and responsibilities. She can't just leave her life behind and hide away this time."

Aubrey scoffs, "So mature that she had to walk out on us again."

"Well," Emily stares at the general coldly. "Judging from the way you've been treating her, I don't blame her at all. And you shouldn't too."

With her eyes widen in anger, Aubrey is ready to snap at the youngest bella but Stacie hurriedly says, "Emily is right about she won't leave again. Let's wait until tomorrow night. If she hasn't come back yet, then we'll tell Donna, and let her do her stuff to find shorty."

Too emotional to argue more, Chloe simply hugs Aubrey tighter, crying while hoping and praying that her girlfriend is okay.

* * *

**Meanwhile at the beach house.**

The day passes in a blink of an eye, and suddenly, it's already 9 PM. They are laying on the bed; as usual, Ashley is resting her head on Beca's chest while her hand is rubbing the tiny brunette's left chest, and Beca is humming lightly while trailing her fingers gently on Ashley's back.

Suddenly, Ashley says, "Tomorrow feels so dreadful."

"I know." Beca replies softly, and then she softly sings, _"If I could wish upon tomorrow, tonight would never end. If you asked me I would follow, but for now I'll just pretend. Cause if anyone can make me fall in love..."_

Upon hearing the song Beca dedicated for their engagement, Ashley pulls herself up, smiling and singing along, _"You can..."_

Then Beca smiles fondly before pulling Ashley down in a prolonged kiss. After she pulls away, Beca brushes her nose on Ashley's and whispers, "So... if this is the first and the last time we do this... and we haven't left this place yet... is it still count as the first time?"

Ashley chuckles, "Technically, this won't be our _first_ time in the last 24 hours, Mitchell. I have lost counts on how many times we've done it since last night."

Beca laughs lightly and retorts teasingly, "Sooo?"

With a devilish smirk, Ashley challenges, "Up for an adventure tonight, Miss Mitchell?"

"Adventure?" Beca raises an eyebrow.

"Come on." Ashley gets up from the bed, and grabs a blanket in one hand, while her other hand is pulling and dragging Beca with her toward the beach from the balcony. They end up stargazing and making love by the shore.

Then after midnight, they go back into the house. They keep on talking until both of them fall asleep.

* * *

The next morning, Ashley wakes up first as usual. She takes her time to stare at Beca's adorable sleeping face, kisses the frown away, and starts her routine.

After that, she gently untangles herself from Beca, and puts on her clothes. Then she writes a note, and puts some other stuff with it on the bedside table.

With a sad smile, Ashley kisses Beca gently on the lips and whispers _I love you_ before heading out of the beach house.

Sometime around 10 AM, Beca wakes up alone on the bed. She's not surprised, but it still hurts when she finds the house key, Ashley's engagement ring, and a note from Ashley on the bedside table.

_I'm sorry to let you wake up alone._

_But I don't think I can let you go again if we say goodbye when you're awake._

_Like you said, this would be the first and the last time we did this._

_You should learn to love Chloe, and I should learn to love again._

_You were right. I should move on. And Shay has been a great friend for me for years. I should at least try and give her a chance._

_Maybe it's time for us to part, or maybe we'll find it in our heart to be friends in the future._

_I don't really know right now._

_But one thing I know for sure, we shouldn't keep coming back to each other._

_Not that we intended to, but we should at least try to be on our own from now on._

_Bear this in your mind Becs; we were happy and in love. And it was wonderful._

_But everything had come to an end._

_As hard as it is, I'd really like to believe that it's no one's fault._

_It's time for us to stop putting blame on anyone._

_We'll find it even harder to move on if we don't stop finding a scapegoat._

_You said so yourself; let this be our lesson in love._

_Start to love again, Becs._

_I believe that we'll have our happy ending._

_Just maybe not with each other._

_Love, Ashley.  
_ _p.s. Keep this place as your new sanctuary._

After reading the note, Beca sighs heavily and swallows hard. She takes her time to think and to reconsider everything. It takes her a couple of hours, but then she gets into the shower before going back to the city; to the place where she belongs, where she's supposed to be.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo... how was chapter 26? Angst much? Well, guilty as charged. Sometimes, I'm truly glad that none of you actually know me in person. I imagined that you'd smack my head so hard to put some senses into it. Peace folks... :P
> 
> I've said so before that this chapter would be a roller coaster. I purposively put Chloe in between this time to show the very contrast situation. You know, as usual, it's hard for me to pass on a chance to make it even darker and twistier. My bad. I love dark and twisty a little too much. Maybe I should get help :P
> 
> Now, in the previous chapter, I did say that things would get better after this. However, I didn't say for whom. Is it for Ashley, or Beca, or Chloe? Well, you have to keep reading to find out.
> 
> Until then, sit tight and make good choices. Thank you for reading :)
> 
> For the songs in this chapter, they are My Wish by Rascal Flatts; All I Do by Yuna; Safe Inside by James Arthur; This Is Why I Need You by Jesse Ruben; Starving by Haylee Steinfeld; and You Can by David Archuleta.


	27. Begin Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey folks! :D How's your weekdays? Hope it's been great so far.
> 
> Thank you for sticking with this story; reading, favoring, following, and reviewing :)
> 
> Let's go back to the story. In the previous chapter, Beca was with Ashley for two days, and Chloe was feeling bad for yelling at her girlfriend. In this chapter, after Beca goes back to L.A., they begin again. Who begin again? I think it's obvious at this point. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are two songs in this chapter, and I will put the list on the end note. I don't own Pitch Perfect, nor the characters and the songs. Hope you enjoy :)

 

**The Posen-Conrad House: December 20** **th** **2025**

It's been more than 36 hours since Beca has walked away from Stacie's place, and it's been as long for Chloe, praying, crying, wishing for her girlfriend to be fine at the very least. The redhead hasn't really had a good sleep two nights in a row, and she hasn't eaten well either. Therefore, she's exhausted, desperate, and miserable, drowning in worry and guilty feeling.

Right now, it's already around 3 PM, and there's still no news about the tiny brunette. Chloe is sitting in the living room; holding her temple with her hands, not crying anymore but certainly in distressed. There are also Stacie, Aubrey, Emily, Andre, and Bella with her in that room.

Aubrey is hugging Chloe tightly, while Stacie, Emily, and Andre are discussing where to look for the tiny brunette.

"If she's not back by 4 PM, I'll take the next flight to Atlanta." Andre suggests. "Maybe she's visiting her mom's grave."

"Good idea Babe." Emily comments.

Stacie sighs deeply and says, "I think it's time to call Donna. She'll know what to do."

"Okay." Emily nods.

Before Stacie dials the number, Beca walks into the living room, looking calm and collected.

"Shorty!" Stacie exclaims in relief.

"Hey." Beca replies with a tight smile.

Upon hearing Beca's voice, Chloe looks up at her girlfriend, and she's quick on her feet to hug the tiny brunette tightly, sobbing, "Babe... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..."

Beca is taken aback for a second. She thought that the redhead would be furious, snapping and slapping her, but it didn't happen. Now guilty feeling of cheating on her girlfriend is raising up in her, and her body temperature changes between hot and cold rapidly.

Therefore, she takes a deep breath to calm her nerves and hugs the redhead back as tight before saying, "I... I'm sorry too, Chlo."

While the couple is hugging, their friends are looking at the tiny brunette expectantly, obviously waiting for the answer of her whereabouts. However, Beca just takes a short glance at them without saying anything, simply rubbing Chloe's back gently, waiting for Chloe's tears to subside.

Suddenly, a pair of tiny arms wrap Beca's leg, and she looks down to find Bella staring at her with sad look. "Bec, where were you?"

With a sad smile, Beca says, "Hey smurfette."

Stacie approaches them, picks up her daughter, and softly says, "Come on princess. Time for you to take a nap."

Without waiting for her daughter's resistance, Stacie immediately takes the little blonde to her bedroom upstairs.

After Chloe's tears subside, she pulls away, and presses a chaste kiss on Beca's lips before worriedly ask, "Are you okay?"

Beca simply nods lightly with a sad smile, and then Chloe cups her cheeks, caressing them gently as she says with hoarse voice, "You've got me worried sick, Babe."

The tiny brunette takes her time to look at her girlfriend closely. Chloe's eyes are bloodshot and swollen with dark circle under them, showing that she's been crying a lot and definitely hasn't been sleeping well at all. Upon seeing how distressed the redhead is, with a sad smile, Beca kisses her forehead and says, "I'm sorry."

With a relieved smile, Chloe grabs Beca's hand gently and pulls her to sit on the couch. A second later, Emily comes back from the kitchen with a glass of water for the tiny brunette, and Beca drinks it bottom up to calm her nerves.

"Where have you been?" Aubrey asks firmly right after her successor puts down the glass.

Without saying anything in return, Beca simply stares at the blonde coldly for a couple of seconds before glancing her eyes away sharply.

Sensing the tension between her girlfriend and her best friend, Chloe squeezes the tiny brunette's hand gently, and Beca smiles at her. Then the redhead softly asks, "Where were you, Babe?"

Knowing that it's been hard enough to live in a lie for more than a month, in a split second, Beca almost decides to tell the truth. However, the trail of tears on Chloe's face and her sad concerned look take away Beca's determination. Then she takes a deep breath and answers, "I was at my beach house."

With a skeptic look, Aubrey asks, "Really?"

Upon feeling upset with so many things including lying to Chloe and worrying about Ashley, dealing with a shitty person who demands too much from her is certainly maddening. However, Beca takes a deep breath and ignores the blonde again. Instead, she looks at Chloe and says, "Chlo, I left my phone. Do you have it? I uh... I need to call some people."

Afraid of pushing her girlfriend too far again, Chloe smiles and says, "It's in our room. I'll go get it."

"Thanks." Beca replies, and then the redhead walks away, heading to her bedroom.

Without the redhead, the tension is unbearable, mostly coming from Aubrey. On the other hand, Beca seems apathetic and says nothing. The tiny brunette is trying to calm the storm in her mind by breathing deeply through her nose and counting her breaths in 3-1-5 sequence.

Not long after, Chloe comes back and hands Beca her phone. Then, the tiny brunette immediately calls Ashley's bodyguard, and Pascal picks up instantly.

" _Boss?"_

Beca sweeps the people around with her eyes in a second before nervously asks, "Has uh... the blue Thunderbird arrived yet?"

" _Yeah, she came back around eight this morning. She's with her family and friends now."_

"Is... the blue Thunderbird in a perfect condition?" Beca asks cautiously.

" _She seems upset. But other than that, she's okay. By the way, I didn't look for her because I knew she was with you. I traced both of your cars two days ago after she left. Hope you don't mind."_

"It's okay." Beca sighs in relief. "Just please keep the blue Thunderbird safe."

" _Sure Beca."_

"Thanks Pascal."

After Beca ends the call with Pascal, Andre teases, "Another new car Beca?"

"Uhm..." Beca smiles tightly. "Yeah."

"Geez..." The man groans. "Your fancy toys, Mitchell."

Beca simply chuckles nervously.

Andre, Aubrey, and Chloe might buy it, but not with Emily, who's just staring at her former captain with her eyebrows slightly furrowed. Before the youngest Bella can say anything, Beca already dials another number. She's calling Donna, thinking that her PA must have been flipping L.A. up and down to find her.

" _Monkey!"_

"Donna."

" _You were gone, and you didn't even tell me!"_

"I'm sorry." Beca replies apologetically, and then she can hear Donna sighing deeply.

" _Are you okay?"_

"Yeah... I'm fine now. I just... needed some space."

" _I know. Pascal told me where you were two days ago, and Ashley called me yesterday. She told me that you were with her."_

"Really?" Beca can't help a light smile appears on her face from the warm feeling in her chest upon knowing how considerable her ex was.

" _Yeah. She knew that I would be worried, so she called and told me that you had a fight with Chloe, and you needed time."_

"Yeah."

" _Monkey..."_ Beca can tell from the tone that Donna is a bit upset. _"You know I love you. But Ashley is also like a sister to me. Don't lead her on if you're not coming back to her. She's broken enough, monkey."_

"I know, I know." Beca sighs. Then she nervously looks around again before saying, "Can you help me uh... please take care of the uh... stuff you just said. I've called Pascal about it, but I uh... I'll be more relieved and less worried if you're the one who uh... who's there."

" _You're with them, aren't you?"_

The annoyance in Donna's voice is clearly saying how much she doesn't like the fact that Beca has to use some kind of code to talk around the people she call best friend.

"Yeah." Beca can hear Donna is sighing heavily again, more likely in annoyance.

" _Don't worry. I'll go to her place, monkey. I've been checking on her every day. Like I do with you."_

Beca smiles in relief and replies, "Thanks, Donna."

" _No problem, monkey. You know we love both you and Ashley so much."_

"I do."

" _And by the way,"_ The anger in Donna's voice is obvious now. _"You tell Chloe and the people you call best friends, if they don't tell me the next time you need a space because of Chloe's wrath, or just anytime something happen to you, just so they know, the Jesse's incident, they haven't seen anything yet. Emily included. I don't discriminate anyone when it comes to your safety. It didn't matter if I had found out of not from other people. I'm your person. I should be notified. Tell them that they should be thanking God I didn't come down to them like a ton of bricks."_

Beca chuckles lightly, "Tell them yourself."

Before Donna can say anything else, the tiny brunette ends the phone call, and then Emily immediately says, "I bet Donna must be upset with us for not telling her about you."

"She is upset." Beca shrugs nonchalantly, and then she jokes, "But don't worry. I'm back in one piece. She'll give you all an exception this time for not telling her."

Meanwhile, Aubrey just keep staring at the tiny brunette sharply. Truth to be told, Aubrey was worried and feeling guilty for pushing the tiny brunette too far. However, Chloe is always her priority, and right now, knowing that Chloe won't push her girlfriend, she feels like she has to take the matter into her hands again.

Before anyone can say anything, Stacie comes back to the living room after putting Bella to nap and sits next to her wife. Then Aubrey retorts coldly toward the tiny brunette, "Why would she be angry anyway? You're not a child anymore. You should be acting more like your age. You should've acted like an adult that you are."

Everybody have different reactions; Stacie sighs tiredly, Emily rolls her eyes in annoyance, Chloe seems to be torn, and Andre seems to be confused. This time, Beca responds with bored-looking face, "There are people who genuinely care about me, no matter how old I am, and certainly not because they _need_ something from me."

Chloe immediately squeezes Beca's hand and softly warns, "Babe."

"What do you mean?" Aubrey asks sharply.

With a scoff and undermining smirk, Beca says, "You know what I mean, Posen. Or should I say it out loud right here and right now?"

Never thought that Beca would threaten to spill their agreement, Aubrey is taken aback for a second, but she recovers rather quickly, warning "You-"

"Babe, stop." Stacie immediately meddles between the two former captains, and then she says to her wife, "This isn't about you. Let's leave them to talk."

Aubrey huffs in upset, but she complies nevertheless. Then everybody leave the couple to talk. Once they are alone, Beca and Chloe become silent. While Chloe is fighting the urge to ask if her girlfriend was with her ex in the last two days, Beca is calming herself to tell Chloe her decision.

Eventually, after taking a few deep breaths, the tiny brunette turns to Chloe and says, "We need to talk."

Terrified of what is coming, Chloe feels cold all of the sudden and her face turns white, blurting out, "Are you breaking up with me?"

Without hesitation, Beca replies, "I need you to make that decision for us."

Chloe can feel how fast her heartbeat is, and instead of cold, now she feels heated under her skin. After swallowing hard, Chloe asks in barely a whisper, "What... what do you mean?"

After huffing out a long steady breath, very determined, Beca says, "Have the therapy, Chlo. Have the therapy, and I'll stay. Every step of the way."

It makes Chloe upset certainly, and she asks, "Are you giving me an ultimatum?"

"No." Beca shakes her head. "No, Chlo. It's not an ultimatum. It's a compromise. To have a relationship where both of us can at least take a step forward, we need to compromise."

Chloe crosses her arms on her chest and asks, "Are you gonna leave me again if I won't have the therapy?"

"No." Beca says without hesitation. "I won't leave you. But I can't be with you as a girlfriend. Not when I can't do anything to help you; not when you won't let yourself get help just because you think that having me is enough to make you better. I can't, and I won't be the reason you wreck yourself. Not anymore."

Still, Chloe seems to be upset when she replies, "It seems to me you're using my condition to break up with me. Do you regret your decision after seeing my condition? Are you going back to Ashley?"

Beca sighs deeply, "This isn't about Ashley. This is about you and me, about how I feel. And I... I'm tired, Chlo."

Feeling defeated, Chloe sighs and says, "I know. And I'm sorry. I just... it's been hard. You were... rarely here with me, and when you were, you weren't completely here with me. I- I'm scared, Babe. Every day, I'm so afraid that you'd go back to Ashley since I know that she's better than I am-"

"No." Beca cuts her off firmly. "I don't think she's better than you, Chlo. She knows me well because she'd been with me in the last five years. And that's it."

Chloe sighs in relief and asks to reassure, "So this is only about me not seeing a therapist, and you don't want to see me wrecking myself just because I think you're enough?"

"Yeah." Beca nods before swallowing hard, and her eyes are slightly teary when she says, "It's the only reason."

Upon seeing a light smile on Chloe's face, Beca clears her throat and continues, "I'm not enough, Chlo. You need to see a professional. And I'm speaking from my own experience. I still see my therapist every once in a week, and it's been helping me a lot to deal with this... situation."

Chloe's eyes widen in surprise, "You do?"

Beca nods lightly, "This fear you're feeling... I don't think it's uh..." She sighs deeply, takes Chloe's hands in hers, and softly continues, "Look, I'm gonna be honest with you. It's uh... I don't know about you, but it's been not only hard for me lately. It... it feels impossible to live with. The constant fight, the yelling, the controlling... I can't breathe, Chlo. And I'm not saying that it's all on you. I'm equally at fault. I have been ignorant and busy while I should've paid more attention and spent more time with you. And I know I broke you. I left you time and time again, but-"

"Babe, I don't think therapy will he-"

"Please, Chlo." Beca pleads tiredly. "Please... I... I can't keep going on like this. I'm tired. Really, really tired... Aren't you? We can't keep going back and forth like this. Just... try to do the therapy, and I... I promise I'll be a better girlfriend."

Upon seeing that Beca is pleading, Chloe sighs in defeat, nodding as she says, "Okay. I'll have the therapy."

Feeling so relieved, Beca cups Chloe's cheeks and kisses her repeatedly on the lips, saying, "Thank you, thank you, thank you."

Since it's rare for Beca to initiate affection to her since the beginning of their relationship, Chloe beams in joy and softly says with teary eyes, "I love you, Babe."

"And I you." Beca replies without hesitation.

Then Chloe leans forward again for another kiss.

Maybe it's because of the relieved moment, or maybe it's because of the guilty feeling from cheating on Chloe, but Beca feels more comfortable to kiss the redhead this time. Surprisingly, no one else but her girlfriend is on her mind.

After they pull away, Beca rests her forehead on Chloe's, landing a couple of more kisses on Chloe's lips before she says, "I'm going back to my apartment now. Do you uh... maybe want to come with me? And uh... spend the night... together?"

It's like fireworks are bursting in her chest, and Chloe beams her megawatt smile as she answers, "Absolutely."

Upon seeing how happy Chloe is from the simplest thing, Beca smiles softly and kisses the tip of her nose before saying, "Go get your stuff."

The redhead is skipping her feet to her bedroom while Beca is waiting for her in the living room. After a while, she can't fight the urge to text her ex, asking, _Are you okay?_

Before she gets any reply, her best friends come into the living room and join her, and then Aubrey asks, "Where is Chloe? Why isn't she with you?"

"In her room." Beca replies nonchalantly. "She's getting her stuff. We're going to stay at my place tonight."

"No, you're not." Aubrey says firmly. "Not under my watch. It's either you stay here with her, or you can go back to your place on your own."

This time, Beca just can't take it anymore, and she retorts in upset, "What is your problem? You said you want me to be with Chloe, but you're acting like you don't. I don't know how to deal with you, Posen. And frankly, I don't want to deal with your shitty attitude anymore."

When Stacie is going to meddle, Beca holds up her index finger toward her best friend, still with her eyes staring at the blonde coldly when she continues, "I'd yelled at you. It didn't work. I'd fought you. It didn't work either. I'd ignored you. It didn't work too. Nothing I'd done so far could make you less shitty. So now I'm gonna tell you, _warn_ you actually, and you better listen close, Posen. _If_ , you don't back off from _my_ relationship with Chloe, I will, and trust me, _I, will,_ put a restraining order against you. And you can say goodbye to your best friend. I will make sure that you won't be able to see _even_ Chloe's hair for the rest of your life."

Although she's threatened, but Aubrey is a Posen, and that name carries a lot of nerves. Therefore, she leans forward and angrily hisses, "You won't dare."

Though, Beca knows fear when she sees one, and calmly, she says, "Try me."

"Do not think that I'm afraid of fighting you in court." Aubrey says in low tone that usually frightens the tiny brunette, but not this time; not after everything the blonde has done in the past month to her and Chloe.

Smirking arrogantly, Beca says, "Oh. Not me. I'd love to see you fight _Harvey_ in court."

Aubrey snaps, "You-"

"Enough." Stacie says firmly toward her wife and her best friend. She turns to Beca, "There's no need for any order, Shorty." Then she turns to her wife, "And you need to stop treating Beca like shit, Babe."

Before the two warned person can argue more, Emily firmly says toward the tiny brunette, "Pop, a word?"

Although she is confused, Beca complies, taking the chance to walk away from Aubrey by following Emily to the backyard. Once there are only the two of them, with her arms crossed on her chest, Emily firmly says, "Pop, be honest with me."

Beca raises an eyebrow questioningly, and then Emily asks, "Where were you in the last two days?"

"I was..."

Upon seeing the guilty look on Beca's face, Emily rolls her eyes and sighs deeply, shaking her head before she says, "Look. I'm not here to judge. I know it's been hard for you to stay with Chloe, let alone to fall in love with her again, especially with Aubrey acting like a bitch. Moreover, you're still heartbroken over Ashley. And it's clear that you're still in love with her. I understand why it's hard for you to step up in your relationship with Chloe. Nevertheless, I know you've been trying. What I don't understand is, why do I have a feeling that you were with Ashley in the last two days? The blue Thunderbird? Really?"

With a defeated sighs, Beca nods and mutters, "I was with her."

Emily groans angrily before she scolds, "You know I love you, Beca. But if you keep doing this to both Ashley and Chloe, I will smack your head so hard, you're gonna have a severe brain injury, and you'll end up vegetative for the rest of your life. This is the part I agree with Aubrey. You can't stand in between. Not between being a friend or a girlfriend to Chloe, but between Ashley and Chloe."

"I..." Beca stops for a second, wanting to tell Emily her excuses, but she decides against it and says in defeat, "I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize for me." Emily scolds her more. "You're not hurting me by being selfish. It's them, Ashley and Chloe that you're hurting. The two women that you've always claimed you love the most."

Beca flexes her neck and tiredly says, "I'll do better, Em."

Although she wants to scolds her former captain more, upon seeing how dejected Beca is, Emily sighs in annoyance and says, "You better. Don't make me regret standing up for you in front of Aubrey and Stacie."

With a light smile, Beca nods and says, "Thanks, Em."

Emily simply sighs heavily but says nothing else. Then the two of them walk back into the house. When they're already in the living room, Chloe is already there, talking with Aubrey and Stacie.

The redhead seems to have a little argument with Aubrey since she says in upset, "But Bree, I'll be with Beca. You don't have to worry."

"That's the very reason for me to worry." Aubrey replies as stubborn. "Why don't the two of you just stay here?"

"I can take care of _my_ girlfriend for one night, Posen." Beca says firmly from behind the blonde. "I'll bring her back tomorrow night. _If,_ she wants to come back."

After turning around to look at Beca in upset, Aubrey sharply says, "As if we can take your word for anything."

Beca scoffs, "As if I care about how you think of me."

"Okay." Stacie warns. "The two of you need to learn how to be civil in the same room. Because clearly, you're on the same team. You two love Chloe."

Again, Beca scoffs and says, "Oh please, Stace. Your wife really needs to learn how to differentiate between loving, and over compensating. Oh, wait. Her brain doesn't have that capacity."

"Babe." Chloe warns her girlfriend. "Be nice."

Then Aubrey stabs back, "And you really need to learn how to respect other people."

"Hah!" Beca chuckles sarcastically. "Talk to the mirror, Posen. Do you need me to buy you one? A full body range mirror? Just want to make sure that you can see yourself thoroughly."

"Go to hell, Beca!" Aubrey says angrily.

"That's enough!" Stacie snaps angrily, and everybody are stunned. Then she takes a deep breath and says toward the redhead with much soften voice, "Chloe, you choose. Do you want to stay here, or do you want to go with Beca?"

Chloe turns to the tiny brunette and worriedly asks, "Are you gonna stay the night if I choose to stay?"

"No." Beca replies without hesitation. "I'll stay until after dinner _if_ I have to, and then I'll go back to my place."

"Babe..." Chloe pleads softly, and Beca sighs heavily before saying, "It's just... I'm not used to live with other people, and it's kind of... a full house in here. I need my space to breathe. But I'll come back tomorrow."

Chloe takes her time to look back and forth between her best friend and girlfriend, thinking that this is the first time she's invited to the tiny brunette's place, and she's not going to waste that chance. Then she certainly says, "Sorry Bree, I'll go with Beca. But I'll come back tomorrow night after work."

When Aubrey wants to object, Stacie immediately says, "It's okay Chloe. My wife's just being ridiculous. You can go and have a quality time with Shorty. We'll be fine. You can stay with her as long as you want."

Without waiting for Aubrey's reaction, Chloe nods toward Stacie with a huge grin on her face, and then she grabs Beca's hand before excitedly says, "Let's go Babe."

* * *

**Beca's Penthouse: December 20** **th** **2025**

They arrive at Beca's place around 6 PM, and after the lift opens up to Beca's floor, she says, "Well... welcome to my place."

Chloe steps in and looks around, finding that the place doesn't have much decoration, but still edgy. Before the redhead say anything, Beca takes their stuff and says, "Feel free to look around, Red. I'll take our stuff to my room and then order dinner for us."

"Sure." Chloe smiles fondly, and then she takes her time to look around the living room. She finds some pictures on the TV table. Some of them are pictures of Bellas, the biggest one is the world championship; and there are also a couple of pictures of the tiny brunette with Ashley, mostly with silly and funny expressions.

With her chest tighten sadly, she picks one up that shows Beca wrapping the blonde from behind, resting her chin on Ashley's shoulder, grinning goofily while Ashley is biting her cheek playfully from aside.

" _They looked happy."_ Chloe thought to herself.

Unknowingly to the redhead, Beca is already standing not too far behind her, feeling nervous upon seeing Chloe is holding a picture of her with Ashley, cursing herself in her mind for forgetting about the stuff in her apartment, reminding herself to move the huge picture of her and Ashley on the wall in her bedroom before letting Chloe in later.

Even though it's been more than a month since she's moved out, Beca hasn't really got a chance to stay at her apartment. In the few times she came to her apartment to get her stuff, she found out that Donna had kept her things just the way they were three years ago. However, she didn't have a chance and the will to put away her stuff with Ashley yet.

As much as she wants to say more excuses, Beca knows that it's better to not deflecting. Therefore, she takes a deep breath before saying as calm as she can, "We were only dating for a couple of months in that picture."

It certainly startles Chloe, and she puts down the picture hurriedly on the table before turning around and blurting out, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry."

"It's okay." Beca smiles lightly, and then she walks toward the couch to sit down while saying, "I told you to look around. I lived here for seven years, Chlo. There were so many memories in this place. And... I want to share it with you. If you don't mind of course."

Chloe bites her bottom lip nervously, thinking whether she wants to know about her girlfriend's last relationship, and then she takes the picture before joining Beca on the couch. She takes a deep breath and asks, "What were you doing in this picture?"

Still with a light smile, Beca answers, "We were cooking. I mean, _she_ was cooking, and I was... messing around. It was a double date with Troian and Patrick, and Troian took this photo."

With her eyes on the picture, Chloe smiles sadly and says, "You looked happy."

Beca feels her chest tighten, but she subtly takes a deep breath through her nose, and says as casual as she can, "We were. But... it doesn't matter anymore. I'm with you now. Though... do you mind if I keep the pictures of me and Ashley on the table?"

Upon seeing how torn Chloe is, Beca smiles and takes away the picture in the redhead's hand before grabbing them gently and softly says, "Chlo... from now on, it's gonna be like this. If you don't like what I do, you can tell me. Preferably calmly. And when I ask you about something that I should or shouldn't do, you will tell me the truth, and we will compromise. Okay?"

Chloe smiles in relief, "I... I don't want you to keep those pictures on display. I'm still... finding it hard to tune down my jealousy."

"Okay then." Beca says as casual as she can. "I'll put them away."

"You will?" Chloe is dumbfounded, and Beca chuckles nervously before saying, "Of course. It's reasonable. Just wait a second."

Then the tiny brunette slowly picks up all of the framed pictures of Ashley and her, taking her time to look at them sadly with her back on Chloe before putting and arranging them neatly one by one in the drawer under the table.

After taking a deep breath, Beca puts on a smile, turns around, and says, "All done."

Happiness is pouring out from Chloe through her bright smiles, and Beca smiles back at her with clenched jaw, trying to hold the pain in her chest by subtly taking a deep breath again. Then she sits back down on the couch next to the redhead and asks, "What do you want to do?"

"Hmmm..." Chloe presses her lips tightly, thinking before saying, "Let's talk about everything."

"Let's."

Then Chloe leans closer to rest her head on Beca's shoulder, and the tiny brunette automatically wraps her arm around Chloe's shoulder before squeezing it gently.

"What do you want to talk about?" Chloe asks.

Beca chuckles, "I thought that since _you_ were the one who initiated the talk, _you'd_ be the one who came up with the idea."

"Hm." Chloe presses her lips, thinking before asking, "How did you usually spend Christmas?"

Taken aback by the unexpected question, Beca's breath hitched for a second, and then she clears her throat lightly before saying, "Nothing extravagant. But uh... I usually spent it with the Bensons family."

"Oh." Chloe sighs deeply.

After a moment of silent, Beca says, "We can have Christmas with your family this year if you want."

Abruptly, Chloe pulls away to look at her girlfriend in surprise, and then Beca continues, "I mean... if you don't mind, and if they'll have me. I haven't seen your parents in ages. So... seeing them again will be great. I think."

"Really?" Chloe beams, and then Beca smiles, nodding lightly as she replies, "Really."

Suddenly, the redhead seems nervous as she mutters, "But uhm... since what happened to me ten years ago after you left... let's just say that you're not their favorite person since then."

Beca chuckles lightly, "I believe you. But... let's see them anyway."

"Are you sure?" Chloe asks worriedly, but the hope in her eyes is obvious.

"Yeah." Beca replies nonchalantly, and then with light shrug, she adds, "If John points his gun at me, I'll just use you as my human shield."

Chloe slaps her arm playfully with a wide grin on her face, and then she cheerfully says, "It's settled then. We'll spend Christmas at my parent's. What about new year?"

"Hmmm..." Beca presses her lips, and then she says, "What do you say if we invite all of the Bellas to have a new year's party in L.A. with us?"

"Seriously?!" Chloe exclaims excitedly.

"Seriously." Beca smiles softly. "We'll tell them tomorrow."

Then the redhead squeals, jumping to hug her girlfriend tightly before kissing her repeatedly, saying in between kisses, "You, are, the, best. I love you."

Beca laughs lightly and replies, "And I you."

Not long after, their dinner arrive, and they eat while talking about their plan. After dinner, Chloe makes sure that her girlfriend take her meds, and then Beca says, "Chlo, I'll take a shower. You mind staying in the living room on your own?"

"Nope." Chloe replies while putting the dishes away.

"Cool." Beca says before going to her bedroom. Immediately, she takes down the huge framed picture of her and Ashley resting their foreheads together while smiling fondly to each other, and hides it under her bed.

It's the only place she could think of to hide the picture entirely. She also double-checks every corner of the room, finding and hiding away everything that says _I'm happy and in love with Ashley_ that are still in the apartment even after seven years. She thought Donna had moved them to the storage room at the mansion, but clearly, she didn't.

After making sure that she's already taken care of everything, Beca takes a shower and goes back to the living room.

Chloe is watching PLL when she walks into the living room, and Hanna Marin, portrayed by Ashley, comes into the view, bringing a bittersweet smile on Beca's face upon seeing her. Then she takes a deep breath and clears her throat before calling, "Chlo?"

"Hm?" The redhead turns around to look at her over the shoulder, and then Beca softly says, "Let's enjoy the night sky at the balcony."

"Okay." Chloe turns off the TV and follows her girlfriend to the balcony.

They are lying together on a couch with Chloe cuddling up on Beca's chest, and the tiny brunette wraps one arm around the redhead's back while the other one is under her own head.

After more than a month of constant fights and full blown of anxiety, it feels comfortable for staying quiet for both of them, and they remain silent for a long while.

For Chloe, she's so relieved to have her girlfriend back, and Beca has been paying more attention to her, showing her more affection since she came back. It certainly eased her anxiety down. In addition, she never thought that making a decision to see a therapist felt not as bad as she had it ten years ago. Maybe it's from knowing that she'll have Beca with her this time.

As for the tiny brunette, it certainly feels much lighter for her, being with Chloe without Aubrey breathing down her neck, throwing deathly glares and sharp comments at her every chance she had. Having a calm Chloe is the most important factor for her to be this relax. Staying in her own place do have effect too, since she has always been more comfortable in her own zone.

Suddenly, without any plan or thinking, Beca softly sings, _"I'm bullet prove... nothing to lose..."_

By the first sentence, Chloe pulls away slightly, staring at her girlfriend with a fond smile, singing along, _"Fire away... fire away..."_

Beca smiles back, and they keep harmonizing together. _"Ricochet... you take your aim, fire away... fire away..."_

" _You shoot me down, but I won't fall. I am titanium..."_ Chloe's blue eyes are shining so bright, and Beca feels this ticklish sensation in her stomach upon feeling the love pouring out from the redhead. She keep on singing, _"You shoot me down, but I won't fall. I am titanium..."_

After that, still cautiously to test her own reaction, Beca leans forward and kisses the redhead on the lips. Gently, Chloe kisses her back, pressing her body onto Beca's slightly while the tiny brunette slides her hand onto Chloe's scalps, grasping the silky red hair gently with her fingers to pull her closer.

They take their time, not rushing for the desire but simply enjoying the second kiss where both of them are really into it. Then, without pulling her lips from Beca's, Chloe slowly climbs to straddle Beca on her waist, and the tiny brunette slides both her hands down the curve of Chloe's side before resting them on the redhead's back.

Eventually, they pull away when air becomes an emergency. After her breaths even out, with her blue eyes staring into Beca's fondly, Chloe softly says, "Babe..."

"Hm?" Beca responds softly, caressing her girlfriend's left cheek gently with her thumb.

Then Chloe continues, "You thought that you broke me."

"I didn't think." Beca replies calmly. "I knew. I know."

Chloe sighs lightly and softly says, "I know it might not seem like it. But I think you're the one who can put me back together. And I know that I'm a mess right now. And I'm dragging you into my mess. But... please be patient with me, Babe. I'll be better; I'll get better. For you. Because I love you."

"Chlo..." Beca is staring at the redhead sympathetically, still caressing her cheek gently. "Get better for yourself. Don't do it for me, or for anybody else. No matter what's gonna happen," She takes a deep breath. "I..." She swallows subtly. "I'll love you anyway ... ... ... Babe."

Upon hearing _I love you_ for the first time from her girlfriend and finally being called other than Chlo, Chloe, or Red; the redhead feels like a heavy burden is being lifted out of her chest. Automatically, she let out a damp sighs and her eyes become teary, but the smile on her face, it's beaming in a genuine lightness, showing how relieved she is.

The rush of warmth and ticklish sensation in Beca's stomach become stronger. She looks into Chloe's blue eyes, finding the light she has always loved and adored in them, smiling fondly before leaning forward to kiss Chloe again in another prolonged kiss.

After the kiss ends, they remain silent again, simply lying on the couch together, staring at the sky until at some point, Beca yawns.

Chloe pulls away to look at her girlfriend who's rubbing her eyes like a child. Then she chuckles, "Let's go to bed."

"Mmmkay." Beca gets up lazily before pulling the redhead to the master bedroom.

However, halfway to the bedroom, Chloe sees another room with a sign, _Don't you fucking dare enter without my permission!_ And she asks, "Babe, what's in that room?"

"Huh?" Beca turns her eyes to look at the door Chloe is looking at, and then she says, "It's my studio. I have some instruments in there."

"Can we see it first before going to bed?"

After taking a moment to rake her mind, thinking if there's anything about her and Ashley in it, Beca hesitantly says, "Sure."

Then they walk into the room, finding a pearl black grand piano, several guitars, a drum set, records on the wall, and some other music instruments.

Upon seeing the piano, an idea pops into Beca's mind, and she pulls Chloe to sit with her before the piano. "There was this song I wrote around three years ago after I made a decision to see a therapist. I recorded it, but I didn't release it because it was personal for me. Do you uh... maybe want to hear it?"

Chloe nods excitedly, "I'd love to, Babe."

Beca smiles lightly and starts pressing the keys gently, closing her eyes, singing softly,

_Take those boots off the shelf  
_ _Wipe that dust off yourself  
_ _Even if you've been through hell;_  
You're back

  _It's time to separate the men from the boys  
_ _And the women from the girls  
_ _And the tools from the toys  
_ _Even if you're freaking out, just relax_

While the tiny brunette is so immersed in the song, singing with her eyes closed, Chloe is simply staring at her in awe from aside, feeling so warm in her chest upon having her girlfriend singing for her for the first time.

_Hey, before it gets too late_  
_Before the night is over_  
Before the world's awake  
_Everything will change_

Then Beca opens her eyes to stare at her girlfriend, smiling softly as she continues,

_Back when it used to hurt_  
_Took you a little while just to find the words_  
_Losing, well, it sometimes burns, but you keep moving on_   


_You've got to push on like you're leading the nation_  
_Got to make the best out of this situation_  
_Get your hands up like it's a celebration_  
_And you keep moving on  
_ _Singing hey,_

Upon getting a hint from the tiny brunette for her to join the chorus, Chloe harmonizes softly,

_Before it gets too late_  
_Before the night is over_  
_Before the world's awake  
_ _Everything will change_

Still with her eyes fixed on the redhead's blue ones, Beca smiles, singing ever so softly with Chloe joining in between,

_Hey, I feel it coming on_  
_Starting like a fire_  
_Tonight you lit the flame  
_ _Everything will change_

_You can talk the talk-talk,  
_ _or you can walk the walk-walk_

_(Oh...)_

_You can talk the talk-talk,  
or you can walk the walk-walk_

_(Oh...)_

_You can talk the talk-talk,  
_ _or you can walk the walk-walk_

_(Oh...)_

_You can talk the talk-talk,  
_ _or you can walk the walk-walk_

_Everything will change_

_Take those boots off the shelf  
_ _Wipe that dust off yourself  
_ _Even if you've been through hell;_  
You're back

By now, Chloe's eyes are teary and her cheeks are rosy red. This rush of warmth in her chest is working its way to the tips of her fingers, and she shivers from the words, the music, the voice, and they way they're harmonizing; she's moved. The way Beca is staring at her, it takes all the pain away.

Again, Beca gives Chloe a hint to join her in another chorus,

_Hey, before it gets too late_  
_Before the night is over_  
Before the world's awake  
_Everything will change_

_I feel it coming on_  
_Starting like a fire_  
Tonight you lit the flame  
_Everything will change_

The way they're harmonizing, it fills Beca with this certain warmth that she used to feel back in college when she was singing with Chloe. The redhead is also feeling the same; it feels like she finally got back the person she's been in love with after a very long time, for real.

_You can talk the talk-talk,  
_ _or you can walk the walk-walk_

_(It'll change)_

_You can talk the talk-talk,  
or you can walk the walk-walk_

_(Oh... change...)_

Upon singing the last part, Beca is staring at Chloe with determination in her eyes that says _it'll be okay_.

_Everything changes_  
_Life happens in stages_  
_We all have our stories  
_ _So start turning pages yeah_

After the song ends, Beca let her fingers press some more keys to end it gradually. When it's finally over, both of them are feeling relieved and much lighter.

Then Beca takes Chloe's hand in hers, kisses it gently, and softly says, "From now on, everything will change. _We_ , will change. For the better. Let's turn our pages Chlo, together. We'll make this work."

With teary eyes, Chloe nods and says, "We will."

Then Beca kisses her chastely on the lips before pulling her to the bedroom. After washing up, Beca is going to take her _security blanket_ , but she doesn't, thinking that she might as well learn to sleep without it.

After climbing onto the bed, Beca wraps her girlfriend from behind, lacing her fingers with Chloe's, resting them on the redhead's chest. The tiny brunette brushes her nose onto the back of Chloe's shoulder, breathing in the redhead's soft natural scent and presses her lips gently onto it before saying, "Good night Chlo."

Chloe kisses their joined hands and softly replies, "Good night Babe. I love you."

"And I you." The tiny brunette replies.

It's not until Chloe is finally asleep, Beca remembers about her text to Ashley. Gently, she untangles herself from the redhead to take her phone in her bag. However, when she checks it, there's no replies from her ex.

There's a text from Patrick though, saying, _Hope you're okay dude. Call me if you need anything or someone to talk to. You know Troian and I will always be there for both you and Ashley. So don't worry about her._

A rush of suffocating sadness is filling in her chest, and she can feel the heat in her eyes, stinging from the threatening tears. She clears her throat and climbs back onto bed, hugging her girlfriend tightly from behind, keep reminding herself in mind that she's with Chloe now.

After a long while, Beca finally falls asleep. However, it isn't long until she's mumbling incoherent words, trashing lightly in her sleep. Chloe wakes up and shakes her gently to wake her from the nightmare.

Then Beca wakes up abruptly, drenching in her sweat with shortened breaths.

Chloe wipes the sweat on Beca's forehead while asking worriedly, "You okay, Babe? Another nightmare?"

After swallowing hard, Beca breaths out, "Yeah."

"I'll go get you some water." Chloe hurriedly gets up and walks out of the room.

On the other hand, Beca tries to take a few deep breaths to calm her nerves, but it doesn't work. Therefore, she hurriedly takes her _security blanket_ and holds it on her chest, clutching it tightly while smelling the soft scent on in. Instantly, she sighs in relief, feeling more relax and calmer, and then she lays back down on the bed, still with the Bali sarong on her chest.

Not long after, Chloe comes back with a glass of water, and the tiny brunette sits up, leaning her back on the headboards to drink the water.

With a concerned look, Chloe asks, "Feeling better?"

"Much better." Beca smiles lightly. "Thanks Babe."

Chloe simply smiles at her while taking the glass away, and then they lay down on the bed, facing each other. With her thumb caressing Beca's cheek gently, Chloe softly says, "You're okay, Babe. You're safe. It was just a bad dream."

"Yeah." Beca smiles sadly. "Let's go back to sleep."

Without saying anything more, Chloe kisses her girlfriend on the forehead, pulls her closer onto her chest, and hums lightly to Titanium.

Eventually, with Chloe's soft humming and the security blanket on her chest, Beca falls into her slumber, not having another nightmare for the rest of the night.

* * *

**December 21** **st** **2025**

Around six in the morning, strangely, Beca wakes up on her own. She tries to sleep again, but the zzz doesn't come back. Then she kisses Chloe on the back of her shoulder, and gets up before heading to the balcony, bringing her _security blanket_ along.

After sitting on the meditation cushion comfortably, she wraps the Bali sarong around her shoulders and simply stares at the morning star on the east, taking in the view until at some point she closes her eyes gently. At first, she let her mind feeling everything her senses receive.

Starting from the chilly wind on her skin, the faint sound of the wind on her ear, the smell of morning air, and then gently, she puts her attention on counting her breaths in 4-2-6 sequence. Gradually, she feels more relax as the tension on her shoulder and the back of her neck ease down.

Her mind is focusing on the counting, and for that moment, she feels serene. For people with anxiety, having a moment of less busy mind is a blessing.

In the beginning of her practice three years ago, Beca thought that mediation was a bogus. However, after kept on practicing daily in a couple of months, she found the kind of serenity that she had never felt before, even though she could only experience it when doing sitting meditation.

Unlike Ashley who is able to do mindfulness in her daily life, Beca still finds it hard to be mindful without sitting quietly. Therefore, no matter how busy she was, she always tried to spend at least half an hour a day to meditate.

However, when she's too emotional, even meditation didn't work. When it happened, if she could, she would just sleep it off or working out instead to exhaust her emotional energy.

Beca is focusing on counting her breaths when suddenly, a pair of arms sneak up, wrapping her from behind. She smiles lightly when Chloe's lips landed on the side of her neck over her shoulder.

"Why are you up so early?" Chloe asks softly.

Beca opens her eyes, turning aside to look at her girlfriend and says, "I'm practicing meditation."

When Chloe is simply staring at her with puzzled look, Beca pulls her to sit down and says, "Come on. I'll show you."

"Okay." Chloe replies cheerfully. Then she sits next to her girlfriend, mirroring Beca's lotus position and asks, "What's next?"

"It's simple." Beca says. "You close your eyes, and count your breaths. One, you breathe in; two, you breath out; three, you breath in again; four, you breathe out again. Repeat until ten, and then go back to one. Focus on your heaving stomach while counting."

"That easy?" Chloe asks nonchalantly, and then Beca chuckles lightly before saying, "Give it a try. Then we'll talk."

"How long are we gonna do this?"

"Hmmm..." Beca presses her lips, and then says, "Let's start with ten minutes. I'll set up a gentle bell, and when you hear it, gently put your attention on flexing your muscle before opening your eyes slowly."

"Alright." Chloe says excitedly. "Let's do this."

"Okay then."

Then they simply sit in silent, counting their own breathing in mind. One time or two, Chloe opens one eye slightly to peek at her girlfriend, and when she sees that Beca is still closing her eyes, she follows suit.

Ten minutes later, the bell dings, and Beca flexes her neck and back gently before opening her eyes. She finds that Chloe is already staring at her with her eyebrows slightly furrowed. With a light chuckle, Beca asks, "How did it feel?"

"Hmmm..." Chloe seems puzzled, and then Beca teases, "That easy huh?"

With her cheeks flushing red, Chloe laughs lightly and says, "My mind kept going off the counting. I lost counts for so many times. And now my back is sore. Did it really only ten minutes? It felt longer than that."

"It's normal." Beca says casually while massaging her arms gently. "Our mind, especially us who have anxiety, our mind is always busy. That's why it needs to be trained. And about the sore back, for a beginner, it happens. But you'll get used to it. Daily practice will help."

"To calm our anxious mind?" Chloe asks doubtfully. "For good?"

"No." Beca answers without hesitation. "Certainly not. Our anxious mind will still be anxious whenever it wants to. But with meditation, we learn how to be aware when the anxiety hit, to relax in our anxiety, and to put our attention on what our body really needs at that moment. Air. No matter what the emotion we're feeling, our brain will send messages to our body. And usually, breathing is the easiest one to be noticed."

"Hmmm..." Chloe nods absentmindedly, still trying to understand it.

Beca smiles lightly, "There's a neuropsychological explanation about it. Something about our pre-frontal cortex will be more active than our amygdala, and it will help us to be calmer when we're in distress. It's about expanding the space between our emotion with our reaction. Just search it on Google. I can't really explain it myself."

Still, Chloe just nods absentmindedly, and then Beca calmly asks, "How about we make an appointment with Pauline today? Maybe you can ask her more about it since DBT includes mindfulness and meditation in the course."

Chloe is taken aback for a second, not aware of how she's picking and pulling the tip of her fingers. The tiny brunette sees how her girlfriend becomes anxious in the matter of seconds. Therefore, she grabs Chloe's hand gently and softly says, "It's okay, Chlo. You don't have to do anything yet. They don't jump right into the therapy right away. Just... talk to her for a couple of sessions, and if you're not comfortable, then we'll find another shrink."

After taking a deep breath, Chloe nods and says, "Okay."

"That's my girl." Beca kisses her cheek gently, and then she continues, "So, what are you gonna do today?"

Chloe shrugs, "Well, school year is already over. So... I don't have any plan yet."

"Huh." Beca takes her time to think by standing up and walking back into her living room. After sitting down, she says, "Well, I have to work today. I can take you back to Stacie's if you want. Or you can stay here and wait for me, it'll be okay too. Or... you can come with me to the studio. Whichever that you decide, I'll go with you to see Pauline."

With her eyes wide in surprise, Chloe asks, "You want me to go to the studio with you?"

"Yeah." Beca replies certainly. "I mean, you've always been anxious whenever I have to stay late at the office. Maybe by seeing the place I work, meeting the people I work with, seeing what I do at work, then it will ease your anxiety."

Chloe smiles, nodding excitedly as she says, "I want to come with you to the studio."

"Okay then." Beca replies casually before standing up. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to make breakfast for my girlfriend."

Chloe giggles lightly, "Of course. I won't stand in your way."

With her eyebrows raised, mocking a warning look playfully, Beca says, "You better."

While the tiny brunette is making some pancake, Chloe is sitting on the chair, staring at her from behind, can't exactly tune down her curiosity of how contrast her girlfriend's behavior ever since she came back. Then she softly calls, "Babe."

"Hm?" Beca responds while whisking the pancake mix with milk and eggs, still with her back on Chloe.

"Not that I mind." Chloe sounds cautious. "But... you seem different after you came back. Did something happen when you were gone?"

Beca stops on her track for a second, and then she takes a deep breath before saying as nonchalantly as she can, "I did some thinking. In the past month, I've been putting the pressure on you to change. I didn't think that I myself should change too. And it's selfish. So... I'm trying."

"Hmmm..." Chloe nods absentmindedly, smiling softly, feeling grateful that Beca is willing to cave in. Then she stands up and walks to her girlfriend before wrapping her from behind. "Thank you for coming back and trying. I love you, Babe."

With a light smile, Beca turns her neck slightly to kiss the redhead chastely on the lips and says, "Thank you for loving me. I... I love you too."

Chloe feels the tickling sensation in her stomach is spreading so fast, warming her body all over gradually. She feels in on her cheeks and ears, and then she presses another kiss on Beca's cheek.

After that, they simply have breakfast while talking about their party plan with the Bellas. Then Chloe cleans up the dishes while Beca takes a shower. When the tiny brunette comes back to the living room, her girlfriend is watching some morning news.

"Have you taken your meds, Babe?" Beca asks casually while putting on her watch.

"Yep." Chloe pops the P. "Have you?"

"Yep." Beca mirrors her response. "Go take a shower."

"Okay." Chloe stands up and heads to the bathroom, stopping only to kiss Beca chastely on the lips.

While waiting for the redhead, Beca checks her phone again to see if Ashley has replied to her text, but she finds nothing from the blonde. Other than Donna's email about her schedule that day, there's no other message for her.

Beca sighs heavily and decides to call the hospital instead to make an appointment with Doctor Ow. Then she pulls out Ashley's engagement ring box and opens it, holding it on her laps, staring at it with her chest tightened. Gently, she trails the cleft pattern with the thumb absentmindedly while her mind wanders back to the morning she proposed.

It hasn't been two months since then, but it feels like years have already passed. Things has changed, and it strays too far from her plan. Beca isn't aware that she's smiling sadly with tears threatening to burst out from her bottom eyelids, remembering the bright smile on Ashley face when she proposed.

When a single track of tear rolls down her cheek, Beca wipes it away hurriedly, sniffling softly while thinking to herself, _"Ashley is moving on, dude! Move on, and stop crying your eyes out, damn it!"_

"I'm ready Babe." Chloe says cheerfully from behind.

Abruptly, Beca shoves the ring back into her messenger bag and takes a deep breath to compose herself before putting on a smile and turns around to say, "Let's go then."

Then she stands up and walks toward the redhead, taking her hand before walking into the elevator. While riding down, Chloe sways their hands lightly, humming to the song they sang together last night.

"You seem to be in a good mood." Beca teases.

Chloe giggles lightly, "I had the best time ever with you last night. And this morning. So, I _am_ in a good mood."

With a relief smile, Beca says, "I'm glad you are."

After they got into Valkyrie, Beca softly says, "I've made an appointment with Pauline at three o'clock. That okay with you?"

"U huh." Chloe replies while turning on the radio, and then Miley Cyrus's When I Look at You comes up, and she sings along while holding Beca's right hand gently. The tiny brunette simply smiles with her eyes still fixed on the road.

When they've arrived at the office, Beca immediately goes to her office on the top floor. Upon arriving in her office, as usual, Donna is already in there, waiting for her to sign some paperwork.

Feeling afraid of being yelled at by the older redhead, Chloe bites her bottom lip nervously and cautiously greets, "Hey Donna."

"Chloe." Donna replies politely. Too polite as the tiny brunette could see it clearly.

Although Donna is smiling, her eyes are staring at the younger redhead coldly. She's keeping her anger at bay, knowing that her outburst will only cause more trouble to her monkey. Upon seeing Chloe is squirming, terrified under her look, Donna can't help but sighing in half-defeat yet also in half-annoyance.

Beca can see that too. Therefore, she signs the papers hurriedly and says, "Thanks Donna."

"Have you taken your meds, monkey?" Donna demands, still keeping her cold staring at Chloe.

"I have, _mom_." Beca rolls her eyes in mock annoyance.

After turning to look at her boss, Donna smiles and says, "Good. You have two meetings today, and I've arranged it to be done before 2 PM as you've asked."

"Thanks Donna." Beca replies as she walks to her desk.

"Sure." Then the older redhead walks out of the office.

Instantly, Chloe sighs in relief, walking to take a seat across the desk, facing her girlfriend with wide eyes and tight lips when she says, "Whew... That was... intense."

While taking a script on the table, Beca chuckles lightly and says, "Yeah. She's just looking out for me, Babe. Give it times. When you get to know her better, she's actually a very nice person."

"Did she uh..." Chloe seems more nervous than before, picking her fingertips repeatedly. "In the beginning of your relationship with Ashley, did she give her a hard time too?"

"Yeah." Beca replies nonchalantly while reading a script in her hands, not really paying attention to the topic. "Especially when she found out that I'd started drinking and smoking again after hanging out with Ashley. Ashley told me the hell Donna put her through when I was in a comma. She wasn't allowed to see me in the first three days, she was threatened with a restraining order, and she was being yelled at by Harvey at the hospital when she pushed to see me."

"And she stayed?" Chloe asks curiously, still picking her fingertips nervously.

Suddenly, Beca becomes aware of what they are talking about, and then she looks up at the redhead with mixed look between nervous and puzzled. "Uhm..."

Chloe smiles tightly as she says, "I'm just... curious. And you did say that you wanted to share stories about your life after Barden."

"Oh." Beca nods absentmindedly, and then smiling lightly as she answers, "Well, Ashley was... stubborn. When Donna and Harvey yelled at her, she yelled back angrily while crying. Simply because she didn't know anything about my condition. And upon seeing how miserable and stubborn she was, Donna and Harvey caved in eventually."

"Hmmm..." Chloe nods sadly.

Upon seeing the sad look, Beca puts down the script and circles around to sit on the edge of her desk, facing the redhead. Then she takes Chloe's hands in hers and kisses it gently before softly says, "Hey... we're having a great time. Let's not ruin it by talking about my past. We can talk about it some other time. Or not at all if you're not comfortable with it. Okay?"

Chloe smiles softly and replies, "Okay."

Then the tiny brunette kisses her chastely on the lips before circling back to her chair. As she's putting her attention back to the script in her hands, Chloe asks, "What is it that you're reading, Babe?"

"A script for a movie." Beca replies without looking at the redhead.

"A movie?" Chloe teases. "Beca _Effin_ Mitchell is reading a script for a movie."

Beca rolls her eyes in mock annoyance, "Yeah. Beca _Effin_ Mitchell is reading a script for a movie. A _musical_ movie."

"Oh." Chloe responds in comic surprise.

Although she wants to talk some more, when she sees how focused Beca is on the script, Chloe decides to look around the office. There are a bunch of trophies, and records displayed in a huge glass cabinet. On the wall, there are four paintings that if the redhead had looked closer, she would find _AVB_ initial signed by the left corner of the paintings.

When Chloe circles around to stand next to the tiny brunette, she sees a couple of frames on her desk. She starts from the picture on the right side, smiling fondly to see that it's a picture of the Bellas winning world championship.

The next picture is a teenager Beca wrapping her left arm around her mom's shoulder, smirking smugly toward the camera. Then there is a picture where she's holding a crying baby Stephan at arm's length while scrunching her face in mock disgust. Those two pictures certainly make the redhead chuckling lightly.

The last one is of course her picture with Ashley, she's carrying the blonde on her back and they are laughing care-freely, not even looking at the camera. The picture was obviously taken candidly. Upon seeing the last picture, Chloe feels heated under her skin, and her heart is pacing. Trying to hold her anger and jealousy, Chloe clenches her hands and jaw tightly.

Meanwhile, Beca is too focused on the script, and she doesn't even realize that Chloe is standing next to her.

"Babe," Chloe says through her gritted teeth, trying hard not to lash out by remembering their compromise yesterday.

"Hm?" Beca is totally oblivious with the tension.

Chloe takes a deep breath and firmly asks, "Can you please put away that picture of you and Ashley from your desk?"

"What?" Beca is still reading the script.

It certainly makes Chloe blows a vessel, and she snaps, "That picture of you and Ashley!"

Beca is stunned for a second before hurriedly putting the picture away in her drawer. Then she stands up, grabbing Chloe's arms gently and calmly says, "Babe, breathe... I'm sorry I forgot about the picture."

Fortunately, Chloe complies and takes a few deep breaths, and then she mutters, "I... I'm sorry. I was... It's just..."

After sighing deeply, Beca kisses her forehead and says, "It's okay. I understand. And I'm sorry. It was my fault. I should have put it away weeks ago. I just... forgot."

Upon getting an apology instead of excuses, Chloe wraps her arms around her girlfriend to hug her tightly, and the tiny brunette kisses her on the side of the head.

Suddenly, a man comes into the room, and the couple pull away from each other quickly.

"Sorry." The man smiles sheepishly. "Didn't mean to interrupt."

"It's okay, Brett." Beca smiles, walking toward the man to punch his arm playfully. "How are you man?"

"Fine Mitchell." The man named Brett grins. Then he looks at Chloe, pointing his chin and asks, "So, who is that pretty lady over there Mitchell?"

"She's uh..." Beca seems nervous, thinking that she certainly can't introduce Chloe as her girlfriend yet to avoid the news being leaked to the media. Therefore, she says with a tight smile, "She's my best friend from college. Chloe Beale."

Chloe feels a pang in her chest, but she puts on a tight smile, nodding politely toward the man.

On the other hand, Beca has seen the sad look, but she hurriedly says, "Chloe, this is Brett Young, one of the artists under this label."

Brett paces across the room toward the redhead, teasing the tiny brunette on his way, "Damn, Mitchell. Why didn't you introduce me to her before? The kind of diamonds you have in your corner. Ashley Benson, Emily Junk, Donna, and now Miss Beale."

Beca simply fakes a chuckle while the brunette man is already shaking hand with her girlfriend.

"Pleasure to meet you, Miss Beale." Brett gives out his most charming smile.

Still occupied with the way Beca introduced her, Chloe simply smiles politely, shaking his hand as she says, "The pleasure is mine."

Then Beca hurriedly says, "Uhm Chlo, I'm having a meeting with Brett. Do you mind waiting in the room next to my office?"

"Sure." Chloe chimes in.

"A second man." Beca says toward the man before pulling Chloe to a small room next to her office. They walk into a room through the door that is still in the tiny brunette's office. Upon seeing a huge bed, a mini pantry, and a bathroom in it, Chloe asks in surprise, "You have a bedroom in your office?"

"Yeah." Beca replies casually. "Donna and Ashley insisted that I need to take a nap every chance I have in the middle of the day. Power nap or something. So I built one."

"Oh." Chloe nods absentmindedly while looking around the room. Meanwhile, Beca is putting away two pictures of her and Ashley on the bedside table in the drawer under the table.

Then Beca pulls her girlfriend to sit down on the edge of the bed, holding her hands gently when she apologetically says, "Babe, I'm sorry to introduce you as a friend. The break-up news, it will blow up in the media, and I'm not ready yet. So I'm sorry that we have to keep this to ourselves for a little while until I'm ready."

Chloe sighs heavily and nods. "Okay. I understand."

"Thank you." With a soft smile, Beca kisses her lips chastely before adding, "You can do whatever you want in here. Watch some shows, read a book, sleep, anything. I'll be in my office."

Chloe nods, smiling fondly as she reassures, "I'll be fine on my own. Go do your thing."

"Okay."

Then Beca walks out. However, instead of having the meeting immediately, Beca excuses herself to go to Donna's office after taking her messenger bag. The older redhead is talking on the phone with someone when the tiny brunette walks in, and Donna holds up her index finger toward her boss.

"Wait a second. I have to put you on hold." Donna says to someone through her phone, and then she turns to Beca to ask, "You need anything, monkey?"

Beca pulls out Ashley's engagement ring box from her bag, staring at it longingly for a couple of seconds before handing it to Donna and says with restraint voice, "Please keep it safe for me." Upon seeing the puzzled look on Donna's face, she continues, "I'm afraid that if I keep it in my apartment, Chloe might find it and misunderstand."

"Oh." Donna smiles sympathetically. "Sure thing, monkey. I'll keep it in your safe box at the bank. Anything else?"

"Uh..." Beca seems torn and hesitant when she asks, "Can you please send someone to my apartment and clean up that place from everything about me and Ashley? Pictures, matching cups, coupley stuff like that."

"Sure." Donna replies softly. "I'll do it myself, monkey."

"Thanks." Beca replies before walking back to her office. 

The tiny brunette has two meetings before lunch with Brett and Ariana. When the clock hits 13.30 PM and the meeting is over, she walks into the bedroom, finding Chloe reading a book while lying on the bed.

With a light smile, Beca leans her side on the doorframe, crossing her arms on her chest, simply staring at her girlfriend for a while before asking, "Ready for lunch, Babe?"

Chloe looks up, grinning at the tiny brunette as she gets up and walks to her before kissing her lips chastely and asks, "How was the meeting?"

"It was fine." Beca replies casually. "Let's go have lunch and then go to the hospital."

"Okay." Chloe holds her girlfriend's hand.

However, as gentle as she can, Beca says, "Uhm... Babe, we can't hold hands outside of this office. Paparazzi are always in every corners."

Chloe sighs heavily and says in half-annoyance, "Okay."

Beca kisses her cheek and says, "Thanks for being understanding."

"U huh." Chloe simply replies before letting go of Beca's hand.

* * *

After having lunch at Beca's favorite diners near the office, the tiny brunette and Chloe go to Cedars-Sinai to see Doctor Ow. They are waiting in a waiting area for psychiatric patients. Other than the two of them, there's only a nurse sitting behind the information desk.

While they are waiting by the corner of the room, Beca can see how anxious Chloe is. The redhead is fidgeting, keep on picking the tip of her fingers, stealing glances at a door with Doctor Ow's name on it. Gently, she takes Chloe's hands in hers and squeezes it before saying, "It's okay, Babe. You'll be fine. If you want, I can go in with you."

With a weak smile, Chloe nods repeatedly and says, "I want you to be in there with me."

"Okay." Beca says before kissing the redhead on the temple.

Not long after, they are being called by a nurse, and they walk into Doctor Ow's office. The Asian doctor greets them warmly, "Hey Chloe. Hey Beca. Nice to see you again."

When Chloe only nods in return, Beca smiles lightly and replies, "Nice to see you too, doc."

"Come and take a seat." The doctor gestures her hand to the couch in the middle of the room.

After the couple are already sitting down, warmly, Doctor Ow says, "I believe you're here because you've changed your mind about the therapy, Chloe."

Again, Chloe simply nods, and the doctor smiles understandingly. Then she starts with, "How are you today, Chloe?"

"I'm fine." Chloe mutters weakly.

Beca can see how closed off the redhead's gesture, and it's unlike Chloe at all. She's wrapping her arms on her torso with her back slightly bending forward. It's clear that the redhead wants nothing else but to walk out of this room. In addition, she's not making any eye contact, opting to look at her own laps with her bottom lip in between her lips.

Still with her calming vibe, Doctor Ow smiles and softly says, "Chloe. I remember you told me that you became a music teacher because you love singing. Do you mind telling me more about it?"

Upon being asked about the thing that she loves, Chloe's face lit up, and she starts talking. Gradually, her gesture changes, and since Chloe is basically a warm and bubbly person, it doesn't take long until she's talking animatedly about the Bellas, her times at peace corps, her students, and her teaching program.

Meanwhile, Doctor Ow is listening to her closely, giving her _u huh_ 's every now and then, and light probings about her life since childhood. On the other hand, Beca remains silent, simply listening to the discussion.

The tiny brunette can see that Doctor Ow is very good at building rapport. The gentle nudges, the subtle probings, the way she's reflecting to Chloe's emotion without overwhelming her, they are all done delicately and lightly. The calming vibe is pouring out of the doctor, and it certainly helps the patient to trust her easily.

Though it doesn't feel like it, two hours have passed, and the session is over. Doctor Ow warmly says, "t's such a great story. I'd love to hear some more, but unfortunately, our session has to end now."

Upon seeing that the doctor seems genuinely disappointed, Chloe furrows her eyebrows and retorts, "It's been two hours? Wow. It didn't feel like it."

With a light smile, Doctor Ow softly suggests, "How about you come and see me again in a week on 28th? I know we're supposed to have a joyful vacation, but I prefer to have our next appointment not too far long from this one. We can talk some more."

Chloe looks at Beca expectantly, and the tiny brunette says, "We'll be at your parents until 27th, and then we should come back anyway, preparing the New Year's party with our sisters."

Upon getting a reassurance, Chloe cheerfully says toward the doctor, "I'd love to, Pauline."

"Great." Doctor Ow chimes in.

"But..." Chloe seems hesitant when she asks, "Can Beca come with me again?"

"Hmmm..." Doctor Ow is considering before saying, "How about we try the next session without her, and if you feel uncomfortable, we can have her in the next session."

Chloe tilts her head slightly, thinking with her lips pressed tightly before answering, "Okay."

"Good choice." Doctor Ow gives a positive reinforcement. "So, I'll see you next Saturday, same time, same place."

"Thanks Pauline." Chloe says cheerfully.

"You're welcome." Doctor Ow replies warmly.

* * *

Then the couple walk out of the hospital and get into Beca's car. On the drive to Stacie's place, Beca asks, "How do you feel about the first session?"

"I have a good feeling about it." Chloe says, smiling lightly as she explains, "Ten years ago, the doctor I saw, he was too strict. Well, he used a very direct way called... psychoanalysis if I remember correctly. And I wasn't comfortable with it."

Instead of teasing the redhead about her unreasonable fear for therapy, Beca takes Chloe's hand in hers and says, "I'm glad you are comfortable with Pauline. From my experience with Harley, I can tell that she's very good. The new age psychiatrists are more humanist. And psychoanalysis is a bit old school."

"Harley?"

"My therapist."

"Is she just like Pauline in treating you?" Chloe asks curiously.

"Not precisely." Beca replies nonchalantly. "Harley used a different approach with me. And I think it's because they have learnt to deal with each patient in different way that's more suitable to the patient. But I can see that they both are just as good."

Chloe nods absentmindedly, and then they simply talk about other things until they arrive at Stacie's place. Everything has been smooth for them since morning, but just as they walk into the living room, the air changes so fast.

Apparently, Aubrey has been waiting worriedly the whole day, and as soon as she sees the tiny brunette, she scolds, "You're late."

"No, I'm not." Beca replies casually. "We're right on time for dinner."

When Aubrey is going to give the tiny brunette more third degree, Emily cheerfully says, "You seem to be in a good mood, Chloe."

"I'm happy." Chloe chimes in just as cheerful while pulling her girlfriend to join their friends on the couch. "I spent the best night with my girlfriend, and I went to see Doctor Ow today."

"You did?" Aubrey asks in surprise, and she seems relieved though mixed with disbelief.

"U huh." Chloe nods excitedly. "And it was good. It felt much different from the last time."

"Glad to hear it, Chloe." Stacie chips in.

Suddenly, Bella rushes in from the kitchen to her godmother, climbs up onto her laps, hugging the redhead tightly. "Aunt Chowee, I've missed you."

With a light laughter, Chloe says, "I've missed you too, Bells."

"Hey, smurfette." Beca caresses the little blonde gently on her head.

"Bec!" Bella exclaims cheerfully.

Upon seeing how joyful her daughter is, Aubrey sighs in relief and smiles softly. She's feeling so much lighter to see her best friend is back in one piece and seems to be happier. Stacie sees through her wife, and kisses the blonde gently on her temple.

Then Chloe helps Aubrey preparing dinner for all of them with Bella following them around the kitchen, while Stacie, Emily, and Beca are waiting and talking in the living room.

"She seems to be in a very good mood, Shorty." Stacie states. "More than that. She seems... lighter. What exactly did you do?"

With a light smile, Beca answers, "Well... we compromised. We talked, we sang together, she was with me at the studio the whole day, I went with her to see Doctor Ow, and it was all good. And frankly, not having your wife breathing down my neck did take away one hell of tension from us."

Stacie chuckles, "I can imagine."

"How is it so easy to see changes in her?" Emily asks in surprise. "I mean, how is spending a good time with you can make a lot different for her so fast?"

Beca shakes her head with her eyebrows raised, "I don't exactly know. But anxiety is related to uncertain things we can't see yet, and our mind could make a very convincing prediction to make us terrified. I guess that seeing me actually paying attention to her, completely being with her do ease her anxiety. And this kind of thing... it's always about knowing how to deal with the stressor. And since she hasn't been able to deal with it on her own, I just... try to help."

"Being not sure about actually having you is a huge stressor for her." Stacie concludes. "And now that you're really with her, the stressor isn't so much pressuring her anymore."

"I guess so." Beca replies with a light smile.

"Told you." Stacie smiles smugly. "You are her foremost protective factor, shorty."

Beca smiles tightly and says, "I hope that in time, she can be stronger. With or without me."

"Are you planning to leave her?" Stacie asks with her eyebrows furrowed, and Beca can sense a hint of upset in her tone.

"No." The tiny brunette replies without hesitation. "But I can't always have her with me 24/7 Stace. In time, she'll have to go back to work, and even not, I still can't always actually be with her all the time. And this is just the beginning. You know it when the media blows up, it will be much harder for her."

While Stacie is simply nodding in approval, Emily softly says, "But this is a good start. After a while, I believe she'll learn to believe that you're not leaving her again. It was the fear of abandonment that made her angry all the time."

"I hope so." Beca replies. Then she remembers about the New Year plan, and she says, "Hey, I told Chloe that we could have the Bellas here with us in New Year. Can you make it happen, Stace?"

"Me?" Stacie seems confused. "Why not you? You're the captain, shorty. You and Em."

"Well," Beca says cautiously. "You know that me and the rest of the Bellas didn't leave the case hugging each other in tears, and since Emily was on my side the last time they were here... So I'm thinking that if the idea comes from you, they'll be more open to the suggestion."

Stacie nods, "Okay. I'll send them some emails tonight."

"Thanks." Beca seems relieved. "Chloe was so excited last night when we talked about it."

"Of course she was." Emily says softly. "You know how much she loves spending time with us. With you."

"Yeah." Beca replies, raising her eyebrows only in a split second with tight lips. "And we'll spend Christmas with her parents."

"Already?" Emily blurts out.

With her eyebrows raised and her lips pressed tightly, Beca nods lightly while saying, "Yeah. Already."

"Don't you think it's a bit pushing it?" Emily asks cautiously.

"I think so." Beca states, still pressing her lips tightly. "But at this point... I just want to show her that I'm willing to do anything to make her happy instead of just giving her empty promises. So, I offered to spend Christmas with her family."

"I agree with you." Stacie supports her. "Chloe... she needs to see it for herself. Otherwise, her mind would mess with her."

Beca simply nods absentmindedly, and though she seems fine, Emily can see that something is off with her former captain. Therefore, she asks, "And how about yourself, Pop? Are you comfortable with that?"

It takes more than a couple of seconds for the tiny brunette, thinking while staring blankly at the table in front of her before she answers honestly, "I have to."

"And are you okay with that _I have to_?" Emily pushes.

With a light scoff, Beca smiles lightly and replies, "I have to. And I will be. Eventually. I just need to get used to it. You know, learning by doing. But I do have a good feeling about this. You're right. This is a good start."

Emily squeezes her shoulder gently to show her support without saying anything, while Stacie gives her a hard squeeze on her thigh.

Suddenly, Aubrey yells, "Babe! Dinner's ready!"

"Coming!" Stacie yells back, and the three of them walk to the dining room.

They're having dinner while talking about the New Year plan, and after that, Emily excuses herself to go back to her place, and Chloe and Beca go back to the tiny brunette's apartment. This time, without any resistance from the blonde.

* * *

That night, when they're already on bed, Chloe nuzzles her nose into the crook of Beca's neck and softly says, "Thank you Babe. For coming with me to the therapy. For spending a day with me. I'm so, so happy today."

Beca presses her lips onto the redhead's crown and mumbles, "Glad to hear that."

Upon having her girlfriend's security blanket in between them, Chloe asks, "Why do you always have this with you when you sleep?"

Slightly tense, Beca stutters, "It's uh... it's my security blanket. I can't sleep without one."

"Hm." Chloe responds before smelling the soft fabric. "It smells like you, and I like it."

Ashley's scent on the Bali sarong is almost faded away covered with Beca's, but it still gives the tiny brunette the same comfort, knowing that she has something that represents the blonde near her when she's sleeping. Nevertheless, Beca chuckles nervously and says, "It sure does. And I like it too."

"I love you." Chloe says sleepily.

"And I you." Beca replies.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, that would be chapter 27; Begin Again. Like I've promised, things are starting to get better. For now and a few next chapters, things will only get better. Gradually. There will still be some dramas and angst along the line, just not as much anymore.
> 
> As you've known, the next chapter will be about Chloe and Beca spending Christmas with Chloe's family, and then having New Year's party with the all of the Bellas.
> 
> Until then, sit tight and make good choices. Thank you for reading :)
> 
> Ps. The songs in this chapter are a piece of Titanium by David Guetta featuring Sia, and Everything Will Change that is originally being sung by Gavin DeGraw, but I put down the cover by Anthem Lights instead because I like it better. Take your time to listen to it :)


	28. Then End of 2025

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey there! :D
> 
> First of all, sorry it took me a week to update. I was a bit tipsy when I was editing this chapter. With a couple shots of tequila, it's safe to say that there will be many more mistakes in grammar and tenses than usual. So, I'm sorry in advance.
> 
> Thank you all of the readers, followers, the people who favors, and the reviewers. I love you so very much for staying :D
> 
> Let's go back to the story. In the last chapter, Beca and Chloe finally compromised for their relationship. It didn't mean the way a head would be easier, folks. In a way, Beca would have to fight for Chloe. Though the fight would be with herself. So far, Beca did fight herself to stay, no matter how badly Aubrey and Chloe treated her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I put a couple of songs in this chapter, and they are a piece of Goodnight Goodnight by Maroon 5, Heartbeat by Christopher, and a little part of A Step You Can't Take Back by Keira Knightley.
> 
> I don't own Pitch Perfect, nor the songs, neither the characters. I do hope you enjoy this chapter.
> 
> WARNING. There will be smut in this chapter. And I'm still not comfortable writing one. So if it ruins this chapter or makes you uncomfortable, I'm sorry in advance. I've put a line to let you know where it will start and end if you're not comfortable reading smut or not at least over 17 :)

**December 23** **rd** **2025**

"I'm still at the office, Babe." Beca says through a handset in her ear while her hands swiftly moving on the trackpad on her laptop. "Just like an hour ago, I'm still tweaking a song on my computer ... ... ... Yes, I've had lunch ... ... ... Yeah. Enjoy shopping ... ... ... And I you. See you at home."

Beca is in her office, working on some last minute projects while Chloe is doing some last minute shopping with Aubrey, Stacie, and Emily. The tiny brunette herself never enjoyed shopping. Therefore, using avoiding paparazzi as an excuse, Beca refused to come along. She had ordered her presents through internet shopping anyway.

However, not coming with Chloe means replying to her texts every five minutes, and calling her at least once in an hour. If not, then Chloe would be worried and calling her until she picked up, or even coming to the office. As bothered as she was, Beca did it anyway to make Chloe feel safe.

In addition, in the evening, Beca has prepared dinner for her girlfriend. She only prepared the food she bought, not the one she made, because clearly, Beca Mitchell can't cook. It's a nice gesture to make it up for her upset girlfriend because she wouldn't come along.

Therefore, here she is, in her apartment, with a picnic basket for dinner prepared under a fort at the balcony. She's waiting for Chloe to come home in the living room, sitting on the couch, watching some show, wearing a comfortable hoodie with a short pants, holding a bouquet of sunflower.

It's around seven in the evening when the elevator to her floor dings, and she stands up immediately and turns off the TV before walking toward the lift. Then the redhead walks in with a bunch of shopping bags in both of her hands, looking tired as hell.

Upon seeing her girlfriend carrying a bouquet of her favorite flowers in front of her chest, Chloe's face light up, smiling as she drops all of the bags in her hands onto the floor before wrapping the tiny brunette in a tight hug.

With a light chuckle, Beca says, "Babe, you're crushing the flowers between us."

Chloe nuzzles her nose onto Beca's shoulder and mumbles, "I don't care. I just... I love you."

Then Beca pulls her hands along with the flowers out of her way and hugs her girlfriend back as tightly. Then she kisses Chloe's side of the head before asking, "How's your day, Babe?"

"Complete now that I'm with you." Chloe mumbles without pulling away.

Again, Beca simply chuckles lightly, letting the redhead showing how much she has missed her. After the redhead pulls away, Beca holds her hands and says, "I've prepared dinner for us."

"You cooked?" Chloe asks in comic surprise.

"No!" Beca exclaims hurriedly. "God, no! I would probably poison you with my cooking skill. I bought it, and prepared it for us."

Chloe simply giggles lightly, and then Beca pulls her girlfriend toward the balcony and says, "Hope you don't mind to have our dinner under a fort."

"Aw..." Chloe coos upon seeing a bunch of pillows and cushions, arranged neatly under a blanket roof. "You're adorable, Babe."

"Am not." Beca says matter-of-factly. Then she pulls Chloe to sit down and opens up the picnic basket. In there, Beca has prepared mac and cheese for the redhead, and a vegetarian burger for herself. Of course, it's completed with Chloe's favorite chocolate milk and tiramisu as dessert.

Trying to hold her laughter, Chloe presses her lips tightly before asking, "You couldn't make mac and cheese?"

"Nope." Beca replies nonchalantly. "The stuff I could prepare on my own would be breakfast. You know, pancake, omelet, toast, scrambled eggs, stuff like that. And this..." She gestures her hand to the mac and cheese. "This is _the_ best mac and cheese in town."

" _The_ best, huh?" Chloe teases.

Beca smirks, "Try it yourself."

Surrounded by pillows and cushions, they eat together. As usual, Beca's cheeks are full of sauce and crumbs. With a soft giggle, Chloe picks up a napkin and starts to wipe them as she says, "You are eating so messily, Babe. Even Bells can eat more neatly."

With a light smile, the tiny brunette takes the napkin from Chloe's hand, and wipes her own cheeks. Then she casually asks, "How was shopping today?"

"It was fun." Chloe says cheerfully. "You should've come with us."

Beca scoffs, "And spent five hours with Aubrey sending deathly glares at me? No, thanks."

"Babe..." Chloe warns. "Be nice. She's my best friend."

With an eyebrow raised, the tiny brunette asks in upset, "Did you tell her the same thing? After everything she said to me? The way she treated me?"

Stubbornly, the redhead replies, "She just has my best interest in heart, Babe. You should've treated her better after everything she's done to me."

Again, the tiny brunette scoffs and sarcastically says, "Yeah. Like she's been treating me nicely."

Chloe raises her voice, saying, "You're gonna apologize to her Babe. You know that she's been my best friend since we were only kids, and she's been taking care of me ever since."

Doesn't want to have another fight, Beca simply rolls her eyes and sighs in annoyance. Then she takes a deep breaths and says with a soften voice, "Why don't you tell me about your family. How are Nate and Charlie?"

Chloe's eyes light up and she cheerfully explains, "Nate already has two boys; a seven year old Henry, and a four year old George. And Charlie has a five year old girl; Anita."

"Wow." Beca chuckles. "The Beale's family is expanding fast. I bet they're all redheaded."

"Nope." Chloe pops the P. "None of them is redheaded. You know that it needs two set of redheaded gene to have a redhead. And it's not even guaranteed."

"Hmmm..." Beca simply responds while munching a huge chunk of burger.

"We should have some on our own too." Chloe adds casually.

Beca chokes on her food, coughing so hard, and Chloe hurriedly hands her a glass of water before rubbing her back gently. "Chew slowly, Babe."

After drinking the water very slowly, Beca takes a deep breath and simply smiles tightly, thinking about how fast Chloe wants to take their relationship to the next level.

" _Haven't been together for two months, and she's already talking about having kids."_ Beca thought to herself.

Suddenly, a realization hits Beca hard; she's in this for the long haul. This realization terrifies her. So far, Beca was so focused on being broken-hearted and thinking of how to get Chloe into a therapy. She forgot to think about the meaning of this relationship, the big picture of all of this.

Feeling the heat of panic raising up from her stomach and will most likely make its way out through her mouth, the tiny brunette takes a few deep breaths and drink her water again.

On the other hand, Chloe casually says, "We can find a redheaded donor, then maybe we can have a redheaded kid. By the way, how many kids do you want to have, Babe?"

With a smile that doesn't quite reach her terrified eyes, Beca simply stares at her girlfriend with wide eyes, holding her breath unconsciously.

However, Chloe's focus is on her food and then she continues, still as casual, "I remember you said that you wanted to give Bella one or two friends to play with. Well, if we want our kids to be able to play with Bella, then we better start fast. She's not gonna stay four forever."

Beca clears her throat and deflects, "Bella is such a sweet kid. And for a four year old, she's very smart."

"Yeah." Chloe nods excitedly, and then she starts to talk about Bella instead, and the tiny brunette can breathe again.

After dinner, the couple pack the rest of the stuff they'll be taking to Chicago that night. As she's hurriedly pushing two Bali sarongs into her suitcase, Beca says, "Babe, we'll fly with cube tonight at 11. But I think we should go at 9.30 to Ashley's place."

With her eyebrows furrowed, Chloe asks, "Why do we need to go to Ashley's place?"

"Because the jet is in her property?" Beca retorts matter-of-factly. "And since everything I have are as much as hers too, so we're gonna have to share them. She and I haven't really talk about it. But for now, I'm still looking for a property that's huge enough for all of that stuff. So, we're going to her place."

"Hm." Chloe responds. She's feeling jealous because they have to go to the blonde's place. However, she knows that being angry won't change the fact. Therefore, she walks toward her girlfriend and starts kissing her fiercely.

When Chloe is pushing her gently onto the bed, the tiny brunette stutters, "Babe, I- I'm not done packing."

"It's only eight." Chloe mumbles on her neck. "We still have time."

"Uh..." Beca is torn. "Babe... I- I don't think-"

"Then don't." Chloe says with husky voice. Then she pulls up a little bit to look at Beca's steely blue eyes with her dilated ones, taking the tiny brunette's hand to press it on her breast. "Don't think. Just do."

Beca's eyes roll back, and the redhead leans downward to kiss her lips fiercely. The tiny brunette returns the kiss with the same effort and hurriedly pulls out Chloe's shirt before flipping their positions.

It's starting good, and the tiny brunette trails her lips down the crook in between her girlfriend's breasts. Starting from there, everything feels different; the skin under her palms, the moaning sound from Chloe's lips, the scent, and the taste of her skin. Gradually, the fire in Beca's chest dims, but she do the favor to the redhead anyway.

When the redhead becomes undone, panting hard, sweating all over her body, the tiny brunette pulls out her fingers, and wipes them clean on Chloe's thigh. Then she looks at Chloe's satisfied face with a sad smile, can't help it when every cells of her being are throbbing and aching, begging for someone else.

Upon still trying to catch her breath, Chloe doesn't see the sad look. Then after her breaths even out, Chloe pushes her girlfriend to lay back and slips her hands under the brunette's hoodie. Automatically, Beca grabs her hand gently and says, "We can't."

"Why?"

"Uh..." Beca swallows hard. "Time. We don't have time for... this."

Chloe rolls her eyes, "We do, Babe. Just let me take care of you."

"No." Beca pulls herself away and sits up on the edge of the bed with her back facing the redhead. "We don't have time for this, Chloe. I haven't done packing yet, and Bastian is waiting for us."

While holding her girlfriend's arm tightly to pull her back, Chloe stubbornly says, "It's only 8.30 Babe. We have time. Besides. It's _your_ jet. Sure we can delay the flight for at least an hour or two."

Beca pulls her arm away gently while saying, "No, we can't. Bastian also has a family that he needs to be with tomorrow. He'll fly us to Chicago and comes back immediately. It's almost ten hours flight back and forth."

Feeling upset for being rejected again, Chloe retorts angrily, "Are you sure you're not just trying to avoid sex with me again?"

"I'm not ready, Chlo." Beca blurts out.

With her eyebrows furrowed in half-upset yet also half-confused, Chloe asks, "What do you mean you're not ready? I'm more than sure that you're not a virgin, Becs."

"I..." Beca sighs heavily. "You are my first love, Chlo. But Ashley... she's my first girlfriend. My first partner."

"So?" Chloe sounds more upset now.

Beca swallows hard, "She... is my first in so many other things, and the only one that ever..."

"Huuuh?" The redhead responds with wide eyes and her mouth wide open. Then she blurts out, "Weren't you 27 when you met her?"

With a light nod, Beca mutters, "Yeah. I was. But... before her, I was so closed off. My life was only about the music I made, and nothing else mattered. So... can you please give me times to uh... adjust?"

"Adjust to what?" Chloe asks in upset. "Aren't you in love with me? Why do you need to adjust?"

"I just..." Beca clearly doesn't know how to explain without telling the truth that she's not supposed to tell. Then she sighs deeply, leaning her back onto the headboards and softly says, "I just need time. Giving myself away isn't something I take lightly, Chlo. Please understand. I will be ready. But please... not now."

Chloe seems angry now, "But-"

"You'd want me to want it when it happens." Beca cuts her off almost in pleading. "So please..."

With her arms crossed on her chest, Chloe says in upset, "And if I say no, then I'd be the bad guy who pushes her girlfriend to have sex. Great. I have no other choice then."

Beca sighs deeply, kisses the redhead on the cheek, and says, "Thank you. And I'm sorry."

Still angrily, Chloe gets up from the bed and puts on her clothes while sharply saying, "Soon enough, _I'm sorry_ won't cut it anymore, Becs. I'm tired of getting apologizes from you."

Then the tiny brunette lifts up her chin, dropping her head back onto the headboards and blows out a long tired breath through her mouth with her eyes closed.

Upon seeing how dejected her girlfriend is, Chloe sighs in defeat and walks to sit next to her. Then she caresses Beca's cheek gently with her right hand and softly says, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pushed you."

Beca opens her eyes, smiling weakly when she says, "It's okay. Thank you for being understanding."

Then Chloe leans closer to kiss the tiny brunette chastely on the lips, but Beca kisses her back passionately, trying to make it up for being not ready to do more than just kisses.

After a while, Chloe breaks the kiss breathlessly, panting, "The way you kissed me... you make it so hard for me to be patient, Babe."

The only thing Beca can do is smiling with her eyebrows slightly furrowed sadly. On the other hand, Chloe clenches her hands tightly, trying to hold herself from having her way with the DJ, and she says, "Let's just get the packing done."

After that, they finish their packing and go to Ashley's mansion.

* * *

 

When they arrive, Beca stands in front of the mansion for a little while, trying to build up her courage to walk in.

Actually, she doesn't need to go into the house because the jet is already prepared on the runway. However, she has missed her puppies, and she wants to see them.

She knows for sure that Ashley isn't there. The blonde is spending Christmas with her family at Anaheim, and she went there that morning, according to the info she got from Pascal. But it doesn't mean she's not nervous to go into her former house.

After taking a deep breath, Beca takes Chloe's hand in hers and walks into the house. She's immediately being greeted by her puppies. When she squats down to pet them, Olive and Walter jump onto her, yapping and licking her face happily. Even though she falls backward, Beca laughs whole-heartily.

"Okay, okay." Beca says through laughter. "Mama missed you too, kids."

Then she sits down to play with them, and Chloe sits next to her, petting the puppies cheerfully as she asks, "Mama?"

Beca chuckles, taking Olive onto her laps and says, "It was Ashley's demands. She's the mommy, and I'm their mama."

"Oh." Chloe feels a pang in her chest, but says nothing about it because she doesn't want to have another fight that night over something that she clearly can't change. However, her frown turns into a fond smile upon seeing Beca brushing her nose onto Olive's joyfully while saying with a high pitched voice, "You've missed mama so much, haven't you kid?"

Surprisingly, Olive yaps lightly as if agreeing with her owner, and then Walter climbs up onto the tiny brunette's laps, asking for attention by ruffing. Beca holds Olive with one arm, and rubs Walter's belly with the other, saying, "Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy?"

Upon seeing her girlfriend's interaction with the puppies, Chloe can't help but laughing lightly because she has never seen Beca like this before, and then she says, "You're so adorable, Babe."

With her cheeks flushing red, Beca mutters, "Am not adorable, Red."

Then Beca enjoys her time playing with her puppies for a while along with Chloe. When the clock hits 10.30, the tiny brunette sighs deeply, petting her puppies' heads and sadly says, "Mama will come and see you again, Kids. You be good, okay? Take a good care of mommy."

The two puppies simply stare at her while wiggling their tails. Meanwhile, Chloe is looking at them with sad eyes, thinking about how breaking up with Ashley has separated her girlfriend from the things she loves. Then she asks, "Why don't you take them to your apartment, Babe?"

"Huh?" Beca is confused.

Chloe explains, "I mean, you and Ashley broke up. But it doesn't mean that you have to give up everything to her. Your house, your puppies, your cars, and everything in this property. They are all yours. I know that you're a good person, Babe. But you didn't have to give it all up to her. She got all the benefit of dating a billionaire."

Beca stares at her with her eyes narrowed, "I didn't give up anything for her, Babe."

" _She and I gave up everything for you."_ Beca adds in her mind, feeling upset by how Chloe is judging the blonde, even though she knows clearly that the redhead is doing it out of jealousy.

Stubbornly, Chloe argues, "Yes, you did. She got everything, yet you're left with nothing but an old apartment."

"Chloe..." The tiny brunette warns as calm as she can. "Those things are ours. I mean hers and mine. About Olive and Walter, she has never said that I'm not allowed to have them from time to time. And this house, I've told you before. I signed it with her name since day one. It's hers, and I don't need it. Those things you mentioned; the cars, the jet, my fancy toys, even this house, they aren't the things that matter the most to me. I can buy many more only by flicking my fingers. Besides, she didn't want to take it in the first place."

Chloe scoffs, "Yeah, right. But she still lives here in _your_ huge house, being served and guarded by the people _you_ paid, enjoying everything _you_ bought, with _your_ money. You should've fought more for the things you've earned."

"Enough." Beca firmly says. "It's not _your_ place to give any opinions, let alone to make a decision. It's _mine,_ and _hers_. Because it's _our_ stuff. And I've made my decision a long time ago; to make this house hers. Stop judging her. You know nothing about her, Chloe."

The redhead is taken aback for a second, and when she wants to argue more, Beca beats her to it by firmly saying, "We're gonna be late. So, do you want to stay here to have a fight that you won't win, or do you want to get on a plane to spend Christmas with your family?"

Judging from the heaving chest, Beca knows that her girlfriend is indeed angry, but so is she. Therefore, she's not backing down this time; not when the redhead is being stubborn for unreasonable things, and scorning her ex for things she doesn't know about.

After spending maybe around half a minute staring at each other angrily, Chloe sighs in defeat and says, "Let's go."

"Good choice." Beca replies flatly. Before she can even turn around, Chloe holds her back by the elbow and apologetically says, "I'm sorry. Please don't leave this place angrily. I want us to have a great time with my family."

The tiny brunette sighs heavily, still feeling upset, but she nods. Then Chloe leans closer, wrapping her arms around her girlfriend and kisses her chastely on the lips, and Beca let her.

Surprisingly, Olive and Walter immediately bark loudly, hissing and showing their cute tiny teeth angrily toward the redhead.

Chloe laughs lightly and says, "They're cute."

With her nose puffing proudly, Beca replies, "They are."

Then the couple leave the house and head to the runway. Tony is already there with Bastian, waiting for their boss. The pilot immediately takes their suitcases from the trunk while Tony says, "Have a safe flight, Beca."

"Thanks, Tony." Beca replies warmly. "Have a great Christmas with your family, and tell Nina that I've missed her apple pie."

Tony chuckles lightly and says, "I will make sure that my wife will bring you one when you come back."

"You better." Beca warns playfully, and then she gestures her hand toward Chloe, saying, "This is my uh... this is Chloe Beale, Tony."

Then the butler nods his head toward the redhead and politely says, "Tony. Beca's most loyal servant."

Beca rolls her eyes and says, "Please. He's family, Chloe. He's been living here as long as I have with his family."

"Hey, Tony." Chloe greets warmly. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, Miss Beale." Tony replies. Then he turns to the tiny brunette and says, "I won't hold you up any longer. Just give me a call whenever you want to be picked up. I've asked a friend of mine to prepare a car for you in Chicago. It will be at the airport tomorrow morning when you arrive."

"Thanks man." Beca replies. "Can you set up the fly back on 27th evening?"

Tony seems hesitant for a second before saying, "Ashley will fly out to NY with her friends at the same time. But I can set it for you on 27th in the morning. Is that okay?"

"Sure." Beca replies as casual as she can while holding the pain in her chest before walking into the jet.

Before the plane takes off, both of them sit on the couch with seatbelt on. Once the plane is already steady in the air, Beca unbuckles her seatbelt, walks toward a door at the back, and opens it, showing a luxurious bedroom in it.

In awe, Chloe exclaims, "You also have a bedroom in your jet?!"

Beca shrugs and nonchalantly says, "For long flights."

"But you already have comfy sofa out there." Chloe shakes her head in awe. "Why would you need a bedroom?"

With another shrug, Beca replies, "For privacy."

Then Chloe wraps her arms around her girlfriend's neck, hovering her lips on Beca's as she seductively says, "Like this?"

Beca smirks nervously and retorts, "Have you ever run out of sexual energy?"

"Nope." Then the redhead pulls her girlfriend in a prolonged kiss while walking toward the bed, leading the tiny brunette to walk backward.

It's getting harder to not having sex with the redhead. When the back of her knees hit the edge of the bed, Beca scoots backward onto the bed without breaking the kiss while Chloe leans forward, crawling onto the bed with her.

However, when Chloe pulls her lips away to kiss her neck, Beca's eyes caught a picture on the TV table in front of the bed. It's certainly a picture of her and Ashley, taken after the first time they made love in Becube.

The picture was taken by Ashley; they were naked, but the picture was only taken above their armpit. In that picture, they are lying together on the very same bed, covered under a Bali sarong. Ashley was smiling shyly at the camera with her half of her bottom lip between her teeth, while Beca was lying on her stomach half on top of the blonde, showing a bit of the flower tattoo on the back of her right shoulder, pressing her lips hard on the blonde's cheek with her right hand on Ashley's left cheek.

Meanwhile, when her ex is occupying her mind in every possible ways that make her feel like she's going to blow up from the pent up sexual tension, her current girlfriend is kissing her neck hungrily, and it certainly confuses and frustrates her. Then she stutters, "Uh... Babe... can you uh... give me a second?"

"No." Chloe replies without pulling her lips away from Beca's neck.

Nevertheless, Beca pulls away and walks toward the TV to put the picture into a drawer. It's hard enough for her to not thinking about her ex every time she's doing the redhead the favor, and right now, that picture is definitely not helping. If she can't avoid the sex, then she at least won't be doing it with Ashley's blue eyes staring at her.

Upon seeing what Beca is doing, the redhead groans and retorts in upset, "Is there any place that doesn't have your pictures with her? It seems to me that she's always in every corners that I turn to."

Beca flexes her neck and tiredly says, "We were together for more than five years, Chlo. What did you expect?"

"I expected you to put it all away immediately after you chose to be with me!" Chloe snaps.

"I didn't have the time." Beca reasons in upset.

"You should've made the time!"

"Well, if you had given me the time to be _without_ you for a minute in a day, maybe I would have!" Beca bites back. "If I hadn't had to worry about you feeling upset for not having me around every second every day, then maybe, _I_ , _would,_ _have_!"

"So it's my fault that you're still keeping so many stuff about you and your ex?!"

Beca groans in frustration, running her fingers through her hair and walks out of the room, tired of having another fight in one night. Then she lays down on the couch, crossing her feet, resting her fist on her forehead with her eyes closed, simply trying to even her labored breaths.

Half an hour later, after she deems that she's calm enough, Beca walks back into the bedroom, seeing the redhead curling on the bed, crying silently. With a long tired sigh, Beca gets on the bed and hugs her girlfriend from behind.

After pressing a hard kiss on the back of Chloe's shoulder, Beca apologetically mutters, "I'm sorry."

Chloe turns around and wraps her girlfriend tightly without saying anything but simply nuzzling her nose into the crook of Beca's neck while sniffling softly. Then Beca softly sings, _"I'm sorry... I did not mean to hurt my little girl... It's beyond me. I cannot carry the weight of a heavy world... So goodnight, goodnight, goodnight, goodnight, goodnight, goodnight, goodnight, goodnight, goodnight... Hope that things turn out alright oh..."_

Other than hugging Beca even tighter, Chloe doesn't say anything. After her tears subside, Chloe pulls away and walks over to her suitcase. Then she takes out Beca's security blanket from there, and brings it to the bed.

When she's covering her girlfriend's chest with that soft fabric, Chloe says with hoarse voice, "I knew you'd need this, and I bet you forgot to bring one."

Truth to be told, Beca indeed brought some, but she smiles and softly says, "You're right. I forgot. Thank you, Babe." Then she kisses Chloe chastely on her warm swollen lips and says, "Good night, Babe."

Chloe nuzzles back into the crook of the tiny brunette's neck, pressing her lips onto it before saying, "Good night, Babe. I love you."

"And I you." Beca replies. Then they fall asleep.

Some times in the morning Chicago time, Bastian knocks on the door and says, "We're here, Miss Mitchell."

Chloe wakes up and replies, "We're up. Give us a second."

Then gently, she pulls away from her girlfriend, taking her time to look at Beca's frowny sleeping face before kissing her lips. It doesn't take long until the tiny brunette wakes up and returns the kiss.

After they break the kiss, Chloe teases, "Now I know how to wake you up."

Beca simply smiles lightly and presses another chaste kiss onto the redhead's lips before getting up. They wash up together in the bathroom, taking turn to change into a more suitable outfit for snowy weather before walking out from the bedroom. Bastian immediately takes the suitcases from the room and walks out of the plane.

* * *

 

Then Beca drives a misty grey Saab to Chloe's childhood home. It's only seven in the morning, and the road is still mostly empty. While fixing her eyes on the road, she nervously asks, "Babe, have you told your parents about uh... about what happened to you two months ago?"

"No." Chloe replies. "Dad has a heart condition, and I didn't want to burden him with that news. So, don't bring that up."

Beca nods lightly, sighing deeply upon feeling torn between guilty for keeping another lie, and relieved that she doesn't have to face any addition of anger. Then they remain silent for the rest of the drive.

Upon arriving at The Beale's house, Beca stands in front of it, taking in the view of a house that she had come to several times in the past. The house hasn't changed much; it's a three story house, still with the same color; white and blue. It still has a swing hanging under the tree in the front yard. Everything seems to be the same other than the full blown Christmas decorations.

Feeling not only nervous, but also terrified, Beca takes a deep, deep breath and blows out a long steady breath through her mouth, watching the steam coming out of her lips.

Chloe takes her left hand in hers and asks, "Ready?"

With a light nod, Beca says, "As ready as I'll ever be."

Before taking her first step forward, Chloe squeezes her hand hard and then pulls her toward the house. After Chloe rings the bell, Beca sucks her teeth, tapping her left foot nervously while waiting for the door to be opened.

Not long after, John; Chloe's father opens the door. Upon seeing his only daughter standing in front of him, he grins from ear to ear and hugs the redhead tightly, picking her up from the floor while exclaiming, "Princess!"

"Dad!" Chloe exclaims, flushing red upon being treated like a little child. "Put me down!"

John simply barks out a loud damp laughter while rocking Chloe from side to side but not putting his daughter down yet. Meanwhile, Beca is watching the scene from aside with a nervous grimace on her face.

The old man is still as cheerful as Beca can remember, though his brunette hair is silver now. John is a tall and huge man with fit body. He turned 68 this year, but he doesn't look that old.

After being put down, with her face flushed and her hair tousled, Chloe scolds her father half-heartily, "Dad, I'm 35 for God's sake."

John pinches his daughter's nose playfully and teases, "You will always be my little princess no matter how old you are."

Batting her father's hand away, Chloe pouts and scolds, "You embarrassed me in front of my girlfriend."

"Girlfriend?" John seems confused. "I thought you and Kristen were-" He stops talking abruptly upon seeing the tiny brunette on his right side, still grimacing nervously. Then the old man snaps angrily, "You have the nerves coming to my house!"

Upon seeing her father lunging forward, holding a terrified Beca by her collar, Chloe hurriedly stands between them and pushes her father's arm away, facing him to warn, "Dad, stop. I'm with her now."

John becomes more confused, staring at his daughter with his eyebrows furrowed. On the other hand, Beca tries to be calm by taking a deep breath and steadying her feet.

Before John can say anything else, Eliza; Chloe's mother walks out, asking, "John, why are you yelling in front of the-" She stops on her track upon seeing her daughter standing in between her husband and a girl that broke her daughter's heart a decade ago.

It feels like time stops for a split second for all of them. While the redhead's mother is staring at the DJ with wide eyes, most likely stunned, Beca is taking her time to look at the older woman her signature grimace.

In almost everything, Chloe is a clone of her mother. Other than the age difference, they have the same red hair, the same blue eyes, the same warm and bubbly personality, and they both are just as loving.

Since Chloe is the youngest in the house, the only daughter, and so much represents her mother, it's a no brainer that she's indeed the princess in the house hold. She was always being protected from just anything remotely hard, especially after her eating disorder was finally caught.

"Beca?" Eliza seems very confused now.

Still with that grimace on her face, Beca nervously says, "Hey Mrs. B. It's uh... good to see you again."

"It's not good for us!" John finally finds his voice again. "So you better walk away now before I cripple you for life!"

"John..." His wife pulls him back, but John resists. "John, calm down."

With her eyes staring at her father's sternly, Chloe threatens, "Dad, she is my girlfriend now. If you ask her to walk away, then I will walk away with her."

Upon seeing the old man taking a step backward, Beca sighs in relief and says, "No, Babe. We're not walking away. He's right to feel angry. And I'm here to apologize. So, no. We're not walking away. At least until I tell your parents how truly sorry I am for leaving ten years ago."

Chloe smiles fondly toward her girlfriend, taking her hand in hers and says, "I love you."

With a tight smile, Beca replies, "And I you."

Eliza sees how happy her daughter is, and then she softly says toward Beca, "Let's come inside."

Although John definitely wants to object, he doesn't upon seeing the light in Chloe's blue eyes; the light that can only appear by having the tiny brunette. Therefore, he simply huffs in annoyance but says nothing.

Then Beca takes both hers and Chloe's suitcases into the house. When they're already in, Eliza hugs her only daughter and softly says, "Baby, we've missed you so much. You seem to be skinnier. Have you been eating well?"

Chloe chuckles, "Mom, I'm fine. Besides, I've got the love of my life with me. I'm more than fine."

While John is huffing harshly through his nose, Eliza let her daughter go and turns to hug Beca instead. "It's been too long, Beca. How are you?"

Upon being greeted warmly by Chloe's mother, Beca sighs in relief and hugs the redheaded mom back, saying, "I'm fine Mrs. B. Sorry it's been too long. And I'm sorry for... everything."

Eliza pulls away, staring at the tiny brunette softly and says, "You two look so tired. Why don't you both have breakfast and then have a rest? We can talk at lunch when Nate and Charlie are already here."

"Thanks Mom." Chloe says softly, and Beca adds, "Thanks Mrs. B."

Then the couple have breakfast with toast and scrambled eggs. Upon seeing Beca's eyelids are fluttering down after taking her meds, Chloe chuckles and softly says, "Babe, why don't you go to my room first? I'll come join you in a second."

With a light nod, Beca complies and heads straight to the redhead's bedroom. After walking in, Beca automatically smiles lightly upon finding that it's still the same room. The wall is still bright yellow; it still has glow in the dark on the ceiling that she and Chloe put on the second time she spent summer there; and there are a bunch of pictures and posters on the wall; a new one specifically is Beca trying to lick Chloe's cheek on the night they won world championship.

Suddenly, a pair of arms wrap her from behind, and she rests her hands on Chloe's on her stomach. Then she softly says, "It's still almost the same room I saw more than ten years ago."

"It is." Chloe softly replies. "I didn't want to make too many changes in case one day you came back to me. And you did."

Upon feeling a light ticklish sensation in her stomach, Beca turns around and slides her left hand to the back of Chloe's neck to pull her closer in a prolonged kiss while her right hand finds its way to the small on Chloe's back. The redhead returns the kiss whole-heartily, wrapping her arms tighter around her girlfriend's back.

After they pull away, Beca rests her forehead on Chloe's, taking a deep breath before saying, "Thank you for loving me that much."

Chloe shakes her head lightly and softly says, "No need to thank me for loving you, Babe."

"I know." Beca replies softly. "But I want to. Because I don't think I deserve that much love from you."

"Babe." Chloe pouts. "Stop thinking like that. I love you. So much. No matter if you think that you don't deserve my love. For me, there's no one else I can love more than I do with you. Period."

Instead of feeling happy, Beca feels guiltier for not trying better. This guilty feeling is banging in her chest, screaming in her mind, _"You are the worst kind of fucking person, Mitchell! There's a fucking special kind of level in hell for a lying cheating bastard like you!"_

Clearly, Beca can't say anything in return. Therefore, she leans closer and kisses Chloe again deeply, trying to convey how sorry she is for loving her with half a heart. Maybe even less.

When her girlfriend kisses her hungrily, Chloe returns the kiss in the same effort, slipping her tongue into Beca's mouth swiftly while her right hand finds its way to cup Beca's breast over the bra.

Automatically, the tiny brunette pulls backward, even pushing the redhead away slightly. Upon seeing Chloe's face cringing painfully, Beca hurriedly puts her hands on the redhead's shoulders and rambles, "I'm sorry Babe. But uh... this is your childhood room, and your parents are downstairs. They're still struggling to accept be back. I don't want to give them more excuses to kick me out of your life by having sex with you under their roof."

Chloe sighs deeply, "You're right." Then she pulls her girlfriend to the bed. "Let's rest."

"Wait a second." Beca pulls away to take the Bali sarong Chloe brought her before getting onto the bed and hugs the redhead from behind. However, Chloe turns around to face her, pressing a gentle chaste kiss on her lips before nuzzling into the crook of her neck. "I love you, Babe. So much."

With her lips pressing onto Chloe's hairline, the tiny brunette replies, "And I you."

A little while after, they fall asleep in each other's arms, still feeling tired and slightly jet-lagged from the time difference.

Sometimes around 11, there is a soft knock on the door followed with Eliza's voice, "Chloe, sweetie, your brothers are here with their family."

"Coming mom." Chloe replies sleepily. Then she stares at Beca's sleeping face, smiling fondly before kissing her slightly parted lips and softly says, "Babe, wake up."

"No..." Beca whines.

With a soft giggle, Chloe presses another kiss and says, "Wake up, Babe."

"Just a couple more minutes." Beca grumbles with her eyes closed and her eyebrows slightly furrowed.

Chloe giggles again and shakes her girlfriend gently as she says, "Come on. Wake up, Babe. My brothers are here."

Slowly, Beca's eyes flutters open, rubbing and flexing her neck immediately upon feeling the heavy tension in that area.

Still with a fond smile, Chloe says, "Turn around."

"Hm?" Beca responds sleepily with her eyes barely open, and then Chloe pushes her gently as she says, "Turn around."

"Mmkay." The tiny brunette mumbles, turning her back on the redhead. Then Chloe puts her hands on her shoulders and starts massaging them gently.

Beca moans, "God! It feels good."

With her thumbs pressing her girlfriend's nape gently, relieving the hard knot in it, Chloe softly teases, "That good huh?"

"Hmmm..." Beca whimpers. "It's better than good, Babe."

"Glad I can help." Chloe softly says.

After a couple of minutes, and Beca is already feeling more relax, she turns around to kiss Chloe chastely on the lips before saying, "Thank you Babe."

Chloe simply smiles and gets up. "Mom said that Nate and Charlie are already here. Let's go downstairs."

"You go first, Babe." Beca says as she gets up from the bed. When Chloe stares at her with puzzled look, the tiny brunette explains, "I want to shower first."

With a light chuckle, Chloe responds, "Babe. This isn't L.A. It's freezing."

Beca shrugs and nonchalantly says, "I'm used to shower at least once a day. Once is necessary. Twice would be better. And since I haven't showered since yesterday before dinner, I need my shower fix."

Chloe smiles and says, "Okay then." Then she walks toward her girlfriend to kiss her chastely. "But don't take too long."

"Oh, I won't." Beca says, mocking an excited look. "Your father and brothers are probably done polishing their shotguns to greet me. I just can't wait."

Rolling her eyes in mock annoyance, Chloe says, "Dad doesn't have any gun in this house, Babe."

With her eyes wide and her lips pressed tightly, Beca shakes her head and says, "Ooh. You are so, so wrong, Beale. Every dad will magically own at least one gun when it comes to the person his daughter dates. Trust me."

Without saying anything in return, Chloe simply chuckles lightly before walking out of the room. Then the DJ takes a shower, and she's quite regretting her decision after the water wash all over her and she is shivering cold. However, she needs it to calm her nerves to see her girlfriend's family.

While the slightly warm water is pouring onto her, Beca let her mind wanders back to the time she spent with Beale's family in the past. Chloe's parents loved her as if she was their own daughter. They had always accepted her with open arms to visit every summer for three years.

As for the brothers, Nate is two years older than Charlie, and Charlie is two years older than Chloe. They love their little sister to the moon and back. The saw how happy Chloe was when she was with Beca, and that made them accepted the tiny brunette like a sister. Over all, the Beale's family was more than nice to her; they loved her.

Now she's dreading for their reactions. The way John acted that morning was prove enough that they don't welcome her as nicely as before, and Beca won't blame them after everything Chloe went through only for loving her.

It has been long enough for her taking a shower. With a deep defeated sigh, she turns off the shower and gets dressed. After putting on a decent shirt under a beige sweater and a beanie with a pair of jeans and boots, Beca takes a deep breath and walks downstairs. She heads to the living room where John and his sons; Jonathan and Charles are watching a football game on TV.

Upon seeing the tiny brunette, Nate and Charlie stand up and approach her, towering her with their arms crossed on their chest and their faces staring at her angrily. Unlike Chloe, both brothers are brunettes and look more like John than Eliza unless for their eyes; they have the same cerulean blue eyes from their mother.

Beca can't help it when she automatically swallows hard. Then she takes a deep breath, grimacing as she squeaks, "Hey Nate, Charlie. It's uh... good to see you."

When the two older men don't say anything in return but keeping their glare fixed on her, Beca mutters, "I'll uh... I'll just find Chloe. She's probably in the kitchen."

However, when she is going to swiftly walk away, Nate and Charlie block her, and then Nate coldly says, "We've heard from Dad. You're with Chloe now."

With a tight smile, Beca says, "Yeah. I'm with her now."

This time, Charlie steps forward, inching closer downward to look at her eye to eye when he threatens, "If you ever, _ever_ , leave her again, or so much as scratching her skin, I'm gonna skin you alive."

Beca swallows hard and nods lightly.

Suddenly, Chloe calls from behind, "Guys, what are you doing to my girlfriend?"

Nate puts on a smile, a fake one definitely, before turning around and wraps Beca by her shoulder, squeezing it way too tightly when he says, "Nothing, sissy. We're greeting her. _Nicely_. Right, Becs?"

With a tight smile and wide eyes, Beca nods and replies, "Yeah. Absolutely. They're too nice."

Chloe crosses her arms on her chest, simply staring at her brothers doubtfully, and then Charlie reassures, "We're just doing our big brothers' job, Chlobear."

"Babe?" Chloe asks for a confirmation, and the DJ smiles lightly as she says, "I'm fine, Babe. They're just doing their big brotherly stuff."

With a relieved sigh, Chloe walks to them and pulls her girlfriend to her side while warning her brothers, "You guys _have_ to be nice to her. If you love me enough, then you'll be nice to her. So, behave."

Both brothers sigh in defeat, mumbling out, "Okay."

Then Chloe pulls her girlfriend with her, walking toward the kitchen while saying, "Come on, Babe. I want to introduce you to my sister in laws and their kids."

"Okay." Beca replies nervously, thinking, _"More Beales to face."_

Upon walking into the kitchen, Beca sees that there are three women in there. One of them is obviously Eliza, and the other two women Beca had never met before; one of them is a brunette, and one of them is a blonde. Then Chloe cheerfully says, "Jo, Kate, I want you to meet _my_ Beca."

The two called women turn around, and the blonde walks toward them, smiling warmly before pulling the tiny brunette in her arms. "Hi, I'm Katerina. Nate's wife. It's so good to finally see the person Chloe couldn't shut up about."

Awkwardly, Beca nods and mutters, "Uhm... Nice to see you too? I'm uh... Beca."

"My turn." The brunette woman called Jo shoves Kate playfully and pulls Beca in another tight hug, cheerfully saying, "My God! I'm hugging Chloe's Beca Mitchell. _The_ Beca Mitchell. I'm Joanna. Charlie's wife."

"O... kay." Beca chuckles awkwardly, grimacing toward her girlfriend as if asking to be saved while thinking to herself, _"These two women definitely have turned into Beales."_

On the other hand, Chloe simply giggles upon seeing the mixture of terrified and nervous look on her girlfriend's face. She had told her sister in laws earlier that she was there with the brunette. Therefore, they have prepared themselves to meet a person that men in that family very much dislike. However, Eliza had told them to greet the DJ warmly beforehand; even before Chloe came down to the kitchen with them.

After Joanna breaks the hug, Beca sighs in relief, puts on a smile, and says, "It's uh... very nice to see you... two women that I barely know but already shared hugs with."

Kate and Jo laugh lightly, knowing how snarky the DJ could be from Chloe's stories. Then Beca turns to look at her girlfriend, shoving her hands into her jeans pocket nervously before asking, "What can I help with dinner, Babe?"

"Already offering help." Kate teases the redhead. "I'm in love with her already, Chloe."

Jo sighs in mock annoyance and complains a bit loud, "If only our husbands are at least half as sweet."

"We can hear you!" Charlie shouts from the living room.

"We know!" Jo replies.

Beca chuckles lightly upon seeing how warm the vibe in the Beale's house. It's always been like this since forever; the friendly bickering and hugs; always with the hug.

With a light chuckle, Chloe pulls her girlfriend closer, kisses her cheek from aside, and says, "She's definitely a keeper. And she's mine."

Beca smiles lightly and kisses the redhead on her temple. Then Chloe says, "Babe, why don't you go and look after the kids? They're in the backyard, playing snow ball I think. We got it here."

"Okay." Beca replies. Before she can turn around, Chloe pulls her back, puts on her own jacket on her girlfriend while saying, "We're in Chicago, Babe. It's freezing out there."

While Chloe is pulling up the zipper, Beca kisses her forehead and says, "Thanks Babe."

The three other women are smiling fondly upon seeing how sweet the couple is. Then Chloe hands her girlfriend a pair of gloves before pressing a chaste kiss on her lips and teases, "Now you're allowed to go out there, _my_ Beca Mitchell."

Beca chuckles lightly, "Okay then, Chloe Beale."

After wearing the gloves, tiny brunette steps outside, and immediately, her face is being hit with a snow ball.

"Aw!"

She's not even recovered yet, still wiping the snow off her face when she's hit with another one.

"Aw!"

She can hear giggling, a high pitched giggle, and she wipes her face clean before looking at the three children; the boys are smiling smugly at her with their arms crossed on their chest, while the little brunette girl is covering her mouth with her hands, giggling softly.

Upon seeing Beca's red dumbfounded face, the taller boy says, "It's a small payback. Dad said you hurt Aunt Chloe."

With a light smile, Beca says, "You must be Henry."

"I am." The boy says arrogantly. "I'm the oldest, and dad said I have to protect the girls in our family."

"Me too." The obviously George chips in, mirroring his brother's posture.

With tight-lipped smile, Beca nods slowly, mocking a curious look when she says, "Oh, I see. So you two are the protectors of Beale's family."

"Yes, we are." Henry says, puffing his nose proudly.

Then the tiny brunette sighs overdramatically, walking down the stairs toward the kids in defeated manner. She can see how the kids become alarmed, staring at her with narrowed eyes. Suddenly, Beca lunges forward and takes Anita into her arms, holding her over her shoulder, running away while shouting, "Then save her from me!"

Anita squeals loudly while her brothers chase the DJ around the backyard, shouting, "Give our sister back!" and, "Let her go, you monster!"

While laughing whole-heartily, Beca keep on running swiftly away from them, teasing them by seeming to be cornered just to get away in the last split second with Anita trashing in her arms, squealing, asking to be put down.

* * *

 

From the kitchen, the four women are watching the whole scene through the window. Chloe is smiling fondly, staring at her girlfriend playing with her nephews and niece.

Upon seeing the contented look on Chloe's face, Eliza smiles and says, "She's good with kids, sweetie."

"She is." Chloe says softly without diverting her eyes from the tiny brunette.

While sipping her coffee, Kate says, "I can see the appeal. No wonder you kept pinning on her even after years."

"Yeah." Jo chips in. "She's good with music, she's got the charming vibe, and she's good with kids. Definitely Chloe's kind of girl."

Chloe simply chuckles. Then her mother says softly, trying to hide her worries, "I can see how happy she made you."

"U huh." Chloe nods excitedly, turning to her mother as she continues, "She chose me, Mom. Remember I told you that I've been in love with her since college?"

"I do." Her mother states, staring at her daughter with confirming look.

With a beaming smile, Chloe says, "Turns out, she was in love with me too. She has been since college."

Hesitantly, Eliza asks, "Why didn't you say anything about this before over the phone? I didn't know you broke up with Kristen. When did this happen?"

The light in Chloe's eyes dims a bit as she explains, "I still love her, Mom. After all this time. I will explain it to all of you over lunch. But the short version is, we met again three months ago. It took a while, but eventually, she admitted her feelings for me, and we've been trying to make it work ever since. You know, with my condition and all. She's the one who convinced me to see a therapist again."

Eliza stares at her daughter, sighing worriedly before asking, "And you're sure she's not going to leave again?"

Chloe gives her mother a reassuring smile and says, "I'm sure Mom. She promised. Besides, she had her reason for leaving ten years ago. She'll tell you when she's ready."

Knowing how determined her only daughter can be, Eliza simply smiles and says nothing more. Then the four of them go back to prepare the Christmas dinner.

* * *

 

Meanwhile in the backyard, Beca is still running around with the boys chasing her. When the kids seem to be almost out of breath, Beca pretends to fall down onto the snow, panting hard while Anita crawls her way out from the DJ's arms, and the boys immediately pin her down. Then Henry exclaims, "Say uncle!"

Still panting hard but laughing lightly with steam coming out through her lips, Beca breaths out, "U- uncle... I surrender... Have mercy."

George is lying himself on the top of the tiny brunette, threatening cutely, "Say you won't hurt Aunt Chloe and Anita again!"

"I..." Beca pants out through laughter. "I won't... O- only if we call this truce. If you be nice, I won't hurt them."

George turns to his older brother, staring at him as if asking for an approval, and Henry stares down at the tiny brunette with narrowed doubtful eyes for a couple of seconds. Before he can say anything, Chloe calls them from behind, "Kids! Lunch is ready!"

"Coming Aunt Chloe!" Henry shouts at his aunt before leaning downward toward Beca, firmly saying, "This is not over."

Beca has to bite her bottom lip to prevent a bark of laughter escaping from her mouth. After the kids get off her, still lying on the snow with labored breaths, Beca rubs her left chest gently. The cold weather is certainly a bit hard on her heart and lungs.

Upon seeing her girlfriend rubbing her left chest, Chloe rushes toward her and worriedly asks, "You okay, Babe?"

With a light smile, Beca replies, "I'm okay, Chlo. Just a bit chilly, and my heart and lungs seem to be dancing a little bit in my chest."

Chloe sighs worriedly, pulls her up, and says, "Let's go inside."

Then the couple walk back into the house. It's warmer in there, and Beca takes off her wind-breaker while Chloe brushes the snow on her girlfriend's head away as she scolds, "You know you have asthma. Why would you go running around in this kind of weather?"

"I'm fine, Babe." Beca says calmly. When Chloe just keep staring at her worriedly, the tiny brunette kisses her chastely on the lips and says, "Babe, I'm fine. Honest."

Chloe huffs in half-annoyance and says, "Go wash your hands before going to the dining room. I'll make you a glass of hot ginger milk first."

Not feeling comfortable being with Chloe's family without her, Beca takes her time to wash her hands, nervously stuttering, "I uh... I'll just wait to go with you."

With a light chuckle, Chloe softly says, "Babe, you'll be fine. They'll behave. Just go and join them."

After taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Beca nods and turns around. When she walks into the dining room, John is staring at her coldly, Nate and Charlie are staring at her in upset, while the children are narrowing their eyes toward her. The women smile warmly at her though.

Beca stands silently near the door with her hands in her pockets, smiling with tight-lipped while rocking her body slightly back and forth nervously.

The square table is almost full with only two seats left. John is on the head table, Eliza is sitting across him at the other end, Nate is sitting next to his father with Henry and George in between him and Kate, while Charlie is sitting across from his brother with Anita in between him and Jo. The two left chairs are next to Jo.

Upon seeing how uncomfortable the tiny brunette is, Eliza warmly says, "Come and have a seat, Beca."

With a grimace on her face, Beca walks hesitantly toward the table and takes one of the two left empty chairs. She's sitting by the corner of the table, next to Eliza and across from Kate, leaving a seat for Chloe between her and Jo.

The minutes waiting for Chloe is painstakingly slow for the tiny brunette with the three adult men keep staring at her sternly. Trying to play it cool, Beca simply puts on a light smile without really looking at anybody.

Trying to ease the tension, Eliza warmly asks the DJ, "Beca, it's been so long since the last time we met. How's life?"

"I uh..." Beca is obviously nervous. "I'm fine, Mrs. B. Life is good. Job is good. Everything's been..." Her smile falters a bit. "It's all been good."

"Good to know." Eliza says warmly.

"Chloe talked about you a lot." Kate says cheerfully. "I think as long as I've known her in the last ten years, all she's ever talked about is you. _Her_ DJ as she called you."

Beca simply chuckles lightly, and then Jo says, "It's true. There was a point that I got bored talking to her because all she talked about was you."

Then the tiny brunette chuckles louder than before and says, "None of the bad one I hope."

The women chuckle lightly, and then Chloe walks into the room and says, "I hope you're not feeding my girlfriend with embarrassing stories about me."

"Nah." Beca smirks. "They just told me something about _your_ DJ."

While putting down the glass in front of her girlfriend, Chloe shrugs and nonchalantly says, "It isn't something new. I've called you _my_ DJ since college. You knew about it."

"Thanks Babe." Beca picks the glass up, holding it in front of her mouth when she matter-of-factly says, "I did know you _called_ me your DJ. But I didn't know you _referred_ me as your DJ to other people."

With her cheeks slightly flushed, Chloe mutters, "It's the same thing."

"U huh." Beca teases before taking a sip of her milk. " _Completely_ the same."

Then Chloe glares at the tiny brunette in mocked upset. Upon seeing the usual bickering, John sighs in defeat and says, "Chloe, lead the prayer."

"Okay Dad. Let's pray." The redhead leads a prayer, and even though Beca isn't religious, she closes her eyes to respect the family.

After they're done praying, Chloe stands up to prepare a plate for her girlfriend, earning puzzled looks from her entire family. Even her mother doesn't treat her father that way, but they say nothing about it.

While having lunch, the family is talking about casual stuff, catching up about each other's lifes after not seeing each other in a year. Beca simply eats in silent, only listening to their stories.

The real stuff starts after lunch. Most of them are enjoying coffee, or eggnog, or in Beca's case, another glass of hot ginger milk.

Then Chloe softly says, "I bet all of you have a lot of question for me and Beca."

John says, "You're right."

Chloe stares at her girlfriend as if asking for permission, and Beca gives her a light nod. After taking a deep breath, Chloe explains, "We met again accidentally around three months ago. We talked about her reason for leaving me ten years ago, and one thing led to another, we kissed. One and half a month after that, we started dating."

"That's it?" John asks doubtfully. "After ten years, it only took you a month to leave your fiancé, and for her to leave her girlfriend?"

Obviously, everybody know about her previous relationship with Ashley, because it's all over the news and media.

"U huh." Chloe smiles softly while resting her hand on Beca's. "We love each other, Dad. We have been since college. That kiss, it was eye opening for both of us."

Beca smiles with her eyebrows slightly furrowed, trying to hold the heaviness in her chest, and she doesn't say anything.

"If you two had loved each other since college, why did she leave ten years ago?" Nate asks curiously.

Knowing that it's not her story to tell, Chloe simply looks at the tiny brunette, and then Beca clears her throat before saying, "Family issue that I prefer not to talk about. Respectfully."

"You're gonna tell us anyway." John says firmly, earning a deathly glare from his daughter.

Beca blows out a long nervous air through her mouth and says, "Warren, my former father, he disowned me after I came out to him as a gay right before graduation."

Everybody seem to be stunned, and then Eliza hugs her from aside, saying, "Oh sweetie. I'm so sorry to hear that. Why didn't you tell us back then? We would've supported you."

It was the same question, combines with the same suggestion and the same sympathetic expressions. Therefore, Beca gives them the same answer.

"I just..." Beca sighs deeply. "I was in love with Chloe. And I... I was afraid that you'd be angry too. I mean, she meant the world to me, and you were so nice to me. I just... I didn't want to disappoint more people, or even drive your daughter away. So I ran and hid instead."

Eliza smiles sympathetically, sighing deeply as she pulls away and says, "We loved you, Beca. We wouldn't be disappointed by you no matter who you were."

With a soft smile, Beca says, "I was stupid back then, and I did stupid things. And I'm very sorry for the mess I made after I left... For what happened to Chloe."

Upon seeing his father's face soften in an instant, Charlie sighs in defeat, smiling lightly as he says, "And that is true. You were stupid to think that way. You should've come to us. We were family."

"Yeah." Nate chips in. "Family protect each other."

Upon seeing the warmer look coming from the family, Beca smiles in relief and says, "Thank you. And I'm sorry."

Chloe sees through her and kissed her cheek, staring at her as if she's the only thing that matters in the universe, and Beca simply smiles in return.

Then the redhead hands the DJ her meds, saying, "Babe, your meds."

Beca takes it immediately and says, "Thanks Babe."

Upon seeing the same meds he's taking, John asks, "Why do you need to take heart meds?"

"I uh..." Beca seems nervous. "I have a heart condition."

"But you're so young." Kate states in surprise.

"Yeah." Jo chips in with her eyebrows furrowed. "How come a person so young have a heart condition?"

Chloe simply squeezes her girlfriend's hand to show her support. After blowing out the nervous air from her lungs, Beca mutters, "I uh... After I left, I became a heavy smoker, and I was... addicted to alcohol, and my heart couldn't take it. So six years ago, I... I had two heart attacks."

"You what?!" John is shocked.

Upon seeing how upset Chloe's father is, Beca hurriedly explains, "But I've been sober in more than five years. I don't drink, and I rarely smoked. I don't have any intention to go back down that road. Ever again."

John stares at her for a couple of seconds, considering the truth that's coming from an ex-addict. Everybody seem to hold their breath, waiting for the Father's reaction. When John finally sighs in defeat, everybody can breathe again.

Maybe it's because of the explanation, or maybe it's from knowing Beca's heart condition, the tension eases down and changes into warmer vibe so quickly. Then Chloe leans closer to her girlfriend and whispers, "I'm so proud of you, Babe."

Beca turns aside to look at her, smiling lightly as she says, "Thanks Babe. I wouldn't be able to do it without you."

It certainly warms Chloe's chest, fluttering her heart, and she beams her megawatt smile at her tiny DJ. Everybody simply look at the couple with a fond smile. After years, seeing a genuinely happy Chloe is indeed relieving for the family.

Meanwhile, nobody notice the way Eliza is looking at the couple with her eyebrows slightly furrowed as if she's contemplating something. However, the older redhead doesn't say anything.

After they finish lunch, Chloe along with her mother and sister in laws continue preparing Christmas dinner while Beca sits on the table in the kitchen, simply folding some origamis, because clearly, there's not much she could do to help when it comes to cooking.

Besides, folding origamis is her effort to draw the kids' attention without pushing them to play with her. Beca starts with folding some kind of planes; from the simplest ones to the most complicated ones. Then she folds several ships, a frog, a bird, a flower, a star, and some other kind of origamis.

Anita is watching her from aside, looking curious and excited when she asks, "Where did you learn to do that?"

With a soft smile, Beca replies, "When I was younger, a lot younger, as young as you are now, my granddad taught me to fold some. It was our thing back then, racing to fold as many origamis as we could. The loser had to treat the winner with ice cream. And most definitely, I always won."

When Anita is giggling, Beca looks at her and softly asks, "You want to try?"

The little brunette nods excitedly, and Beca picks her up and puts her on her laps before folding a butterfly.

"Wow..." Anita is in awe, watching with wide eyes and a huge grin on her face. Then the DJ gives her a paper and says, "Here. I'll walk you through."

Then Anita learns how to fold a butterfly and flower from Beca while her brothers are watching from aside, looking curious but not giving in. Upon seeing their look, Beca chuckles lightly and folds a dragon. It certainly drops the boys' jaws onto the floor in awe.

Beca wiggles her eyebrows playfully at them as she retorts, "Cool, right? Want to make some?"

"I want!" George exclaims excitedly, taking a seat next to the tiny DJ while on the other hand, with flushed cheeks, Henry mutters, "I have to make sure you don't hurt my brother and sister."

Trying to hold her laughter by biting the inside of her cheeks, Beca simply says, "Sure. Come sit with us."

The four of them spend a couple of hours folding and making a bunch of origamis. Slowly but sure, though the kids are still adjusting to Beca's presence in their family, they seem to become more comfortable around her.

When Beca is showing Anita how to fold a fish, Chloe comes to her and puts a cup of hot tea in front of her. After kissing her cheek, Chloe softly says, "To keep you warm because you're keeping the kids occupied."

Beca simply chuckles lightly, keep staring at her girlfriend who's already back to chopping some vegetables with a soft smile. Then she takes a red origami paper and writes something on it before folding a heart out of it.

At 4 PM, Kate and Jo take their kids to have a shower before dinner while Beca gathers their artwork and put them in a basket. Then she stands next to her girlfriend, shuffling her feet nervously, and Chloe asks, "Anything you need, Babe."

With her right hand rubbing the back of her neck and her cheeks flushed, Beca pulls out the heart she folded earlier out of the pocket in her sweater and hands it to her girlfriend, muttering, "This is for you. You know, for taking care of me and loving me."

Upon seeing the red heart given with an awkward nervous gesture, Chloe smiles so, so brightly, and she immediately wraps the DJ in a tight hug, saying, "I'm so in love with you, Beca Mitchell."

Beca smiles lightly, wrapping her arms around Chloe's back and kisses the side of her head before she replies, "I... I love you too, Babe."

The couple don't notice the way Eliza is staring at them subtly as if she's trying to decipher something. Yet again, just like earlier, she doesn't say anything, simply looking at the couple with her eyebrows slightly furrowed.

Then Chloe pulls back slightly, still hugging her girlfriend when she softly says, "Let's get ready for dinner."

"Let's." Beca replies before Chloe pulls her toward her bedroom

After taking a shower, Beca puts on her emerald green suit over a pastel button up shirt. However, Chloe pushes the suit out of her shoulders and hands her a green sweater instead, the one that matched her own.

"Matching sweaters?" Beca smirks. "Seriously?"

"U uh." Chloe nods, smiling excitedly. "I bought them for us yesterday. I still have another pair for tomorrow."

Beca rolls her eyes playfully and puts on the sweater, and then Chloe stands beside her, holding her phone up high to take pictures of them both with their matching sweaters.

After taking several pictures with many expressions, Chloe takes her time to look at them before choosing one as the new wallpaper for her phone. In that picture, Beca is sticking out her tongue, squinting her closed eyes playfully, facing the camera, while Chloe is kissing her cheek, smiling from ear to ear.

While staring at the picture fondly, Chloe says, "Now we have pictures of our own. As soon as we get back to L.A., I'll print and put them in a frame."

With a light smile, Beca puts her hands on Chloe waist and kisses her forehead, breathing deeply before she softly says, "Send those pictures to me, Babe. I'll choose one as my wallpaper as well."

Chloe kisses her chastely on the lips and says, "Absolutely."

Then the two of them walk downstairs. Chloe heads to the dining room to help setting the dinner while Beca stays in the living room, watching some Christmas show with the men and kids.

When the clock hits 6 PM, Eliza yells from the dining room, "Dinner's ready!"

"Coming!" John replies before turning the TV off.

The dinner is filled with warmth and joy. They simply change funny stories while eating with Michael Buble's newest Christmas album playing on the background. Beca herself is much relieved upon having the Beale's family is already taking her in warmly.

John even jokes that he's not a single anymore as a person who doesn't drink alcohol that night. Everything goes smoothly. Maybe it's because the love in that family reach further and beyond the past that they can't change, or maybe it's because of the magical Christmas that brought back Chloe's light, and it certainly makes her family feel much relieved.

After dinner, John, Nate, Charlie, and Beca play monopoly while the women are sitting on the couch, watching Home Alone with the kids, and sometimes talking to each other.

"Pay up, Mitchell!" Nate exclaims triumphantly when Beca stops on his land.

"Urgh..." Beca clenches her hands beside her head, pulling the corners of her lips downward, feeling frustrated upon losing to the family.

John laughs and says, "You're absolutely bad at this, kid."

"Looooser." Charlie teases.

With her lips pressed tightly like an upset child, Beca grumbles, "You all are teaming up to bankrupt me. This isn't fair play."

The three men bark out a loud laughter all at the same time.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, Chloe is staring at her girlfriend fondly, and then Kate elbows her subtly before whispering, "You better put a ring on it, Chloe. As soon as possible."

While Chloe is blushing up from her neck to the tip of her ears, Jo leans closer and says, "I second that. Dad, Mom, and your brothers seem to love her and accept her easily even after what she did. They must love her so much."

Chloe smiles, "They do. I mean, even back in college, every time I called, Dad and Mom always asked about her, making sure that I took a really good care of her. And Nate and Charlie treated her like another sister in the house."

"Then what are you waiting for?" Kate teases. "You two love each other. And judging from the way you're staring at her, I don't think I've ever seen you looking at someone like that. Not even Kristen."

"I don't know." Chloe mutters shyly. "I'd love nothing more than to have my happily ever after with her. But don't you think it's too soon for us?"

"I think 14 years is enough waiting, Chloe." Jo says matter-of-factly. "And you're not getting any younger. So, no. I don't think it's too soon."

"Hmmm..." Chloe simply smiles in return, nodding absentmindedly while fixing her eyes on her frustrated girlfriend, obviously considering the suggestion.

Meanwhile, Eliza just listens to their conversation without saying anything. However, the deep sighing indicating that she's indeed conflicted.

At 9 PM, after putting down the kids to sleep, the adults arrange the Christmas presents under the Christmas tree before cuddling up with their partners in the living room, simply watching another Home Alone.

As usual, fifteen minutes into the movie, Beca is already dozing off, but Chloe simply hugs her even tighter, kissing her under the jaw before resting her head on the tiny brunette's chest, and keep watching the movie with her family.

By midnight, Chloe wakes her girlfriend up by shaking her shoulder gently. "Babe..."

"Hm?" Beca rubs her eyes sleepily.

"Let's go to bed." Chloe says softly.

"Mmmkay." Beca mumbles as she stands up. "Good night Mr. and Mrs. B. Good night everybody. Merry Christmas."

They replies with _Merry Christmas_ , and _goodnight_ to the couple. When the couple crosses the arch between the living room to the stairs, Kate exclaims, "Kiss!"

The couple turn around, staring at Kate with puzzled look, and Chloe asks, "What?"

This time, it's Charlie who's wiggling his eyebrows playfully and says, "You're under the mistletoe. Now, kiss."

The couple look up at the same time, smiling upon seeing the green leafs over their head. Their attentions are pulled back to the living room when John firmly says, "Not under my watch."

"Then turn your face away, old man." Nate bites playfully.

"Why should I?" John asks in upset, and then Nate simply covers his father's eyes with his hands while saying toward the couple, "Now!"

Chloe chuckles lightly, turning to her girlfriend before leaning forward to kiss her deeply with her arms tangled behind Beca's neck. Still not comfortable with kissing Chloe in front of her whole family, Beca breaks the kiss gently only after a couple of seconds.

"There." Chloe smiles smugly at her family. "Happy?"

Nate, Charlie, and their wives are cheering and clapping. On the other hand, John is crossing his arms on his chest in upset, and Eliza is staring with narrowed eyes at the tiny DJ, who's smiling tightly with her shoulders tensed.

With a soft giggle, Chloe pulls Beca upstairs to her bedroom, but not without Jo yelling playfully, "Don't do anything that I won't!"

They can still hear the laughter from the living room, combined with John's scolding even after they're already in the room. Chloe leans her back against the door, giggling softly with her fist covering her mouth.

"What are you laughing at?" Beca stares at her with puzzled look.

Chloe looks at her, still grinning when she says, "I have the best family."

With a light chuckle, Beca approves, "Yes you do."

Then the tiny DJ walks over to grab her sleeping attire in her suitcase before heading to the bathroom to wash up and change. When she's done, Chloe takes her turn while Beca waits for her on the bed, leaning on the headboards, holding her phone, clutching it tightly while considering to call Ashley.

However, the picture of her and Chloe in her phone raises her hesitation from dialing _Honey_. She simply scoffs upon seeing that she hasn't changed Ashley's ID in her phone.

Before she can make up her mind, Chloe walks out of the bathroom, smiling softly toward her and gets on the bed. Then the redhead kisses her on the lips, and Beca returns the kiss in the same effort while holding her tightly.

They break the kiss when air becomes emergency. After nuzzling her nose into the crook of Beca's neck, Chloe softly says, "This is the best Christmas ever. Thank you for suggesting to have Christmas with my family, Babe. I love you."

"And I you." Beca replies with her lips pressed onto the redhead's crown.

Not long after, Chloe falls asleep, but Beca can't because her mind is occupied with a certain blonde. Therefore, she untangles herself gently away from her girlfriend and changes into her outdoor outfit before going downstairs, heading to sit on the swing under the tree in front of the house.

For a long while, she simply stares at the clear night sky that has Orion forming on it. A light smile appears on her face as the memory of her and Ashley spent their first Christmas together flows into her mind.

On their first Christmas, they weren't supposed to be together, because Beca stayed in L.A. for work, while Ashley was at Anaheim with her family. However, on Christmas's Eve, before dinner, they video called each other, and Ashley sang All I Want For Christmas Is You for her. Beca drove to Anaheim immediately with a bouquet of lilies for her girlfriend.

The joyful look on Ashley's face that night was one of the things that she could never forget. It was also the first time Ashley introduced her officially to her family as a girlfriend.

Only by remembering the blonde can warm her freezing chest. With a deep contented sigh, Beca closes her eyes, smiling fondly when she whispers, "Merry Christmas, Ash. I miss you."

She stays for a while before going back into the house, back to her sleeping girlfriend. Quietly, she changes back into her pajamas and gets under the thick blanket. Right after she wraps her arms around Chloe from behind, the redhead mumbles, "Where did you go, Babe?"

"I uh..." Beca is nervous. Before she can give any answer, Chloe grabs her hand, enveloping it between her own before resting them on her chest. Still with her eyes closed, Chloe mumbles sleepily, "You're freezing, Babe."

Beca sighs in relief and says, "Let's just sleep."

"U huh." Chloe responds before falling back into her slumber.

* * *

 

**December 25th 2025**

In the morning, the couple are woken up by banging on the door and yelling from the kids, "Aunt Chloe! Santa was here! Presents time!"

Beca groans and wakes up reluctantly while Chloe is already leaning in for a kiss and says, "Merry Christmas Baby, my love."

With a light smile and her eyes still half-opened, Beca replies, "Merry Christmas, Babe."

Chloe giggles lightly and says, "You are so, so adorable, Babe."

Beca rolls her eyes playfully and grumbles, "Am not."

"Come on." Chloe gets up and pulls her girlfriend along. "Presents time."

This time, they wear red matching sweaters, and Chloe takes pictures of them again before joining her family in the living room. The kids are already opening theirs, exclaiming and squealing joyfully for the presents; a bunch of toys.

Chloe and Beca give Henry and George a set of kid's detective kit because the two boys love to play as detectives. When the boys see a pair of long distance walkie-talkies in the box, they fist pump and rush to the young couple to hug and thank them.

The couple give Anita a full set of Trolls characters, the classic animation from 2016 complete with the tree and the castle. The little brunette squeals joyfully and hugs her redheaded aunt while exclaiming, "You are the best, Aunt Chloe!"

Chloe laughs lightly and says, "Thank you, sweetie."

Then the adults start to open their presents too. John, Nate, and Charlie are so happy to get tickets for this year's whole season of football game from the tiny DJ, while Eliza got a sweater with  _the bubbliest mom in the universe_  written on it.

Chloe got a bunch of stuff from her family, including new dresses and a couple of books. She opens her present from Beca the last, and she's struck to see the content of the box.

It's a classic book, the first original copy of Emma by Jane Austen. Then she gently opens the book, caressing the pages with her fingers very carefully as if she can break it only by touching it.

Upon seeing her girlfriend's reaction, Beca softly says, "I see that you like your present."

Chloe looks up to her and says in surprise, "You remember my favorite book."

The way Chloe is looking at her causes a heat raising up from her stomach to her cheeks, but Beca tries playing it cool by shrugging, "Well, you wouldn't shut up about it back in college. So, it's safe to say that it's kind of stuck in my head until the kingdom come."

"It must have cost you a fortune, Babe." Chloe says with teary eyes. "And where did you find it in such a short time?"

Again, Beca shrugs, trying to be nonchalant when she says, "I've got connection."

Without saying anything else, Chloe hugs her girlfriend tightly, peppering her with kisses on the lips while saying in between kisses, "I love you, I love you, I love you."

"Hey!" John scolds, and Beca pulls away abruptly while the rest of the family simply laugh at her.

"Dad!" Chloe pouts as she scolds. "I'm not a teenager anymore!"

"Not under my roof." John says firmly. "You are my baby in this house."

Another bark of laughter erupts in the living room. After the laughter unwind, Chloe hands Beca her present, the only present Beca got because the rest of the family didn't know that she would be there.

Upon opening the present, Beca's eyes furrowed in confusion, simply staring at an obviously vinyl record, but it has her name and picture on it. Then she asks the redhead, "What is this, Babe?"

Chloe smiles fondly, "That is some of your best songs according to me. I asked a friend of mine to make it into a vinyl record."

"Whoa..." Beca eyes widen, and she's struck. "This is so cool!" She kisses Chloe's cheek. "Thank you so much, Babe!"

With her heart fluttering, Chloe replies, "You're welcome."

Suddenly, Beca's phone rings, and she pulls it out, seeing Donna's face on the screen. Then she gets up while saying, "Sorry, I have to take this."

Beca walks out to the backyard, sitting on the chair by the porch before picking up, "Merry Christmas, Donna."

" _Merry Christmas, Monkey! Thank you for the present. I love it!"_

With a light chuckle, Beca replies, "Yeah. I figured you would love that painting."

" _Indeed. Here, someone is eager to talk to you."_

" _Bec!"_ Stephan exclaims loudly. _"Thank you for the presents! I love the set of VR Pirate simulation! Yahoo! And the pirate's vintage telescope? Super cool! I love you, Bec!"_

Beca laughs lightly and says, "I love you too, bud."

" _Dad wants to talk to you!"_

" _Hey, monkey. Merry Christmas. How's Christmas at the Beale's?"_

"Merry Christmas, Harv." Beca replies softly. "Everything is good."

" _Thanks for the watch, monkey. It looks smart on me. Not the other way around, because I'm already smart."_

Beca laughs whole-heartily, "God! You are awful, Harv! You and your cocky ass!"

" _Hey! It's Christmas! We should be nice to each other at least once a year."_

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." The tiny DJ rolls her eyes playfully. "Whatever, _cocky ass_." She can hear a light laughter coming from the other end of the line.

" _We won't hold you up any longer. Come back soon to have your presents from us."_

"I will. Bye Harvey."

" _Bye, monkey. Take care."_

After the phone call ends, Beca takes a deep breath, smiling lightly while staring at nothing in front of her. Without thinking beforehand, she dials a number, and the person picks up instantly.

" _Hey Kid. Merry Christmas."_

"Merry Christmas, Jeff." Beca replies softly. "How are you?"

" _I'm good. And you?"_

"I'm good too." Then she nervously asks, "How are the rest of the family?"

" _We're all good, Beca. Don't worry."_ The calmness in Jeff's voice soothe her. _"Thank you for the presents. It arrived earlier this morning. You knew what we needed, kid."_

Beca smiles in relief, "Well, I believe you and Shannon might need a little break. And South Korea is beautiful in spring."

" _Indeed. You okay there, kid?"_

"I uh..." Beca takes a deep breath. "I'm fine, Jeff. As fine as I can be. And I'm sorry... for what happened."

" _It's okay, kid. We understand your position. You and Ashley made a decision, and we respected that."_

With a fond smile, Beca says, "Good to know that you have our back."

" _Listen. I know you're not with Ashley anymore. But Shannon and I, we still love you the same. So, anytime you need help or just someone to talk to, do not hesitate to call Papa Jeff."_

Beca laughs lightly upon hearing the way Ashley's father referred himself, and then she replies, "Don't worry, Jeff. I'm fine."

" _I know you'll be fine. But seriously. You're family to us, Beca. Don't be a stranger. Okay?"_

With restraint voice, Beca says, "Thank you, Jeff. I consider you as my family too. So, I won't be a stranger. Besides, I love your daughter too much to be a stranger."

" _Good. Now Shannon wants to talk to you."_

"Okay."

" _Hey, honey. Merry Christmas."_

"Merry Christmas, Shannon."

" _How are you?"_

The worry in Shannon's voice is obvious, and Beca clears her throat before saying, "I'm fine, Shannon." Then she hears a long sigh from the other side.

" _You take care of yourself well, okay? Even though you're not with Ashley anymore, doesn't mean I won't kick your ass if you don't take a good care of yourself."_

Beca laughs again and says, "I will, _mom_."

_"I believe Jeff already gave you the don't be a stranger speech."_

"He did."

" _Okay then. I won't give you the same speech. I already sent your Christmas present to Donna."_

With a fond smile, Beca says, "A handmade sweater. Every year."

" _Because you need at least a new one every year."_

The scolding mom's tone is obvious, and Beca can't help herself but chuckling lightly before saying, "Thank you, Shannon."

" _Family don't say thank you to each other. Besides, I know how much you love shopping that Ashley had to be the one who did it to you in the last five years."_

Beca rolls her eyes playfully and softly replies, "Of course, _mom_. You know me well."

" _Okay then. You have a great holiday, honey. Just know that our door is always open for you."_

"I know." Beca says softly. Then she hurriedly, nervously adds, "Uh... Is she... Is she okay?" Then Beca hears another deep sigh.

" _She's holding up, Beca. But she'll be fine. And so will you."_

With a sad smile, Beca says, "Yeah. I do hope so. Uhm... I've got to go. Say hi for uh... for her and Shaylene from me."

" _I will."_

After ending the phone call, Beca leans her head back, closing her eyes before blowing out a long tired breath. She's counting her breaths in 3-1-5 sequence, trying to hold herself from crying, and she's not aware that halfway through the breathing exercise, someone has joined her on the next chair.

When Beca opens her eyes, she's startled to find Eliza is already sitting next to her, looking calm and warm as always.

"You scared me a bit there, Mrs. B."

"Didn't mean to." Eliza says calmly. "Before you go back inside, I need to talk to you."

Beca seems puzzled, but she nods nevertheless.

"Do you love my daughter?" Eliza asks calmly.

Beca is taken aback by the sudden blunt question, and then she blurts out, "Of course I do."

With a knowing soft smile, Eliza says, "I mean, are you in love with her?"

"I..." Beca swallows hard, and she can't finish her sentence. She can't bring herself to lie when Eliza is staring at her calmly.

Eliza smiles softly and says, "I raised three children, Beca. And I know each of them more than I know the back of my hand. And Chloe, the way she looked at you, it was all love in her eyes. But..."

Again, Beca swallows hard without the courage to look at the older woman, and then Eliza continues, "But since yesterday, I haven't seen the same look in your eyes when you're looking at her. And judging from your reaction now, I can tell that you indeed love her. You're just not in love with her."

Beca sighs in defeat but remains silent. Then Eliza calmly says, "And I don't know what actually happened between you two in the last three months. All I know is that my daughter was engaged to someone who couldn't make her as happy as you could. Even when you were still hiding from her, the memory of you could make her happier than Kristen ever could."

Still, Beca just keep staring forward, unfocused, rubbing her hands nervously, waiting for the bomb to be dropped; Eliza asks her to break up with Chloe.

Upon seeing the DJ's dejected look, Eliza puts her hands on Beca's and says, still as soft, "I don't care how you started it or what your reason was, Beca. But I do believe that love takes time. If time is all you need to fall in love with my daughter again, then I won't stand between the two of you. I know you're a good person, sweetie. And you can make Chloe happy. That is all I care about."

Beca turns to look at the older redhead with her eyebrows slightly furrowed, confused from the unexpected reaction, and Eliza sees through her. Therefore, Eliza softly explains, "Chloe... the way she loves you can destroy her. Actually it had destroyed her in the past. So seeing you with her, seeing how happy she is, I just want to thank you for bringing the light back into our daughter. For now, you love her enough to stay, to try. And if it's enough for her, then it's enough for me. Time will do the rest, Beca. Take it from a person who has lived twice longer than you."

With a deep sigh, Beca simply nods. Then Eliza pats her hands gently several times before walking back into the house.

On the other hand, Beca doesn't go back immediately. Instead, she takes her time to think about how kind Ashley's and Chloe's families are to her, and it sure brings a relieved smile to her face.

Then, with her chest lighter, Beca walks back into the house, immediately finds her girlfriend in the living room to kiss her on the forehead. "Thank you for loving me, Babe. For staying in love with me for so long, and for staying with me even though it's been hard for you."

Chloe simply stares at her with her eyebrows furrowed, and then Beca smiles and kisses her forehead again before saying, "I'm thankful for being loved by you."

"And I've told you not to thank me for loving you." Chloe says fondly. "You are worth the wait, Babe. It was a long and hard way. But the waiting, it was all worth it now that I have you."

With a soft smile, Beca kisses her lips, and then John scolds, "Mitchell!"

Beca breaks the kiss abruptly, smiling sheepishly toward the older man while Chloe is giggling softly.

In the next two days, they spend the rest of their Christmas visit joyfully until they have to go back to L.A. on 27th morning. Before they go to the airport, when they are saying goodbye on the porch, John softly warns the tiny DJ, "You keep my princess safe and loved, okay?"

"I will, Mr. B." Beca replies. "Thank you, for everything. For understanding."

John simply smiles softly in return.

* * *

 

After they go back to L.A., the couple stay at Stacie's to prepare the new year's party. They agreed to have it in a hotel; one of the hotels that Beca invested in, just in case the party goes wild and none of them can drive back to their place. Beca booked 15 luxurious suites for all of them, including the rooftop for the private party.

On 28th afternoon, Beca drops Chloe at the hospital for her second session with Doctor Ow. She herself still has a meeting with Katy Perry at her studio.

"Mitchell." Katy greets the brunette as she walks into her office.

"Hey, Katy."

"I heard that you'll perform for MTV awards in March." Katy takes a seat in front of her. "Is that true?"

"Yeah."

Katy smiles brightly and says, "I was asked to perform too. And now I have an idea in my head about a song. Can you help me writing and arranging it?"

"Sure." Beca says with her eyebrows slightly furrowed. "Just... what idea exactly?"

The singer is now looking nervous when she says, "Well, you know my story with Mayer. We were on and off for a while. And now that I'm with Orly, I just..."

Upon seeing the hesitation, Beca pushes, "You just... what?"

"Orly is great and so, so amazing with me." Katy says, obviously conflicted. "And I like him. Really, really like him."

"But...?" Beca raises an eyebrow.

Katy sighs deeply and says, "I couldn't stop comparing him with John. I mean, yeah, John was... so many things. But..." She sighs again. "But when I'm with Orly, all I could think about is John. To be with him."

"Huh?" Beca is dumbfounded, and her heart is pacing upon feeling the same thing.

With a sad look, Katy asks, "Have you ever... you know, thought that you've tasted perfection and now you have to settle with... the second best?"

"Whenever you were with Bloom you'd be thinking of Mayer." Beca states with her eyes slightly teary and her eyebrows slightly furrowed. "Nothing seemed to be right without Mayer."

"Yeah." Katy states sadly. "So right. I just... John told me to move on, saying that there are other fishes in the ocean. But... as hard as it was to be in love with him, he was perfect for me."

Beca sighs heavily and says, "I do understand. Just give me a minute."

Then the tiny brunette spends the next hour writing down a lyric on a piece of paper, and shows it to Katy. After the singer is done reading it, she says, "Wow... Only with that less than five minutes talk you could write this. You are indeed incredible, Mitchell. This is my new single, Beca. I want to perform it in MTV awards."

Beca simply smiles and says, "Let's work on arrangement next year in January. I'll put you in my schedule."

"Great!" Katy exclaims cheerfully. "I heard you're gonna perform with Timberlake. Is that true?"

"Yeah." Beca smiles. "We've been considering a couple of songs weeks ago, and we'll start the arrangement in January too."

"Hmmm..." Katy nods absentmindedly. "I hope you can arrange the same schedule for us. You know, it would be great to work with both you and Timberlake."

With a sheepish smile, Beca says, "I don't know. I have to check with JT. You know how private he is about his projects."

Katy rolls her eyes in half annoyance and says in defeat, "Okay... Okay... Well, I still have some places to be. See you soon, Mitchell."

"I'm going out too. Let me walk with you." Beca says while gathering her stuff.

* * *

 

After that, the DJ heads to the hospital to pick up her girlfriend. In the car, Beca says, "I can see it on your face that the second session went well too."

"More than well, Babe." Chloe says cheerfully.

Doesn't want to pry, Beca simply says, "Good."

Then they sing Everything Will Change together. To see Chloe so happy, and upon singing such a moving song with her make Beca warm in her chest. Suddenly, without giving it a second thought, she asks, "Babe, what do you say if we record this song together and release it?"

Chloe's eyes widen, and she blurts out, "You want to do a duet?!"

Beca shrugs, "Well, if you want to. I mean, I think it will help a lot of people who are struggling to change their life for the better."

With a loud squealing, Chloe jumps to hug her girlfriend from aside tightly, making Beca startles and her hands slip off the wheels, blurting out in panic, "Babe! I'm driving!"

Chloe pulls away, still grinning from ear to ear when she says, "I'm sorry for not feeling sorry."

"You would have if I had crushed this car to another car." Beca scolds with her heart pacing so fast.

Chloe simply kisses her cheek and says, "You have the softest heart, Babe. And I love you for that."

Although her anger has eased, Beca huffs in half-annoyance but says nothing else. Then she takes Chloe's left hand in hers before kissing it gently. The rest of the drive is spent with Chloe talking about the duet plan, and Beca simply listens silently.

In a rush of an impulse, Beca had made a decision that she regretted right after the high from singing together with the redhead eased; a decision that now she realized would hurt Ashley. Therefore, instead of talking about the duet excitedly with her girlfriend, Beca simply nods absentmindedly while her mind is sinking in a sorrow from offering something that she can't take back.

* * *

 

 **December 31** **st** **2025, The New Year's Party.**

The Bellas started to arrive in L.A. since December 29th. However, Beca hadn't really spent time with them because she was swamped with work upon taking too many off days in the last three months.

One of the relieving thing is that, Chloe seems to be more comfortable without her all the time. In the last few days, the redhead happily spent times with their sisters instead of coming with her girlfriend to the studio. The texts and phone calls were still as many, but she didn't get upset when Beca didn't have the chance to reply or pick up immediately. Even so when Beca is still working in her studio by seven on New Year's eve.

The DJ arrives at the hotel at nine, and she immediately heads to her suite to take a shower and change. When she walks into their suite, she finds that the redhead is already wearing a dark blue dress that punctuates her red hair and brightens her bright blue eyes. Chloe greets her with a prolonged kiss and a glass of water. "You seem tired, Babe."

After drinking the water, Beca smiles tiredly and says, "I'm fine, Chlo."

Chloe presses a chaste kiss on her lips again and says, "I've prepared your suit on the bed. I picked the maroon red one."

"Thanks Babe." Beca says before walking into the bathroom.

She's standing in front of the mirror, wiping her face clean with a milk cleanser. After pulling out her shirt, Beca stops on her track when her eyes catch the tattoo on her left chest from the reflection in the mirror. Instantly, the suffocating pain in her chest makes her eyes teary and her eyebrows slightly furrowed.

"Babe!" Suddenly, Chloe calls from outside of the bathroom.

Beca clears her throat and replies, "Yeah?!"

"I will go to the party first!" Chloe exclaims. "Join us quickly, okay?!"

"I will!" 

Then she turns to look back into the mirror, simply staring at _AVB_ on her left chest for a while. Beca swallows hard and gently put her right hand on her left chest, closing her eyes to put her attention solely on her steady heartbeat.

It's been ten days since the last time she heard from Ashley. Moreover, this is the last day of the year. Usually, in the last five years, Ashley and her would check their bucket list before making a new one, planning the things they wanted to do the next year together.

After five times of making plans to live her life with Ashley, it's indeed hard to end this year without her. It feels final; it feels like there's no way back. This time, she'll have to make a plan, to not only picturing her life without Ashley, but to actually not including the blonde in her life's plan anymore.

Suddenly, a song comes into her mind; a song she wrote more than three years ago when Ashley left her. Just like that, her lips start singing it automatically,

 _It's like a song, that no one hears_  
_I'm screaming out, but you're not here_  
_All I wanna do_  
_All I wanna do_  
_Is say I love you_  
_All I wanna do_  
_All I wanna do  
_ _Is say I care_

" _I love you, Hon."_ Beca pleaded. _"Please don't let this come between us."_

" _Saying I love you doesn't mean anything when it's not followed with any act of prove, Babe."_ Ashley said with restraint voice.

Beca took Ashley's hand and pressed it on her own left chest. _"Feel it? It's beating for you, Hon. I don't want to move in not because I don't love you enough. I just... I'm scared."_

 _Words don't work_  
_Feeling like they have no worth_  
_Here and now  
_ _There's nothing in between_

She remembers it clearly; Ashley was crying when she says, _"Babe... Right now, there's nothing between us but fear. Your fear. I'm also terrified to take this step, but I don't let it come between our love. You do."_

That was the last thing Ashley said to her before walking out from her apartment.

 _How could I_  
_Ever describe the way I feel?_  
_Why should I_  
_Even try when obviously_  
_All the words that I say seem to get in my way_  
_Only wish I could_  
_Say it with a heartbeat  
_ _Say it with a heartbeat_

Back then, she didn't know how to tell the woman she loved that she was indeed in love with her, as much as not ready she was to move in together. Every reasons she gave didn't work, every love revelations weren't enough to make the blonde stay; not until she opened up and surrendered all of herself.

 _It's like a stage_  
_Without a crowd_  
_My best performance_  
_But no one's proud_  
_All I wanna do_  
_All I wanna do_  
_Is say I love you_  
_All I wanna do_  
_All I wanna do  
_ _Is say I care_

 _I swear my words don't work_  
_Feeling like they have no worth_  
_Here and now  
_ _There's nothing in between_

Gradually, warmth starts to spread from her chest, working its way to the tip of her fingers, making her shivering, and her voice is shaking from the overwhelming suffocating emotion of missing her ex so badly. But she keep on singing, even when her throat is hurt from the painful lump, even with her chest tightened.

 _How could I_  
_Ever describe the way I feel?_  
_Why should I_  
_Even try when obviously all the words that I say_  
_Seem to get in my way_  
_Only wish I could_  
_Say it with a heartbeat  
_ _Say it with a heartbeat_

She ends the song breathlessly, panting to catch some air, unaware that a single track of tears is already running down her face. She's weak on her knees, and she bends forward, resting her elbows on the sink with her hands holding her head, grasping her hair tightly, choking back the sobs.

It takes a while until she can get a grip, and she walks under the shower. With her eyes closed, she lifts her chin up, letting the cold water pouring onto her face, hoping that it will wash away the pain and the sorrow from loving someone too deeply.

Meanwhile, her hands are held right in front of her chest; her right hand is brushing the black carbide ring on her left ring finger, rolling it gently around.

She doesn't how long she's been staying under the shower, but suddenly, there's a soft knock on the door, and Emily says, "Pop, Chloe asked me to check on you."

Slowly, Beca opens her eyes, turns down the shower, and brushes the water off her head with both of her hands, pressing her head tightly as if wishing that the thought of her ex will flow out of it along with the water.

"You okay in there, Pop?"

"Ju-" Her voice comes out in barely a whisper. Therefore, she coughs lightly several times before replying, "Just a minute, Em."

"Okay." Emily sounds worried. "As long as you're okay. I'll wait in the TV area."

Beca walks out from the shower and dries her hair with a hair drier before wrapping her body with a towel. Then she walks out from the bathroom, heading straight to the bed to put on her clothes.

After that, she takes out something out of her messenger bag, holding and twirling it between her thumb and index finger while considering bringing it with her. With a nervous huff, she shoves it into her pocket.

When she's putting on a light make up, Emily walks into the bedroom and asks, "You okay, Pop?"

"U huh." Beca replies with a light nod.

Even though Emily can see that her former captain is somehow seems off, she doesn't push.

After the DJ is done, she says, "Let's go."

Emily simply nods and links her arm with Beca's, kissing her temple before walking out of the room. When they reach the rooftop, the party is already started. Some of the Bellas are dancing with their own spouses, and some of them are grouping around a table.

"What time is this, Em?" Beca asks.

"It's almost 10.30."

"Wow." Beca states flatly.

"Babe!" Chloe calls cheerfully, and Beca turns to look at her right side, smiling lightly to see the redhead is sitting around a table with Flo, Jessica, and Ashley.

The smile on her face doesn't reach her cloudy eyes, and Emily can see it. Even though Beca didn't tell her, Emily knew that it must had something to do with not having Ashley. Knowing that there's nothing she can say or do to make Beca feel any better, the youngest Bella simply puts one hand on Beca's left shoulder and squeezes it gently.

Beca sighs, smiling at Emily before walking toward her girlfriend. When she's already standing beside the redhead, Chloe immediately wraps her around the waist, pouting as she asks, "What took you so long?"

With a light smile on the corner of her lips, Beca rests her left hand around Chloe's shoulder, bending down to kiss her crown and says, "Took a long shower, Babe."

Chloe simply smiles in return, and then Flo waves at her with a sheepish smile, saying, "Hey, Beca."

The DJ points her chin slightly at the Guatemalan and says, "Hey, Flo. It's good seeing you here." Then she turns to Jessica and Ashley, still smiling lightly when she says, "It's good to see all of you can make it. Though sorry that I was busy lately."

The said couple say cheerfully in unison, "We're glad to be here."

Still with her arms wrapping the DJ tightly and her head resting on Beca's side, Chloe cheerfully says, "It was her idea to bring all of you out here to have New Year with us."

"Really?" Jessica asks in surprise, and then Ashley adds, "We thought it was Stacie's idea."

After Beca pulls a chair to sit next to her, Chloe immediately hugs her from aside, and the DJ wraps the redhead's shoulder before saying toward the couple, "It was... our idea actually."

"Chloe was just about to tell us about you two spending Christmas in Chicago." Flo states warmly.

"We did." Beca says. Then she let Chloe tell the story while she herself simply smiles and nods along to approve the story.

Suddenly, someone smacks the back of her shoulder.

"Hey, Shawshank!" Fat Amy greets her.

While rubbing her shoulder with her face scrunched in mock upset, Beca scolds, "You didn't have to smack me that hard, Fat Amy."

"I didn't smack you that hard." Fat Amy reasons casually. "You just have weak muscles, BM."

Beca scoffs, "And you have too much muscles. Oh, I mean _fat_ , Amy."

Everybody laugh all together. It's a relieved that they can talk, and even joke with each other again after the feud. When the laughter unwind, CR asks, "How are you, shorty?"

"I'm fine." Beca smiles lightly.

Then Chloe kisses her girlfriend's cheek and says, "I'll get you something to drink. Anything you want, Babe?"

"Just hot tea or hot milk." Beca replies with an appreciative smile.

After the redhead left, the rest of the Bellas are surrounding the DJ, taking every seats and chairs around the table, leaving their spouses out of the circle.

With her eyebrows furrowed, Beca asks, "Where are your kids?"

"In a huge entertainment room playing with their nannies." Stacie says.

"Oh." Beca nods absentmindedly.

"Everything seem to be going smoothly between you and ginger, Capt." Fat Amy states.

"Yeah." Beca smiles lightly. "Things have been better lately."

"Lately?" Flo asks in confusion. "Was it not... fine?"

Aubrey hurriedly says, "Beca means, lately since they started dating. It hasn't been two months, Flo. It's still _lately_ for them. In fact, they're still in their honeymoon phase. Stacie and I couldn't stand their sex noises, and we had to kick them out of our house."

The Bellas laugh whole-heartily while Beca just smiles bitterly. On her side, Emily simply rests her hand on her former captain's knee without saying anything, doesn't want to ruin the good vibe around them.

Then Fat Amy teases, "Well, judging from ginger's hot body, I'd be surprised if Shawshank every got out of her bedroom at all."

Another bark of laughter erupts among them, and still, the DJ just smiles lightly in return. Then Chloe comes back with a glass of hot milk, and Beca says, "Thanks Babe."

When Beca is sipping her drink slowly, Fat Amy asks the redhead, "How's sex with captain, ginger? Did she give you any sex injury?"

Beca chokes on her milk, snorting liquid out of her nose, coughing so hard, and Chloe wipes her face with a napkin, giggling softly while the other Bellas are laughing so hard at the DJ. On the other hand, Emily is walking away to get the tiny brunette another glass of milk and water.

After her face is clean from any liquid, Beca scolds with hoarse voice, "Fuck you, Fat Amy."

"Oh don't." Fat Amy shakes her head with mocked terrified look. "I don't want ginger to eat my soul."

Beca shakes her head, sighing in annoyance before taking the glass of water and milk from Emily.

"So?" CR asks.

"So what?" Beca asks before drinking her water.

"The sex injury." Flo states in a manner that says _duh_.

Upon seeing that her girlfriend is drinking her water with her cheeks flushed, Chloe takes away the glass to avoid another choking incident before answering playfully, "It was earth shattering, mind blowing, and like nothing I've experienced before. And yeah. I did get my fair share of sex injury with her." She ends it with a playful wink.

"Chloe!" Beca scolds while her friends are laughing whole-heartily.

After the laughter unwind, upon seeing the childlike upset look on her girlfriend's face, Chloe chuckles lightly and kisses her cheek before saying, "I was kidding, guys. My love here treated me so, so tenderly. Like I was made of glass. So, as earth shattering and mind blowing as it was, I had no sex injury."

"Huh." Fat Amy raises an eyebrow doubtfully. "I don't believe you ginger. Usually, the quiet type like Shawshank is a horse on bed."

Beca smirks, "Are you saying that you're not a horse on bed? I mean, judging by how loud you are."

"Ooooohhh..." The rest of the Bellas responds with mock-terrified look.

"Girl fight!" CR exclaims.

"I'm a free range pony, Shawshank." Fat Amy says smugly, moving her body animatedly as she explains, "You can ask Bumper if you don't believe me. I can do it upside down with my head under his-"

"Stop!" Her friends exclaim all at the same time, and then they laugh again.

After that, they simply talk and joke around while waiting for the count down. Ten minutes before midnight, one by one, they start to spread around to find their own spouses.

Chloe pulls her girlfriend to the middle area, and they dance slowly to A Step You Can't Take Back by Keira Knightley. Beca puts her focus solely on her girlfriend, who is smiling so, so brightly in front of her.

Upon seeing the fondness pouring out from Chloe's blue eyes, the DJ feels like thousands of butterflies are flapping their wings in her stomach.

"Ten!" Her friends count loudly. "Nine!... Eight!... Seven!..."

In every count, Beca can feel it; every thump in her chest, and everything else disappear for a moment but Chloe's blue eyes in front of her and her steady heartbeat.

 _Are you ready for the last act,_  
_To take a step  
_ _You can't take back_

Those lyrics sink into Beca's mind, and when the countdown hits one, she uses her left hand to brush a strain of Chloe's silky red hair to the back of her ear, resting it on the back of the redhead's neck, pulling her in a kiss while her other hand find its way to the small on Chloe's back.

Everything comes to the redhead in a slow motion. The gentle touch on her cheek and ear, the determined grip on the back of her neck, the steady hold on the small of her back, Beca's steely blue eyes fluttering close as her lips come closer to her own.

Then, as those warm lips touch hers, Chloe closes her eyes and returns the kiss whole-heartily while sliding down her hands to wrap her girlfriend in a tight hug. Even Chloe can feel how different this kiss from any other kisses they had before. She doesn't feel any hesitation coming from her girlfriend. It's a kiss from a very same person, yet it feels so differently, and it sends sparks all over her body, making her weak on her knees.

For a moment, the whole world disappear, and it's just the two of them, kissing passionately. When they finally break the kiss, Chloe finally notices the blaring sound of fireworks up above the sky, and so does the brunette.

Both of them ignore the amazing colorful fireworks above them. Instead, they simply stare into each other's eyes. With her eyes fixed on Chloe's, Beca softly breaths out, "I love you."

"I love you too, Beca Mitchell." Chloe replies as softly. "With everything I am, for everything you are."

Just when Beca thought that she was ready to take another step forward, the memory of Ashley came back to her mind.

" _You are so maddening to be in love with, Beca Mitchell. But I love you anyway."_

That's when she finally realized something; finally accepted something, and it brings a genuine smile on her face.

Cheerfully, Chloe pulls her girlfriend to sit on a chair, and she herself sits on Beca's laps from aside with her arms tangled around the DJ's neck. Beca wraps her tightly around the waist and presses her lips onto Chloe's upper arm.

Suddenly, Stacie comes up to the stage and stands behind the mic with a glass of champagne in her hand. "Attention, aca-bitches! Pick up your glasses because I'm about to give a toast!"

With glasses ready in their own hands, the Bellas cheer for her, and she says with a huge grin, "It's already 2026 now. There were so many things, ups and downs in 2025. But I'd like to remind all of us about one thing, the most important thing that happened to us in 2025."

The Bellas become silent, simply staring at the tall brunette in front of them, and Stacie clears her throat before softly saying, "It was through a hard time, ten years worth of hard work, and tears, and sweat, and pain, but we finally got our shorty back. And in a way, we also got our Chloe back." She turns to look at the DJ. "I knew it wasn't easy for all of us in the beginning, shorty. But I, and I believe the rest of our sisters feel the same, we are so, so glad to have you back."

Beca simply smiles with her eyes slightly teary, and Chloe kisses her temple gently. Then Stacie continues, "Welcome back to the place where you belong, Shorty. With us. With Chloe. And we couldn't be happier to see that you two finally be together; like it was supposed to be since we were in college. This is how life's supposed to be for all of us. Bella in a complete sisterhood. Bella, is our home. _We_ , are your home, Shorty."

A lump is starting to form in Beca's throat, but she keep on smiling. On the other hand, Stacie can see that all of her sisters have become emotional. Therefore, she raises her glass and says, "For our captain. Welcome home, Shorty. We love you."

"For Beca!"

"For Shawshank!"

"For Shorty!"

"For Captain!"

"For Pop!"

"For my DJ!"

They exclaim all at the same time before throwing their head back, drinking whole-heartily to approve Stacie's speech. Beca herself takes a sip of her hot milk along with her sisters.

"We'd like to hear a speech from you, Shawshank!" Fat Amy exclaims, and again, Beca chokes on her milk, erupting another loud laughter from everybody.

After she's done choking and coughing, Beca says with hoarse voice, "No. I appreciate the toast, but uhm... I'm not good with words."

"We don't care, captain!" CR exclaims.

"We want speech, Pop!" Emily chips in, and then the rest of the Bellas chant, "We, want, speech! We, want, speech! We, want, speech!"

Chloe giggles softly and kisses her cheek before getting up and says, "Go Babe. We don't want to have a riot as the first thing we do in 2026."

Beca rolls her eyes and stands up, and then her sisters cheer loudly, clapping their hands cheerfully. Slowly, the DJ walks toward the stage and stands behind the mic. For a while, she simply looks at her sister's face one by one, seeing the spark in their eyes and fond smiles on their faces.

Then she takes a deep breath and blows out a long steady breath through her mouth before saying, "I don't know how to show all of you how sorry I am for leaving ten years ago. I..." She clears her throat. "As much as I can, I will try to make it up to all of you. And I'm glad to be back. Thank you for accepting me after all of the mess I've made." She raises her glass of milk. "For us. The Bella. And for taking another step forward to start 2026."

Again, everybody drink bottom up and cheer loudly. Then all of them go up to the stage to have a group hug, holding and telling each other how much they love their sisters in Bella.

After everybody get off the stage, Beca doesn't join her sisters. Instead, she finds a secluded area at the back of the elevator and pulls out the thing in her pocket; a pack of cigarette. Then she pulls one out of the box and puts it in between her teeth.

Even without lighting the cig up, Beca feels more relax. How powerful our brain is to remember the effect of something to our body. Then she shoves her hands into her pocket, simply staring down at the city lights while her mind is untangling the knot of thoughts in her mind slowly.

After a while, she can hear footsteps coming from behind, but she doesn't look back to find out who it is.

"You okay, Pop?" Emily asks worriedly, and when she stands beside her former captain, she gasps, "You smoke?"

Still staring down at the city lights, Beca pulls the cig out of her mouth and calmly says, "No, I don't. It's a metaphor. You put the killing thing right between your teeth, but you don't give it the power to do its killing."

Emily sighs in relief and asks in surprise, "You read John Green?"

Beca scoffs, "No. Ashley read that particular part for me years ago. But I remember it closely."

"Oh."

After a moment of silent, hesitantly, Emily says, "You don't seem happy, Pop."

"Hm?"

"You said," Emily sighs again. "You said you're glad to be back. But the look on your face said the otherwise."

With a sad smile, Beca says, "Stacie was right. Bella is my first home. I'm supposed to be with all of you. With Chloe."

"But...?"

Still with that sad smile on her face and her eyes fixed forward, Beca takes a deep breath and calmly says, "I just never thought that home would end up where I don't feel that I belong, Em. You, all of you, you mean me no harm. But I didn't see how all of you accepted the changes in my life when for you, the only person I should end up with is a person I loved more than ten years ago; when in order to make Chloe happy, it's okay for all of you to brush off my pain of losing Ashley."

Emily's chest tightened upon seeing and feeling the vulnerability coming from her former captain. Without saying anything, she simply hugs the DJ from aside and kisses her temple, and Beca let her, squeezing Emily's arm on her chest gently.

Then Beca clears her throat and says, "But it's okay, Em. I finally realized that... I might not be able to change the way I feel about Ashley. Maybe, I will always love her. Maybe, it will always be her for me. Maybe, she'll always be a part of me that I can't get rid of as much as I've tried or ever will try. Maybe, she'll always be on my mind in every step I take. But I've accepted that it will be Chloe in my future. Now my part to do is moving on. Even though without letting go."

Emily sighs deeply for the umpteenth times and says with restraint voice, "I feel your pain, Pop. Believe me, I do. But us... all of us, we're in the middle of both of you. You might not realize this yet, but like Stacie said, the day you walked away, we didn't only lose you. We also lost Chloe. And it was so painful to have her physically, but not really having her with us. She was with us, but she wasn't. And the most painful thing was, there was nothing we could do to help her but seeing her drifting and slipping away before our eyes; running to every corners of the earth to escape your shadow in her life by joining the peace corps."

"I know." Beca smiles bitterly. "That's why I can't blame any of you. Ever."

"You'll be fine, Pop." Emily says softly. "Time heals everything."

Beca scoffs lightly and corrects her, "Time heals _almost_ everything, Em. Not everything."

"Then give it a chance to try."

Beca nods and calmly says, "I am. Giving it a chance."

"You know we love you, Pop." Emily adds softly. "Just as much as we love, Chloe. We also know that you've become so much stronger. Much stronger than Chloe. You'll get through this. We'll be with you in every step of the way."

"Thanks, Em." Beca says softly.

"Babe?" Chloe's voice comes from behind, and Emily pulls away gently, simply smiling at the redhead before walking away.

Beca puts on a smile, let the cig slipping out of her fingers as she turns around, and says, "Hey."

Chloe puts her hands on the brunette's shoulders and worriedly asks, "You okay?"

"I'm okay." Beca nods, smiling lightly at the redhead.

With a relieved sigh, Chloe asks, "What did you talk about with Em?"

"About an amazing person all of us love." Beca says without hesitation, and when Chloe gives her a puzzled look, she adds, "You."

Chloe smiles fondly, resting one hand on Beca's cheek before kissing her lips chastely and says, "I love you too."

"I know." Beca replies softly. After kissing Chloe's hand on her cheek, she says, "Let's go back to our sisters. I don't want Fat Amy to think that I lured you to have a quickie over here."

"Maybe we should. You know, just to mess with her." Chloe teases, and Beca barks out a loud laughter.

Upon seeing her girlfriend laughing, Chloe sighs in relief and hugs her tightly before whispering over her ear, "How I love to see you smile, Babe."

With her chest warm, Beca simply kisses the side of her head gently. After Chloe breaks the hug, she pulls the tiny brunette back to the place where their sisters are gathering.

* * *

 

Sometimes around three in the morning, the party unwind, and they go back to their suites. When Beca and Chloe are already in their bedroom, the redhead says, "Babe, do you mind if I wash up first?"

"Sure." Beca replies while taking off her blazer, still wearing her black button up shirt and pantsuit. Then she sits on the bed, leaning her back on the headboards with her eyes closed, humming softly to A Step You Can't Take Back.

* * *

 

**Smut is starting from here dudes and dudettes :)**

Not long after, Chloe softly calls, "Babe..."

"Hm?" Beca opens her eyes, and she's struck upon seeing Chloe's appearance.

The redhead is only in a hot red lingerie that can barely contain her breasts and ass. Planning to let her girlfriend to take the first move, Chloe stands silently, smiling shyly with her cheeks flushed, while her arms wrapping her torso.

Beca swallows hard, feeling her heart pounding in her chest and her blood rushing, throbbing in her ears. After picking up her jaw and takes a deep breath, the DJ walks toward the redhead slowly.

When she's already standing before her girlfriend, gently, Beca rests her hands on Chloe's waist, feeling how heated the redhead's skin under the silky cloth, and she herself can feel the heat is raising in her.

Beca leans forward to press her lips on Chloe's collarbone, making the redhead hissing through her teeth, and then the brunette presses another kiss on the side of her neck, breathing the warm scent of her girlfriend into her chest.

" _Ngh..."_ Chloe whimpers softly, stirring her neck when the kiss sends spark to the tip of her fingers, holding herself up by tangling her arms behind Beca's neck.

Then Beca kisses her lips, brushing it gently with the tip of her tongue, asking for opening. Chloe grants her the request by parting her lips slightly, and their warm breaths fade into one. Without breaking the kiss, Beca turns their position and walks toward the bed, leading her girlfriend along with her by her waist.

When Chloe is already lying on the bed, breathing heavily, Beca just stares at her softly and brushes away a strain of hair on her forehead. Then she let her left hand wanders over the silky lingerie, trailing the tip of her fingers down from the redhead's neck, crossing the crook between her breasts, circling under the line of her breast to the curvy side of her body. Then she simply moves the back of her hand back and forth, brushing it upside down on Chloe's lustrous curve.

It's more than enough to drive her girlfriend over the edge, grasping her brown hair tightly on her scalp just to hold herself, and Beca takes it all in with her eyes; the way Chloe is biting her bottom lip tightly; how her chest is heaving, breathing heavily; her cheeks are red; and her blue eyes are dilated.

With a soft smile, Beca kisses her forehead and says, "I love you." Then another kiss on the tip on her nose. "I love you." Tilting slightly downward to kiss her lips. "I love you."

Then she pulls down to kiss the redhead's neck. "I love you."

Chloe's eyes roll back, and she grips the sheet tightly beside her body, biting her bottom lip, trying to hold the pleasure of tickling sensation that is spreading all over her body when the DJ kisses her all over her neck and upper chest while mumbling _I love you_ over and over again with every kiss.

After that, with her left hand pinching the redhead breast gently, Beca lips attends the other one, brushing her nose on Chloe's hardened nipple over the lingerie, pressing it gently before nibbling it between her lips and then sweeping it with the tip of her tongue, making the redhead moaning loudly.

" _Ngh... Babe..."_

Then the DJ moves her lips to the other breast, doing the same thing with her nose and tongue, but this time, she pulls it gently with her teeth, and Chloe can't help herself but pulling out Beca's shirt out of her pants, wanting to feel her girlfriend's heated skin against hers.

However, when the tiny brunette automatically, even absentmindedly pulls herself away slightly, the redhead doesn't push. She doesn't want her girlfriend to stop. Therefore, she just rests her hands on Beca's back, gripping her shirt tightly to hold herself back.

Satisfied exploring the breasts, Beca pulls downward slowly, brushing her nose across Chloe's abdomen, giving gentle pinching with her lips in some places still over the soft silky fabric. Meanwhile, Chloe is overwhelmed, and she relish every touch with loud moaning, arching her back up, asking for more.

Now that Beca is breathing in front on her core, Chloe can feel every fiber of her being is throbbing from the rushing blood, and she just can't hold herself from pleading, _"Babe... please..."_

Beca smirks, "Patient, Babe."

" _I can't..."_

Still with that devilish smirk, Beca says, "You have to." Then she nudges the tip on her nose so, so gently from Chloe's clit down to her core over the soft fabric, and it's soaked instantly with the redhead's essence.

Obviously, the redhead is not wearing any underwear, and finding that out certainly boils the brunette's blood, and with all she might, she rips off the red lingerie out of her way. The thin strings by Chloe's shoulders could never compete with the brunette's overbearing desire.

" _Babe, Please..."_ Chloe pleads while trashing, stirring her head from side to side, biting her bottom lip so hard while her hands is grasping the sheet on the side of her head tightly.

Ignoring the pleading, Beca just closes her eyes, breathing in Chloe's natural scent into her lungs, and she flexes her neck to hold the desire in her chest. Then, gently, she brushes the tip of her tongue on the redhead's core, tasting the warm sweet nectar from it.

" _Oh God..."_ Chloe breathes out heavily. _"Please don't stop..."_

Without pulling away, Beca puts the redhead's thighs on her shoulders while her tongue is dancing and twirling its way in a steady rhythm.

When the brunette bites her labia gently, Chloe arches up, moaning loudly while grasping her own hair tightly.

Feeling satisfied of exploring the redhead's core with her tongue, Beca pulls herself up to look at Chloe's face closely. Upon seeing that the taller girl is writhing at her whim, Beca can't help but smiling triumphantly.

Then the brunette takes Chloe's left hand with her own right hand, and kisses each knuckles gently before intertwining their fingers and pinning them above the older girl's head.

The redhead grips onto her girlfriend's hand tightly, breathing out, _"Ju- just fuck me already... please..."_

But Beca isn't Beca if she doesn't take her time and pleasure by driving her girlfriend crazy. Slowly, she trails her left hand down to the redhead's core, splitting the labia and pressing it gently with her middle finger, and then Chloe grips the back of the brunette's neck with her right hand, pulling the smaller girl closer and begs, _"Please... Babe... I can't hold it any longer..."_

With a growl coming from her throat, the DJ crashes her lips onto Chloe's soft and warm one, pulling her into a breathless kiss while at the same time thrusting her middle finger in. Chloe shudders, accidentally bites the brunette's bottom lip, making the smaller girl hisses in pleasure, but they don't stop kissing.

Their damp heavy breaths are deafening, and nothing else matters for the DJ but the loud moaning sound coming out from the redhead's lips. Gently, Beca moves her finger in and out while her thumb is pressing the redhead's clit in circle. When the brunette thrusts in another finger, Chloe squirms, grasping the brown hair of her girlfriend so tightly in between her fingers.

The DJ twirls her fingers inside, building the pace faster, while the redhead presses her thighs so tightly to each other, crossing her tan legs to tighten her core. Their heaving chests are pressing onto each other's with the brunette's shirt soaking wet in the mixture of her own and Chloe's sweat.

When it seems like Chloe is about to blow up, the brunette stops her fingers and breaths out, _"Babe... open your eyes and look at me."_

As heavy as it seems like, Chloe's eyes flutter open, showing her dark blue dilated pupils, and the brunette thrusts her fingers in and presses the clit with her thumb at the same time. Chloe screams out the DJ's name loudly, arching her back up so high, curling her toes out so widely.

Chloe is squirting, staying arched up for a couple of seconds before falling down effortlessly; out of breath and soaked in sweat. The brunette slows down her fingers, helping her girlfriend riding down the high wave before pulling her fingers out and wipes it dry on Chloe's thigh.

Then Beca looks at the redhead's face, smiling softly upon seeing the redhead is still trying to catch her breaths with her cheeks red and her forehead wet from sweating. But the smile on the taller girl's face is showing satisfaction.

Upon seeing Chloe's contented look, Beca brushes the wet red hair out of her face and kisses her slightly parted and warm lips before leaning next to her ear and whispers, "I love you."

Chloe's smile becomes wider and the look in her eyes becomes fonder. After her breathing even out, the redhead looks at her girlfriend in the eye and softly says, "I so, so want to do it for you. Will you at least let me try?"

Beca swallows hard and nods lightly.

Beaming in happiness, Chloe starts unbuttoning her girlfriend's shirt. However, just when she's about to open the second button, she looks up and finds that the brunette is scrunching her face, seeming terrified with her face pale.

With a sad yet understanding smile, Chloe buttons up the shirt back and kisses her girlfriend chastely on the lips. Then the brunette opens her eyes, staring at the redhead with puzzled look.

"You're not ready." Chloe says softly. "And I don't want to push you. You were right. I want you to completely want it when it happens. And I will wait, Babe. I can wait."

Beca's eyes become teary, moved by how understanding her girlfriend is. Then she leans closer to kiss the redhead deeply, holding her tightly. After they break the kiss, the brunette teases, "How about another round for you, Babe?"

"Will never say no to that." Chloe winks. "This is the best way to start our 2026 together."

Then Beca starts all over again, exploring every inch on the redhead's body, finding every sensitive spots on it, imprinting them to the back of her brain.

**End of smut.**

* * *

 

When they're done and Chloe is already curling up onto the brunette's chest, she softly says, "I don't know how or why, but it feels different from the way you did it before, Babe. So, so different."

"Different how?" Beca asks in confusion while twirling Chloe's red locks with her fingers.

Chloe pulls up slightly to look at her girlfriend and says, "I don't know exactly. It's just... you took your time, and the way you touched me, the way you kissed me, even the way you... looked at me, it was like you just saw and touched me for the very first time."

"Hmmm..." Beca sucks her teeth with her eyebrows furrowed, tapping her left hand on Chloe's back gently, taking her time to think, and then her eyes widen when a realization hits her.

" _I didn't think about Ashley at all. Not even for a second."_

Upon seeing the look, Chloe asks, "Why is it, Babe? Anything different from me this time? Was it the lingerie?"

Beca smirks and teases, "Well... the lingerie did do an outstanding job showing every curves on your body. It's too bad that I ripped it."

With her endearing pout, Chloe asks, "So, it's only because of the red lingerie?"

Beca barks out a loud laughter and kisses her lips chastely before saying, "No. The red lingerie wouldn't work if it wasn't on you, Babe. It's the way you look in it, the way you smile, the way you call my name, the way... it was because of you."

"Hmph." Chloe is still pouting, but the light tug of smile by the corner of her lips give her away. "Right answer, Mitchell."

Upon seeing how adorable the redhead is, Beca can't help but barking out another laughter, and Chloe simply giggles softly while resting her temple back onto her girlfriend's chest. Suddenly, the redhead says, "Wait a second."

The confused look on Beca's face changes into a light smile when Chloe comes back with her security blanket. That night, Beca feels something changes in her. Even though she can't pin point exactly what it is, but she can feel it. Long after the redhead fell asleep, the DJ just keep staring at her face softly until she herself falls asleep.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  That, would be chapter 28. This is the longest chapter so far. How was it? Hope it's good enough. And for the smut, like I said in the opening, I'm still finding it hard to write a full vivid smut. But I tried. Hopefully, it's not too messy.
> 
> For the next chapter, we'll have a time jump to a couple of months after this. And for you who missed Ashley, she will be in the next chapter.
> 
> So... until then, sit tight and make good choices. Thank you for reading :)


	29. The Said Moving On

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey Folks :D Happy weekend  
> Thank you the readers, the followers, the people who favors, and the reviewers :)
> 
> Now, let's get back to the story. In the last chapter, you read about how Beca and Chloe had their first Christmas and New Year together as a couple. For this chapter, there will be a six weeks jump from the previous one. The focus is still on three main characters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a piece of Photograph by Ed Sheeran, and another song; Why I Love You by Major. I don't own Pitch Perfect, nor most of the characters, neither the songs. Hope you enjoy :D

**Beca's Studio : February 10** **th** **2026**

Emily walks into the DJ's office and asks, "Pop, want to have lunch together out of this office?"

"I'm good, Em." Beca replies while working on her computer. "I brought my own lunch."

"Huh?" Emily is confused, taking a seat across from the DJ and says, "It's not like you at all to bring your own food."

Beca smiles, still looking at the screen in front of her as she says, "Chloe cooked every day, Em. She made me breakfast and lunch. And then for dinner, she would cook again. She has tried so many recipes for me."

"Ooohh..." Emily teases. " _Mom_ brought you lunch, Pop? How unfair for the aca-child. Who is the child again between the two of us by the way?"

With her cheeks flushed, Beca rolls her eyes and mutters, "Shut up, kid."

Emily laughs lightly and says, "Then let me join you. I'll order something."

"Sure."

After calling a delivery service, the youngest Bella says, "I take it that things have been better lately."

Beca puts her computer to sleep and turns to look at her aca-child, smiling as she says, "You can say that. I mean, we talked, a lot. Mostly about our lives after Barden. The days she was in Peace Corps, and I was in hiding, and so many other stuff. It's like I'm learning to know her all over again."

"Great!" Emily exclaims. "How does it feel? Did you find her somehow different from the college Chloe?"

"Ng..." Beca purses her lips, shaking her head lightly while saying, "One thing or two. But she's still as amazing. If not more. You know, she's Chloe, Em. And she's feeling more like herself lately, and it's good. I don't want her to define herself with her mental disorder. So we talked about it. The more we talked, the less we fought. The less we fought, the less distressed we were. The less distressed we were, the more we spent good times together. I mean, she's still second guessing me sometimes, still insecure about me leaving her, but she's learning how to confide her feelings more appropriately. Not only by being angry."

"And how about her therapy?" Emily asks while absentmindedly arranging the stuff on the desk. "She's still having it right? And her meds?"

"We take care of each other, Em." Beca says softly. "We reminded each other to take our meds every day. And the therapy is going so well for her. She's been seeing Pauline twice a week, and go to a group therapy at least once a week in the last six weeks. I came with her one time or two to learn how to deal with her symptoms. We even meditate together every morning and night before we go to sleep."

"Hmmm..." Emily nods, smiling softly upon seeing how relaxed the DJ seems to be. "Seems like everything is working out."

"Yeah." Beca smiles softly. "Everything's been better. I've been thinking about taking her out on a date. You know, it's almost Valentine's Day."

Emily whistles teasingly, "First official date, huh Pop?"

While scratching the back of her head with her cheeks flushed, Beca grins shyly as she failingly tries to say nonchalantly, "I just... It feels so good to see her happy, Em. I... I want to make her happy. Besides, we can celebrate the release of our first single. You know, as a couple."

Emily's face lighten up, and she says, "I came here to tell you that. Your song will be released tomorrow in iTunes. Thanks by the way, for letting me producing that song. It was the best experience for me; to see you two singing together again. And Chloe was pouring out sunshine from every pores in her body when you were recording."

With a light chuckle, Beca says, "She was. She still talk about it every single day until today. It's one of the reasons she's been more relaxed you know; knowing that we'll put something out there that belongs to us."

"It's great and all Pop. But," Emily looks at her former captain in concern. "Have you thought about the outcome after the song is released? With the media?"

"Yep." Beca pops the P. "I have planned the whole thing with Donna and my publicists."

Their conversation is cut off when a delivery guy comes in with Emily's lunch. After the man left, Emily and Beca continue their conversation while eating.

"What plan Pop?" Emily asks with her mouth full.

Beca swallows her sandwich and says, "I had a meeting with my publicists last week. We knew that soon, the news about Chloe and me would come out. It's inevitable. Therefore, before the media blows up, we will put the song out first, you know, to soften the beach. Questions will arise about Chloe's identity, and then, after we make our first appearance as a couple, my publicists will put out my official statement in my fanpage about our relationship."

"Great plan." Emily nods before taking a sip of her water. "What is your official statement?"

Diverting her eyes away from the youngest Bella, Beca chews slowly and swallows before muttering, "That I'm dating my college sweetheart who is also my first love."

Emily chokes on her food, and after drinking to ease the sore throat, she asks, "Seriously?"

Upon seeing how red Beca's face is, Emily laughs whole-heartily, and then the DJ mutters, "Shut up, Em. It was my publicists' idea."

After she's able to compose herself, while wiping the tears on the corner of her eye, Emily says, "Sorry, Pop. Couldn't help it. I mean, don't you think it's a bit... not you at all?"

Beca rolls her eyes in half-annoyance and says, "I know. But it's our safest bet. We've covered all of the public records about me and her. You know, after the duet, the issue about my college life will arise. I have to make sure that the media can't trace it back to Warren. And about Chloe, we've covered all of her condition in the last ten years. But the official statement, it's to protect her from the fanatic fans."

"Oh." Emily nods in understanding. "I bet the fans who ship you and Ashley will be furious. The fans can be... militant on the internet. Especially for finding out that their relation _ship_ goal has already sunk to the bottom of the sea."

"Yeah." Beca presses her lips with wide eyes, nodding in approval. "I remember it well when Ashley and I just started dating. The PLL's fans shipped Ashley with Tyler in the series. That made me the bad guy who separated and crushed their dream of having the perfect couple in real life. Every time we went out in public, as rarely as it was, I was always being yelled at on the street."

"But you were tough."

"And in disguise." Beca stares at the youngest Bella convincingly. "Thankfully, I didn't have any social media and I hadn't come out back then. So, they didn't know who I was for a year. And when I came out, they recognized me by my work, and they had seen how great we were as a couple for a year. So, less muss. That's why this time, I put the song out first, hoping that they will love it, and by stating that she's my college sweetheart..."

"It will be easier for the public to accept the fact that you broke up with Ashley and started dating Chloe in such a short time." Emily states. "Because Chloe's not just anybody ordinary for you." She smirks, teasing, "She is, _the_ , college sweetheart. The ultimate first love."

"U huh." Beca nods. "That's the plan."

Still, Emily just keep staring at the tiny brunette, smiling knowingly, and Beca simply rolls her eyes. Then the youngest Bella casually asks, "What about her birthday? Have you planned anything yet?"

"Huh?"

With an eyebrow raised, Emily firmly says, "Pop, don't tell me you forget that Chloe's birthday is only a month away. It's on March 8th."

"Shit!" Beca curses under her breath. "I... totally forgot. I mean, it's been ten years since I celebrated her birthday."

Emily shakes her head in disbelief, and then the DJ mutters, "I'll talk to Aubrey about it. She must have had something planned." She huffs tiredly. "And I'll just ask Donna to pick something for the present. Maybe jewelries. Woman likes jewelries, right?"

"Pop!" Emily exclaims in upset. "She's your girlfriend for God's sake. You can do better than asking Donna to pick her present. You should do it yourself."

"I don't have the time, Em." Beca runs her fingers through her hair in frustration. "With all of the hustles lately; the therapy, the song release, not to mention the hectic of MTV awards in March. I'm working with two different artists now, and-"

"MTV in March?" Emily retorts in confusion. "Pop, the last time I checked my invitation, it's in May."

"What?" Beca scrunches her face. "No, Em. Katy always said that it's in March."

Emily rolls her eyes and says, "No, Pop. It's in May. And back in October, when you visited Atlanta, you did tell me that it was still in seven months. Do your counting right."

With a harsh heavy sigh, Beca rubs her forehead and curses, "Damnit! I've messed up my schedule. No wonder JT seemed to be so relax while I was busting my ass to work on our performance in the last few weeks. I have to tell Katy about the misunderstanding."

Again, Emily shakes her head and sighs in half-annoyance. "So?"

"Huh?"

"Chloe's presents." Emily scolds. "You have the time now."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Beca scratches her chin with her eyebrows furrowed while muttering under her breath, "What should I get her? What should I get her? What should I get her?"

The DJ seems to be in a deep thought, subtly stealing glances at Emily. The youngest Bella can tell what her former captain's thinking about, and in mocked annoyance, she asks, "What?"

"What?" Beca tries to play it cool.

"I know you want to ask me something, Pop." Emily narrows her eyes. "Just spit it out."

With a sheepish smile, Beca says, "Can you uh... will you come with me, Em? You know, to look for her present? You know I'm no good with this kind of stuff. Usually, I didn't plan to buy presents for Ashley. I just... found it. Even Chloe's present for Valentine's day was found accidentally when I was surfing on the internet a week ago."

Emily sighs again and nods. "Of course. When do you want to go?"

"Hmmm..." Beca purses her lips. "How about tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow's fine."

With an appreciative grin, Beca says, "Thanks, Em. You are _the_ best aca-child in the whole universe."

Emily scoffs, though a light tug of smile appears on her face as she says, "I definitely am. Since I am _the only_ aca-child in the whole universe."

Both of them laugh lightly, and then they resume eating in silent for a while. During that silent moment, Emily is thinking about something, and she knows that she has to make sure about it.

Therefore, after they finish lunch, looking nervous as she brushes her brown hair to the back of her ear, Emily mutters, "Uh... Pop?"

"Hm?"

"I don't mean to remind you or something. But uh... have you uh..." Emily purses her lips, can't even bring herself to look at Beca directly. "Have you told Ashley about the song and the date? I mean, you know, so she can prepare herself from the media too?"

Beca sighs heavily, running her fingers through her hair in frustration and says, "I tried. I wanted to tell her in person, but... she hasn't picked up my phone calls, or replied to any of my texts. I already asked my publicists to tell hers though. So, I'm sure they have told her."

"Hmm." Emily nods in understanding. Then she hesitantly asks, "Do you uh... still miss her?"

Automatically, Beca rubs the back of her neck, flexing it while blowing out a long breath through her mouth. Then, while absentmindedly rubbing her left hand, she says, "I... I don't think so. I've moved on, Em. And right now, I just want to focus on loving Chloe."

Emily can see that Beca isn't aware of the fact that she is absentmindedly rubbing the black ice carbide ring on her left hand when she's talking about Ashley. Nevertheless, the youngest Bella simply smiles in understanding.

Suddenly, Beca's phone rings. The DJ smiles instantly and says, "It's Chloe." Then she picks up, "Hey Babe."

" _Baby, have you had your lunch yet?"_

With a soft smile, the tiny brunette replies, "I have Babe. I just finished lunch with Em in my office."

" _Oh._ _Hi, Em!"_

Beca chuckles, glancing up at Emily as she says, "She said hi, Em."

"Hi, Mom!" Emily shouts cheerfully.

Then Beca says, "Hear that?"

" _U huh."_

"You eat yet, Babe?"

" _I just finished lunch. How's your day so far?"_

"It's been good." Beca smiles softly. "Missing you though."

" _Aw... I miss you too. You know, Babe? Today, we talked about your music in my class. And guess what? The kids love you!"_

Beca smirks, "I bet they will go nuts if they find out that I'm your girlfriend."

" _U huh. I had to restraint myself from saying_ _ **my**_ _Beca Mitchell;_ _ **my**_ _DJ."_

Knowing well that the redhead must be nodding her head excitedly while talking, the DJ laughs, leaning her back onto the chair, looking relaxed as she teases, "It must be so hard on you, Babe."

" _You have no idea! I was tripping in my words! I had never tripped in my words in front of my students! And it's your fault!"_

Hearing how Chloe is scolding her playfully, Beca can't help but chuckling, and then she teases, "My fault?"

" _Hmph! Your fault."_

Beca simply chuckles lightly because she can tell that the redhead must be pouting.

" _Babe, I have to prepare my next class. Don't forget your meds, okay?"_

"Don't forget your meds too." Beca replies. "For dinner tonight, anything you want me to bring or buy?"

" _I want to make you seared salmon with vegetables. I've got all I needed, but can you get us some milk and cereal?"_

"Sure."

" _Okay. See you at home. I love you, Babe. Say bye to Emily from me."_

"I love you too." Beca ends the phone call, still grinning when she sighs.

With her eyes wide, Emily says in surprise, "Wow... that better, huh?"

"Yeah." Beca nods, leaning forward to put down her phone on the desk. "That better. We've learnt a lot in the last six weeks. She only texted me in between classes, and in her lunch break, she would call just to make sure that I had lunch and meds. It says a lot that she's getting better."

"I'm glad, Pop." Emily smiles softly. "I'm really glad to see that both you and her are feeling better."

With her hands behind her head, Beca leans back onto the chair, staring unfocused at the ceiling and says, "Stacie did say that I've loved her before, and it shouldn't be hard for me to love her again. And it turns out, she was right." She smiles softly. "Chloe has always been lovable, Em. Since forever. Since I was 18. Even before I knew that I loved her; that I wanted her; and that she wanted me too."

"You can write a song out of it, Pop." Emily suggests lightly.

Beca is taken aback for a second, and even though her eyebrows are furrowed, there's a light smile on her face. She takes her time to think. The longer she's thinking, the less furrowed her eyebrows, and the wider the smile on her face. Then she closes her eyes, still smiling softly as she hums lightly to a melody, tapping her index finger on the desk gently. After a while, she opens her eyes and says, "Absolutely."

Upon seeing that her former captain is hurriedly writing down her ideas, Emily asks, "So, do you still want to buy that jewelries for Chloe, or you're just gonna give her a song?"

"Both." Beca says while writing.

"See you tomorrow then." Emily says while standing up. "Bye Pop."

"Bye Kid." Beca replies without looking up from the paper on her desk. The brunette works on the song until her next meeting at 3 PM.

* * *

Later that evening, when Beca comes back to her place, she finds Chloe in one of her oversized shirt in the kitchen, cooking while singing and swaying lightly to Photograph by Ed Sheeran that's playing from the audio set.

Slowly without making any noise, Beca puts the grocery bag on the table before wrapping her girlfriend from behind, softly singing along, _"Loving can heal..."_

Chloe smiles instantly, and she puts down the spatula in her hand to hold Beca's on her stomach, closing her eyes while the DJ swaying along, singing softly near her ear, _"Loving can mend your soul... And it's the only thing that I know... I swear it will get easier... Remember that with every piece of you... And it's the only thing we take with us when we die..."_

Can't hold the urge anymore, Chloe wiggles her way around to wrap her arms behind her girlfriend's neck, smiling as she says, "I've missed you."

"I've missed you too." Beca replies while staring at her girlfriend softly. Then she brushes Chloe's cheek with the back of her hand, trailing it up slowly to hold the back of her girlfriend's neck, grasping the red hair gently in between her fingers as she pulls the redhead closer for a kiss.

Chloe tilts her head slightly, parting her lips when the brunette's warm tongue slides across her lips, feeling the heat pooling in her core in an instant. When the DJ slips a hand under her shirt and rests it on the side of her stomach, the warmth on her skin sends sparks down her spine, and Chloe feels lightheaded, stirring her head slightly.

Then Beca brushes her lips down to the redhead's neck, and Chloe can't help herself but biting her bottom lip to hold the moan in her throat.

Right then, suddenly Beca smells something is burning, and she drops her forehead on Chloe's collarbone, starting to laugh lightly. On the other hand, Chloe rolls her eyes, huffing in annoyance before turning around to turn off the stove.

After that, she turns back to look at her laughing girlfriend, pouting as she scolds, "You ruined our dinner."

However, Beca just keep laughing harder, and the redhead scolds her more, "Stop laughing, Babe. Now we don't have dinner."

"I'll just..." Beca wipes the tears on the corner of her eyes, still trying to hold herself up when she says, "I'll just order some delivery."

"But I wanted to cook for you." Chloe pouts even more.

"Babe..." Beca tries to hold her laughter while tucking a strain of hair to the back of the redhead's ear. "You don't have to cook for me every day. I love it. But it's okay to have take out one time or two."

Chloe huffs in annoyance, still keeping her pout when she says, "Okay. But I'm not happy about it."

"I know." Beca nods with a childlike grin. "So... pizza? Veggie pizza."

"Hm." Chloe nods, still with that endearing pouting lip.

While waiting for their food, they decide to meditate on the balcony. Then they simply cuddle up on the couch and watch some show. As usual, Chloe is snuggling up on the brunette's chest, sprawling her arms lazily on her girlfriend's stomach with her eyes fixed on the TV.

On the other hand, Beca doesn't pay any attention to the show. She's fiddling their intertwined fingers with her eyes fixed on the TV, but not with her mind. She's thinking about the song she wrote for Chloe earlier that day.

Not long after, their food arrives, and they move to the kitchen/dining room to eat. While chewing her food, Beca casually says, "Babe, our song will be released tomorrow."

"Really?!" Chloe exclaims with her blue eyes so bright, smiling excitedly.

"U huh." Beca wiggles her eyebrows playfully before swallowing her food. "So starting from tomorrow, you'll have bodyguards around you every time you step out of this apartment. But don't worry. They'll be in stealth mode. You won't know that they're there, unless it's required for them to show up."

"Is that necessary?"

"Very." Beca stares at her convincingly. "The paparazzi will find you, and they will most likely want to take pictures and do some interviews. Not to mention the fans out there. They can, and will be... well they'll act like fans. I have covered all of your public records in the last ten years from the internet. The most they can find will be the fact that we were in Bella together, and that we were best friends back in college. Then a bit about your life after Barden; the Peace Corps, and the places you worked."

Chloe sighs deeply and nods. "Okay. Who will guard me? Is it the bodyguard who came to the hospital? Pascal was it?"

"No." Beca munches a huge chunk of pizza, and then muffles, "Yow gew yigo."

"Heh?" Chloe scrunches her face, staring at her girlfriend with puzzled look.

After swallowing, Beca says, "You'll get Rico. From now on, he'll be your security along with another man. Maybe Larry."

"Why don't I get Pascal instead?" Chloe asks suspiciously. "I mean, you seem to trust him the most. He was the one you always called every time you needed something from the mansion."

"He's Ashley's main bodyguard." Beca replies nonchalantly. "Besides, he is the head of security at the mansion. He's needed there."

"You keep the best for your ex then." Chloe states coldly.

"Babe..." Beca smiles understandingly. "It doesn't matter if it's Pascal or Rico. Both of them are my trusted bodyguards. They have been working for me since ten years ago, and they both are just as good."

Chloe seems to be upset because she's fighting the negative automatic thought in her mind while gripping the edge of the table tightly with her hands. It doesn't go unnoticed by her girlfriend, and Beca puts her hand on the redhead's before calmly says, "Babe, it's not important who'll guard you. The most important thing is that you're safe."

With a defeated sigh, Chloe nods one time and says, "Rico is fine."

"He is." Beca states before munching her pizza again. "And Babe, I suggest you to private all of your social media."

"Why?"

"Well," Beca swallows her food. "Many people will try to find about you from there in the first place. If you don't mind being followed by many people you don't know, then... it's up yours. I myself never have one."

"Hmmm..." Chloe nods absentmindedly. "I'll see how it goes for several days. If I'm not comfortable with being followed by strangers, I'll private them."

After they finish eating, they go back to lay on the couch to continue watching the show. The redhead is lying half on top of the brunette, resting her temple on Beca's chest while the DJ herself is twirling Chloe's hair with her fingers.

"Babe." Beca calls casually.

"Hm?"

"Do you have anything to do on Saturday night?"

"Why?"

"I'm thinking that we can have dinner at some restaurant. You know, to celebrate the release of our song. You can pick whichever restaurant that you want."

Chloe pulls back a bit to look at her girlfriend, grinning as she asks, "Are you asking me out for a date? On valentine's day?"

"U huh." Beca says casually while caressing Chloe's head gently. "If you're ready. It will be our first public appearance so I can introduce you as my girlfriend."

With her eyes widen in surprise, Chloe pulls back even further, trying to look at the brunette even clearer as she exclaims, "Really?!"

"Yeah." Beca nods with a light smile. "I've discussed it with my publicists. It's time for us to let people know about our relationship before paparazzi find some ways to cook nasty stories about us."

Instantly, Chloe hugs her girlfriend tightly, peppering her lips with kisses and says, "I'd love to go out on a date with you, my love!"

"Great." Beca grins. "So... where do you want to go?"

"Surprise me." Chloe smirks.

Beca chuckles, "Okay."

Then Chloe leans downward to kiss the brunette, and Beca's hands automatically slip under the redhead's shirt to brush her back. After they break the kiss breathlessly, Beca says, "Let's move to somewhere more comfortable so I can have my way with you."

Chloe simply chuckles while getting up from the couch, pulling her girlfriend to the bedroom.

* * *

**Ashley's POV.**

Three days ago, Ashley's publicists told her over the phone that Beca would release a duet with Chloe, and then they'd make their first public appearance as a couple on valentine's day.

Upon getting that news, Ashley couldn't hold the pain in her chest because even though it's been more than three months since she broke up with Beca, she hasn't been able to move on yet.

In that sanctuary, she broke down on her knees with her face in her palms, sobbing and shaking, crying her eyes out, screaming at the top of her lungs, hoping that it could push out the ache that was throbbing in every fiber of her being.

She felt so helpless because there was nothing she could do to change the fact that Beca was moving on, and the only thing she could and should deal with was her own pain; the sadness, the misery, the longing, the vulnerability.

At first, she tried to ease the pain by smashing some of the frames, the pictures of her and Beca in that room. However, it didn't work. It didn't help easing the pain, and it made her frantic, pacing around the room, grasping her hair on the side of her head while tears running down her face.

Suddenly, she remembered the one thing she used to do to express her feelings. Hurriedly, she ran to the third floor, to her own studio and grabbed some canvases and some acrylic paint with a palette before running back to the sanctuary. Since then, she's been painting to pour out her feelings, catharsis-ing the pain in her chest.

The first canvas was filled with only one color, and it was red, splattered and splashed messily, even angrily. The next one was almost the same, but with addition of the colors black and dark blue.

It was the third one that had a bit of brighter colors like white, green, and yellow. Then the fourth one, the one that hasn't finished yet; this one actually has a form. Ashley has been painting this certain canvas for two days.

Other than falling asleep from exhaustion, showering, and taking a break for meals and bathroom need every now and then, Ashley hasn't stopped painting yet. The more she paints, the closer it is to be done, the less painful she feels.

Right now, the blonde is at the balcony in the sanctuary. She's sitting on a comfortable chair with her back leaning forward in front of a medium size canvas. She's wearing Beca's navy hoodie, and her hair is tied up in a messy bun with some light strains falling on her forehead, cheeks, and the back of her neck.

Because her fingers are tainted with colorful acrylic paint, therefore, even her cheeks and forehead have some bits of paint on it; accidently brushed on when she wiped her tears with the back of her hand, and when she brushed her hair to the back of her ear.

With her left hand, she's holding a porcelain plate filled with basic colors such as red, blue, yellow, black, and white. On her right hand, she's holding a brush with her thumb and index finger. Around her feet, there are so many empty tubes being tossed down messily.

There are also some broken brushes. They are broken not without a reason. When Ashley felt like it was too emotional, she'd grip the brush too tightly in her hand, trying not to choke on her tears. Yet it couldn't stop the tears escaping from her eyes.

However, as painful as it feels, the memory of her and Beca spending their last valentine's day keep flowing into her mind, driving her to keep on painting to let her sadness out of her system. She keeps her sole attention on the painting before her eyes.

* * *

_**Flashback: Valentine's Day 2025** _

Ashley just put the last touch of make up on her face. The blonde was wearing a strapless soft pink dress that ends midthigh, and her hair was tied up in a slick ponytail.

After checking her appearance that night on the mirror for the last time, she walked out to the balcony, looking down while straightening her dress when she said, "Babe, I'm ready."

Upon not getting any response, the blonde looked up, and her jaw dropped upon seeing the scene before her eyes.

Apparently, when she was taking a shower and getting ready, Beca was preparing dinner at the balcony. The brunette had lit so many candles on the railings and every corners of the balcony.

On the table, there were dinner for two, certainly completed with Ashley's newest found most favorite cheesecake with it. The brunette was standing beside a chair, wearing her tiffany blue suit that is paler than her steely blue eyes, which only making them even more stood out. Her brown hair was just the way it was supposed to be, let down, curly and a bouncy below her shoulders. She was smiling ever so fondly, simply staring at her girlfriend, making Ashley felt like she was the brightest star in the sky.

When Ashley couldn't say anything or even take another step forward, Beca chuckled nervously, walked toward her girlfriend to lift up her chin, and kissed her chastely on the lips. "You take my breath away, Hon. You are so, so beautiful."

Still, Ashley just kept staring at her girlfriend in awe, and then Beca chuckled and asked, "Surprised?"

Ashley blinked her eyes and shook her head lightly to get out of her daze, smiling as she said, "Indeed, Casanova."

Beca chuckled again and held her hand, pulling her toward the table while softly saying, "Come on, Hon. Our dinner is waiting for us."

As usual, the brunette would pull out the chair for her girlfriend and let Ashley kissed her cheek before she herself took a seat across from the blonde.

During dinner, Ashley couldn't shake off this odd yet welcomed tension, excitement in her chest from the way Beca was treating and looking at her. With her right hand, the brunette kept holding the blonde's left hand on the table. Hence, they had to eat with one hand. In addition, Beca's hand is a bit damp and cold. However, Ashley didn't mind at all.

The way Beca was looking at her, it was different from usual. The fondness in her eyes was mixed with somehow a feeling that Ashley could only describe with nervousness. It was light and subtle, but it was there.

None of them talked while eating. When Ashley was trying to decipher the look in her girlfriend's eyes, she also caught Beca's subtle glances at her. The nervous glances combined with a light smile and rosy cheeks, it filled Ashley's stomach with thousands of butterflies, trying to flip their wings out of her body.

Ashley could feel the heat under her skin, not the sensual one, but the excited one, pushing their way out of her pores, and it made her giddy even though she didn't know why Beca was behaving that way.

One time or two, while fixing her slightly narrowed eyes on the brunette, Ashley would tap her index finger on her spoon, trying to understand the meaning of Beca's nervous manner.

Halfway through dinner, she still couldn't find any answer of Beca's behavior and her own reaction. Therefore, she let it go and simply enjoyed dinner in a complete yet comfortable silent with her girlfriend.

When the plates in front of them were already empty, Beca took her meds, drinking the water slowly before wiping her lips gently with a napkin. Then she stood up, offering her left hand to the blonde and said, "May I have the pleasure, Miss Benson?"

"Of course, my Casanova." Ashley grinned with her eyebrows slightly furrowed in curiosity while taking her girlfriend's hand and stood up.

Gently, Beca put Ashley's hands on her own shoulders, and then she herself rested her hands on the blonde's waist.

With her eyebrows furrowed yet also with a teasing smile, Ashley asked, "We're slow dancing without a music?"

Beca smirked smugly and tapped her own temple three times with her index finger while saying, "It's already in here."

Then the brunette started humming to a melody, swaying their body lightly to a song that Ashley had never heard before. The blonde didn't have the time to think about it though, too busy calming her fluttering heart upon being stared at with those steely blue eyes ever so fondly.

While brushing the back of her hand on Ashley's cheek gently, Beca smiled and started singing softly,

 _I found love_  
_In you  
_ _And I've learned to love me too_

Ashley couldn't hold the smile on her face, growing wider and fonder upon feeling the warmth in her chest. As the brunette rested a palm on her heated cheek, Ashley stirred, leaning onto the touch to feel more. The warmth on Beca's palm spread slowly down to her neck, to her arms, to the tip of her fingers.

 _Never have I felt_  
_That I could be all that you see_  
_It's like our hearts have intertwined  
_ _Into the perfect harmony_

The fond smile on Beca's face, the tenderness in her voice, it brought tears to Ashley eyes, and they were glimmering from the reflection of the candles.

 _This is why I love you_  
_Ooh this is why I love you_  
_Because you love me_  
_You love me_  
_This is why I love you_  
_Ooh this is why I love you_  
_Because you love me  
_ _You love me_

Gently, Beca slipped her hand slowly down to her girlfriend's back, and leaned closer to rest her cheek on Ashley's, whispering the song softly near the blonde's ear. The brushing of their cheeks sent sparks under Ashley's skin, and Beca's warm breath on her earlobe sent ticklish sensation into her stomach that made her knees weak.

 _I found love_  
_In you_  
_And no other love will do_  
_Every moment that you smile_  
_Chases all the pain away_  
_Forever and a while  
_ _In my heart is where you'll stay_

Still singing softly, the brunette brushed the tip of her nose, ghosting her warm breath down from Ashley's neck through the curve of her shoulder. Automatically, Ashley closed her eyes and leaned closer, wrapping her arms around Beca's shoulders even tighter.

 _This is why I love you_  
_Ooh this is why I love you_  
_Because you love me_  
_You love me_  
_This is why I love you_  
_Ooh this is why I love you_  
_Because you love me  
_ _You love me_

Beca pulled herself slightly backward just so she could look at her girlfriend in the eye, and Ashley looked back at her, drowning herself in the melting love from those steely blue eyes.

 _The stars have all aligned and right now_  
_is the perfect time to say_  
_I love you_  
_I love you_  
_I love you_  
_I love you_  
_I love you  
_ _I do_

Ashley couldn't help herself but stealing one chaste kiss from her girlfriend by then, and the smile on Beca's face grew even wider, if it was possible.

 _This is why I love yo_  
_This is why I love you_  
_Because you love me_  
_You love me_  
_This is why I love you_  
_Ooh this is why I love you_  
_Because you love me  
_ _Me_

When Beca's forehead touched hers and their nose brushed onto each other's, Ashley closes her eyes, and her mind became so quiet. The only thing her brain could receive was her girlfriend's soft voice, and their warm breaths.

 _I found love_  
_In you_  
_And no other love will do  
_ _That's why I love you_

Beca softly whispered, "Thank you Hon, for showing me the truth. You were right from the very beginning. I should love myself. And loving you, being loved by you, it taught me to love myself too. I love you, Hon. And I will always do. Forever and always."

Still with her eyes closed and her forehead on Beca's, Ashley smiled and replied softly, "I love you too, Babe. Forever and always."

Just a split second later, she felt Beca's warm lips on hers, kissing her so, so gently, started with a light brushing, then followed with gentle pressure before their lips moved in harmony. While Ashley's fingers found their way to grasp her girlfriend's brown lock, Beca's arms caged her tightly around her lower back.

When the need of air came between them, Beca broke the kiss gently and breathed out, "Dessert time, Miss Benson."

Ashley smirked, "I love having _dessert_ with you."

Upon hearing the punctuation in the word dessert, Beca barked out a loud laughter and said, "Not that kind of dessert, Hon. The literal dessert. The cheesecake that you said feel like orgasm in your mouth."

"I don't mind having both at the same time." Ashley winked playfully.

A growl came from the brunette's throat before she said, "You are unbelievably insatiable, Ashley Victoria Benson."

Ashley chuckled, "I've been told. So many times actually."

"By?" Beca raised an eyebrow, smiling teasingly.

Shrugging nonchalantly, Ashley replied, "By someone who needed to drink and smoke her way to heaven only to tell me that she was falling in love with me."

Beca kissed her lips chastely and said, "It was worth it."

"No, it wasn't Babe." Ashley softly said while resting her hand on the brunette's cheek. "Never hurt yourself that way again for loving someone. Ever. You'd do nothing good to yourself, nor the person you love."

"Yes ma'am." Beca smirked. "Come on. The orgasm in your mouth is waiting."

Ashley laughed lightly while letting the brunette pulling her to the couch. It became more confusing for the blonde when Beca insisted to feed her the cake. But Ashley went with it even though her girlfriend's hand was a bit shaking when feeding her.

Everything was going perfectly great until suddenly, after shoving a spoonful of cheesecake into her own mouth, Beca's eye widened; she was most likely stunned, and she hurriedly walked back into the bedroom.

Ashley was indeed confused, and she asked, "Where are you going, Babe?"

However, Beca ignored her and kept on walking, pacing her way toward the bathroom, and Ashley followed her. Just when the blonde was going to step into the bathroom, Beca closed and locked the door.

"Babe?" Ashley knocked the door. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine!" Beca yelled from inside the bathroom.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah! Just wait for me at the balcony. I'll be right back."

With her eyebrows furrowed, Ashley replied, "Okay then." Then she walked back to the balcony, waiting for the brunette anxiously on the couch. When Beca finally came back out, she hurriedly asked, "What happened?"

"Nothing happened." Beca said dejectedly before joining her girlfriend on the couch. She sighed heavily and repeated, "Nothing happened."

Ashley became more and more confused, and she asked, "But why are you acting like something has happened? What's wrong?"

Beca dropped her head back onto the couch, rubbing her face with her hands, most likely in frustration, sighing before she muttered, "Nothing happened."

"Babe-"

"I'm okay, Hon." Beca cut her off softly. "The universe just... loves joking with me."

Ashley could see it in her girlfriend's eyes that she was indeed disappointed. However, thinking that in time the brunette would tell her, Ashley didn't push. Later that night, Beca seemed to be a bit better when they were riding a gondola while stargazing, and Ashley forgot about the earlier commotion.

_**End of flashback.** _

* * *

Remembering how happy they were a year ago brings a light smile on Ashley's face. Even though her eyes are teary, the pain in her chest has become bearable. It still hurts, but it's the kind of pain that she can embrace.

She stares at the painting in front of her. It's still halfway done, and it's definitely a painting of someone's face. It still doesn't have any expression on it but a pair of steely blue eyes.

Even though the painting isn't done yet, Ashley is feeling too tired to go on. Therefore, she lays down on the couch, curling on her side and closes her eyes. After a while, she falls asleep with a light smile on her teary and paint tainted face.

* * *

 **Back to Beca and Chloe: February 14** **th** **2026, Valentine's Day.**

Everything Will Change was released three days ago. Just as predicted by Beca, the song jumped on to the top chart; no wonder at all since it was the first song where the DJ actually sang in it, not only producing it, and not to mention a duet with a newcomer.

From Beca's popularity and the song itself, it's safe to say that automatically, the questions and curiosity about Chloe's identity raised so vastly.

The media and paparazzi have been looking for any information about Chloe Beale while Beca's publicists haven't given out any statement yet because they are waiting for the moment.

They did release the video of the Bella winning Acapella World's Championship as a bait, and millions of people had watched it. It certainly drew much attention not only to both of them, but also to the Bella, especially upon finding out that Beca and Chloe were best friends since college.

For DJ Mitchell, there wasn't any difficulties because she used to live in stealth mode. Therefore, the paparazzi have been haunting the redhead like vultures. Even at school. Moreover, there have been too many people looking for anything about her from her social media and the people around her.

Thankfully, the news about the redhead remained positive so far. The media has been talking about how talented and stunning she is, how she has a beautiful voice, and how perfect the duet is. There are people who despise her, but they are far less than the one who likes her. But still, the attention is overwhelming.

Beca was used to it, but not with Chloe. With all of the fuss, Beca was worried about Chloe's reaction to the overwhelming attention. Turns out, she was worried for no reason. The redhead enjoyed the attention, and that was relieving.

As for today, they will have their first official date, but it's still later that night. In the morning, Beca wakes up upon feeling warm lips pressing on hers, and she smiles onto it.

"Good morning, Babe." Chloe softly says, and Beca opens her eyes slightly before mumbling, "Mmm... morning."

Still lying half on top of her girlfriend, Chloe stares at her girlfriend ever so fondly and says, "Happy valentine's day my love."

The smile on Beca's face becomes wider and she replies, "Happy valentine's day, Babe."

Then the brunette rests her hand on Chloe's back over the shirt, pulling her down for a prolonged kiss. After the redhead breaks the kiss, she says, "I made you breakfast in bed."

"Aren't you every day?" Beca teases.

Chloe chuckles, "But today's breakfast is different."

"How so?" Beca tucks a strain of hair behind Chloe's ear.

"See it yourself." Chloe pulls away to take a tray of breakfast for two.

Beca smiles, "Eggs Benedict. Yum..."

"Not just any other Eggs Benedict, baby." Chloe says patiently. "Look at the shape."

With a light chuckle, Beca says, "A _heart_ shaped Eggs Benedict."

"Yep." Chloe pops the P. "The toast is in a heart shape, even the poached egg is in a heart shape."

"How did you do it?" Beca asks comically.

"That would be for me to know, and for you to find out."

"Hmmm..." Beca nods with her lips pressed, impressed by Chloe's cooking skill. Then she sits up, leaning her back onto the headboards and starts eating her breakfast. On the first bite, she hums and says, "It's great, Babe."

"Of course." Chloe rolls her eyes playfully.

Halfway through eating, Beca casually says, "Hey, Babe. Are you still enjoying your newfound celebrity status?"

Chloe chuckles, "Well, I certainly don't enjoy being hassled by paparazzi. But so far, yeah. I mean, who doesn't like to be told beautiful and has a voice of an angel by millions of people? They love our song, Babe. They love the duet."

"Cool." Beca grins. Then she shoves another piece of egg into her mouth. "Hopefully it will ease the tension after tonight."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you know." Beca waves the fork in her hand casually as she talks. "People haven't found out about me breaking up with Ashley and about our relationship. The people who ship Ashley and I will most likely riot in the internet. You know, bombarding us with raging comments."

Chloe puts her fork down and worriedly asks, "Is it gonna be bad?"

"I think so." Beca shrugs. "But don't worry, Babe. My publicists have planned it all out. After we make our appearance tonight, they will post my official statement in my fanpage about us. It will be a chaos for a little while, but it will pass eventually. Just ignore the negative comments. If you can, just don't access anything from the internet for a while until it all calms down."

Chloe sighs heavily and says, "Okay then. I'll try to ignore any bad gossip about our relationship."

Upon seeing the worry on Chloe's face, Beca puts down her fork and caresses the redhead's cheek gently while saying, "It's one of the downside of being a celebrity, Babe. But it will be fine eventually. Trust me."

With a light nod, Chloe smiles nervously and says, "I hope so."

After having breakfast, they meditate on the balcony together for half an hour before cuddling up on the couch and watch La La Land. For Chloe, this would be the umpteenth times she watches this movie, but not for her girlfriend. This is the first time for Beca to watch that musical, and it turns out, she loves it.

"Finally!" Beca exclaims triumphantly once the movie has ended. "Some directors do have a common sense!"

Chloe chuckles and asks, "What do you mean?"

"Duh." Beca responds. "A drama that doesn't have a happy ending between the two main characters."

"Huh?"

Beca rolls her eyes playfully and says, "You see the irony by the ending, Babe? In order for the two of them to have their dreams, they can't be together. If they had stayed together, Sebastian wouldn't have had Seb's because he would have gone to wherever Mia had to go. It was the same for Mia. If she had gone with Sebastian whenever he had a gig, she wouldn't have had focused on the play that gave her a chance to audition for her huge break. As happy as they would've been for having each other, it wouldn't be the life they had wanted. And in the end, they still got their happy ending anyway. Just not together."

"Hmmm..." Chloe purses her lips. "But isn't it sad that they have to live their dream life without the person they love the most? I mean, wouldn't it be perfect if they had both; living their dreams and also having the love of their life?"

"Well," Beca shrugs nonchalantly. "Something's got to give, Babe. We can't have everything we want."

Chloe pulls herself up a bit to look at her girlfriend fondly and says, "It's a good thing that we have both. We have our dreams, _and_ each other. We got the perfect happy ending we wanted, Babe."

"Yea. We do." Beca smiles lightly, though the slightly furrowed eyebrows above her cloudy eyes do tell that she's a bit sad, even though she's not aware of it.

With her sparkling blue eyes and a smile so bright, Chloe softly says, "You are my dream, Becs. You are everything that I've ever wanted in my life."

Then she leans downward to kiss the brunette. As usual, the kiss escalates in the matter of seconds, and they end up having sex on the couch.

After Beca is done giving her girlfriend her best service, still panting heavily, Chloe says, "Babe... that was..."

Beca lays on her side, holding herself up with her elbow while rubbing Chloe's bare stomach gently as she teases smugly, "Earth shattering? Mind blowing? Life changing?"

Chloe rolls her eyes in mocked annoyance but says nothing because she's still catching her breath. Then the brunette leans downward to nuzzle her nose into the crook of Chloe's neck and breathes deeply before she mumbles, "I love your natural scent. I can't describe it precisely. But it smells a little bit like... coconut?"

Turning her head slightly aside to look at her girlfriend, Chloe cups her cheek and says, "It's my shampoo, Babe."

"Hmmm..." Beca brushes her nose back onto the redhead's neck and breathes deeply before pulling backward to look at her girlfriend, grinning as she says, "I love it."

Upon feeling the ticklish sensation in her stomach, Chloe crashes her lips onto the brunettes, and Beca returns the kiss just as fiercely. Cautiously, Chloe slips her hands under her girlfriend's shirt to rub the side of her stomach. When Beca doesn't pull away, the redhead dares herself to move her hands up, brushing the curve under the brunette's breast gently with her thumb.

Surprisingly, Beca leans forward as if asking for more, and Chloe grants her a light brushing on her nipple.

" _Damnit!"_ Beca hisses in pleasure.

However, when Chloe starts to pull up her shirt, Beca automatically bats the redhead's hand away. Then her eyes widen, and she hurriedly says, "I'm sorry, Babe. I didn't mean to do that."

Chloe sighs heavily, "Babe, how could you not want me to take care of you? How could you hold yourself up from... letting me returning the favor?"

With an apologetic grimace, Beca says, "Years trained of self-control?"

"Seriously." Chloe pouts.

After taking a deep breath, Beca stares at the redhead and softly says, "Everything in its time, Babe."

Chloe bites her bottom lip nervously as she asks, "Were you not... you know, on? I mean, didn't you feel... anything?"

Beca scoffs, "I think we can scratch that possibility from the list, judging by the way you came."

With her cheeks flushed, Chloe mutters, "I just... is it me? Do you think I can't... you know, satisfy you?"

"No!" Beca hurriedly says, "God, no Chloe. I don't think that way."

"Then why?"

"I just..." Beca shakes her head lightly, sighing deeply before she says, "It wasn't you, Babe. It's me. I... I want to be ready. Believe me, I do. I just..."

Truth to be told, she wants Chloe to return the favor. She has thought about it for a while, and she thought she was ready. Therefore, she herself doesn't get it why her body wasn't completely comfortable the redhead's touch, especially every time Chloe tried to pull out her shirt.

Upon seeing the conflicted and frustrated look on the brunette's face, Chloe smiles in understanding and says, "It's okay, Babe. We've progressed." She continues with teasing tone. "At least you let me touch you under your shirt now."

Beca sighs in relief, smiling apologetically as she says, "Thank you for understanding, Babe. I love you."

"I love you too." Chloe replies before pressing another chaste kiss on her girlfriend's lips.

While her fingers are twirling Chloe's red locks, Beca asks, "What do you want to do this afternoon?"

"I'm going out with Bree." Chloe replies casually. "We're gonna find me a dress for tonight."

Beca whistles, "I can't wait to see you in your new dress."

"Oh I thought you couldn't wait to see me _without_ it." Chloe winks.

With a loud bark of laughter, Beca replies, "That's true. Who am I kidding? You look much better, perfect even without anything on you, Babe."

Chloe giggles and turns to lay on her side, facing and wrapping the brunette's arms around her back, and Beca automatically kisses her forehead.

"At what time do you have to go?" Beca asks with husky voice while brushing her thumb gently on the side of the redhead's bare breast.

"In two hours or so." Chloe breathes out.

Beca smirks, "Then we have two more hours for _cardio_. I heard that it's good for your heart."

Chloe chuckles and says, "I've heard that too."

Then Beca kisses her girlfriend fiercely on the lips, and they go down the same road again. After that, to waste their time, they simply talk more about their past, but the brunette avoids topics about Ashley.

When the clock hits 11 AM, Chloe reluctantly says, "I've got to get ready, Babe."

Beca caresses the redhead's head gently and says, "Okay then."

After Chloe is done getting ready, Beca kisses her in front of the elevator and says, "You be careful, okay? Rico will be around. I'll pick you up at Stacie's around seven."

"Okay." Chloe says softly. "I love you Babe."

"I love you too." Beca replies before letting her girlfriend walking into the elevator.

After Chloe is gone, Beca takes a shower. And when she's done, she doesn't really know what to do on her own. Therefore, she dials a number in her phone and puts it on her ear.

" _Dude!"_

"Hey!" Beca grins. "You free man?"

" _Beca Mitchell is missing her best friend, huh? I should be celebrating. Maybe with a glass of champagne."_

"Goodbye then."

" _Wait!"_

While Patrick is laughing, Beca is rolling her eyes in mock annoyance.

" _Kidding dude. And stop rolling your eyes. I know you just did it."_

Beca rolls her eyes again and asks, "Want to hang out?"

" _Sure. I'm at home with Troian. Come and join us."_

"Be there in twenty." Then Beca ends the phone call.

* * *

When Beca arrives at Patrick's place, the blonde man pulls her in a tight hug, exclaiming. "Been a while dude! How's life?"

Beca pats his back and replies, "Just the usual. And get off me, you pervert."

While laughing lightly, Patrick breaks the hug, and then they both walk into the living room.

Troian hugs the DJ immediately and says, "Hey hobbit. Long time no see. Glad to see you out of your cave to see the civilization for once in a while. On your own. In our place."

"Haha. Very funny." Beca responds with bored tone, knowing that her best friend is playfully insinuating the fact that her girlfriend doesn't like it when she's hanging out with them, simply because they are Ashley's best friends too.

Troian chuckles, pulling away and asks, "Anything I can get you?"

"Water will be fine, Troian. Thanks." Beca says while sitting down on the couch.

"Seriously." Patrick says. "How's life, dude? Everything good?"

"Everything's good." Beca replies. Then Troian hands her a glass of water, and the DJ says, "Thanks."

"We've heard your duet." Troian sits next to her fiancé. "It's good. Congratulations for the release."

After taking a sip of her water, Beca smiles and says, "Again, thanks."

"How's Chloe?" Patrick asks casually. "Is she fine with all of the attention?"

"U huh." Beca replies casually. "Her reaction is much better than my prediction. She's facing the fame like a pro."

Troian and Patrick chuckle lightly, and then Troian says, "Good then. How's your life with her?"

"It's getting better, Troian." Beca says with a light smile. "We're getting better each and every day."

Smiling softly, Troian says, "Good to know, Beca."

For a split second, Beca wanted to ask about Ashley, but she decided against it. She doesn't know if knowing about the blonde's condition will make her feel better or worse; whether the blonde is still miserable, or already moving on from her.

Instead, she asks, "When will PLL start filming again?"

"In a couple of weeks." Troian replies. "We'll start filming the last half season for about six months, and everything will be over."

"You must be sad." Beca says sympathetically.

"Ng..." Troian purses her lips. "Not really. I mean, I will be sad to say goodbye to the casts and crews. But I already have a plan about what to do next. And I'm so excited."

"And what is it?" Beca asks.

Troian turns to look at her fiancé, giving him a hint to tell the DJ, and then Patrick turns to look at his best friend and says, "Dude, Troian and I, we're thinking about getting married after PLL is over."

With her eyes wide and a huge grin, Beca exclaims, "Finally!"

Patrick chuckles, "Yeah. Finally."

"I thought you planned to stay engaged for the rest of your life." Beca teases.

The couple laugh lightly, and then Troian says, "No, hobbit. We just want to wait until the work is less demanding so we can really enjoy our wedding and marriage."

Beca sips her water and asks, "And when is it exactly?"

"December this year." Patrick replies nonchalantly. "On December 10th to be precise."

"Still ten months away." Beca comments.

"Yep." Patrick pops the P. "And you dude, you'll be my best man. Or woman."

"Seriously?" Beca asks comically.

"Duh." Patrick responds. "Who else would I ask?"

Beca laughs and sarcastically says, "No one else, considering that I'm _the only_ girl who's stupid enough to be your best friend."

"I can ask Shay." Patrick says in mocked nonchalant.

"I'd be honored, dude." Beca certainly says.

"So..." Patrick drags his word teasingly. "You're up for it then?"

"Absolutely." Beca states without hesitation. "When did I ever pass a chance to embarrass you in front of other people? I'll give the best toast, dude."

"If you dare to come up to the stage without shaking on your feet." Patrick fires back playfully, and the three of them laugh together.

After the laughter unwind, Troian clears her throat and says, "Just one thing, Beca."

"Hm?"

Troian steals a worried glance at her fiancé before she says, "Obviously, Ashley will be my maid of honor. And she already said yes. Regardless if you'll be Patrick's best woman or not."

Upon getting that information, even though she should have known that, it doesn't prevent her heart from pacing and thumping harder than usual. She can't exactly tell if it is because of the fear or the excitement of seeing her ex, or both. Trying to stay cool, the DJ simply responds, "So?"

Patrick pinches the bridge of his nose and nervously says, "Well, it means the two of you will see each other a lot of times in the next ten months. We know that Chloe doesn't take it well when you hang out with us. And I think she will be more... upset if Ashley is included."

Subtly, Beca swallows and asks, "And?"

With a heavy sigh, Patrick says, "We don't want to put pressure on you and your relationship, dude. So... if somehow Chloe... let's just say that if you take your words back about being my best man, then there will be no hard feeling. Promise. You'll still be my asshole best friend."

Beca snorts but says nothing in return, and then Troian reassures, "It's okay, Beca. We're best friends. We want to have you as a huge part in our wedding since you have been a huge part in our life, in our relationship for six years. But we'll be okay if you say no. As long as you promise that you'll still be there on our wedding day."

The only thing Beca can do is giving them a light conflicted smile, and the couple don't push. Therefore, Patrick says, "You can take your time to consider. Talk to Chloe about it. We will start the preparation in a couple of months anyway."

"In July to be precise." Troian chips in.

Beca tilts her head slightly aside, not looking at her best friends directly, taking her time to think while absentmindedly playing with the black ice carbide ring on her left hand. Then she takes a deep breath and says without hesitation, "I will be your best woman, dude. Both of you are my best friends, and I'd be honored to be involved in your wedding. I want to be involved."

With a huge grin, Patrick smugly says, "That's my dude!" Then he turns to his fiancé and says, "Told you, Babe."

However, Troian asks to reassure, "Are you absolutely sure that Chloe will be okay with that?"

While pressing her lips tightly, Beca shakes her head and says, "I don't know. I will tell her. But nothing she says can change my mind about it. You are my best friends. So she'll learn to accept you in my life."

Troian smiles softly and says, "Okay then."

To ease the tension, Beca asks, "So, about your wedding, do you have any idea yet?"

"Of course." Troian replies, rolling her eyes in a manner that says _obviously_.

Then they talk about the wedding plan. Beca still replies to Chloe's texts in between the discussion. Sometimes around 3 PM, Beca's phone rings, and upon seeing Chloe's face on the screen, the brunette apologetically says, "I have to take this."

Beca walks away from the living room and picks up the phone. "Hey Babe. How's shopping?"

" _Where are you?"_

"I'm at Patrick's." Beca says certainly.

" _That's why you didn't pick up the phone at your apartment."_

The redhead sounds upset for sure, but Beca remains calms when she says, "Yeah. I'm hanging out with my friends."

" _Why didn't you tell me before I went out with Aubrey? Is Ashley there?"_

Beca sighs and says, "She's not here, Babe. I'm only with Troian and Patrick. Besides, I didn't tell you before you went out with Aubrey because I didn't plan to see them. It just came out of nowhere."

" _Then you should've told me in your texts."_

"I didn't think it was important. I'm just hanging out with my best friends."

" _Of course it is. Unless there's something you're hiding from me."_

With a defeated sigh, Beca says, "Okay. I'm sorry. I'll tell you next time."

" _Can... can you go home please?"_

"Why?" Beca asks in confusion. "Are you at home? I thought I would pick you up at Stacie's tonight."

" _No, I'm not at your place. But... I just... I'm worried about you."_

"I'm fine, Babe." The brunette says patiently. "Besides, I won't stay any much longer. I have to go home to get ready anyway."

There's a silent moment for a couple of seconds before Chloe says, _"Okay then."_

"See you tonight, Babe." Beca says softly. "I can't wait to have our first date."

" _Me too."_

Upon hearing that Chloe's voice is already soft, Beca sighs in relief, smiling as she says, "I love you."

" _I love you too. And see you tonight."_

Then the DJ ends the phone call before going back to the living room, and Patrick asks, "Everything okay?"

"Yeah." Beca smiles lightly. "Everything's just fine. Sorry about that. Where were we?"

Troian says, "So, we're thinking that..."

They resume talking about the wedding until 4 PM, and then Beca excuses herself.

* * *

**The First Date.**

Beca is looking at her reflection on the mirror while humming lightly. For the date, she wears her electrical blue suit over a white shirt, Chloe's favorite color on her. As usual, she just puts on a light make up and let her hair down. Then the sleeves are pulled up to her elbow.

After re-checking her appearance for the umpteenth times and making sure that she has put Chloe's present in her pocket, Beca walks out of her bedroom, heading straight to the elevator. On the way down, suddenly, the memory of her first date with Ashley comes into her mind. She smiles lightly while shoving her hands into her pockets, thinking about how much she has changed since her other first date.

" _How far you've come since six years ago, Mitchell."_ Beca thought to herself. _"Not too shabby for someone who used to be a closed off awkward alt girl."_

All along the drive to Stacie's place, even when she stops to by a bouquet of flower, Beca keep on humming and smiling upon feeling this warmth in this chest. Undeniable, she's excited to have her first date with Chloe. As she parks her car in front of the house, Beca pulls out the little box from her pocket, opens it, and looks at it with a soft smile.

Then she puts it back into her pocket before grabbing the bouquet of flower and walks out of her car. When she's already in front of Stacie's front door, without hesitation, she pushes the bell, and then she turns around to look at her car.

When the door is open, Beca turns back around, and she's stunned for a second upon seeing her girlfriend's appearance. She herself isn't aware that a grin has appeared on her face along with a soft staring.

The redhead is wearing a bright red strapless dress that wraps her body all in the right curves, and it ends mid-thigh, showing her long tan legs. As for her radiant red hair, she wraps it in a pinned messy bun, and it looks perfect on her. A pair of black shiny high heels completes her look that night.

The redhead simply smiles with her cheeks flushed upon seeing her girlfriend's adoring look, and then Beca says, "You look stunning, Miss Beale."

Chloe giggles lightly and takes a step forward before she says, "You look fine yourself, Mitchell."

Beca chuckles lightly and pushes the flowers forward while saying, "For you."

After taking the flowers, Chloe leans in to kiss the brunette and says, "Thanks Babe."

Then Chloe takes Beca's hand and pulls her inside to the living room. "Wait here, Babe. I will take care of this flower first."

Beca simply nods. After the redhead left to the kitchen, Aubrey and Stacie come into the living room, and the blonde coldly asks, "When do we expect our Chloe to be home tonight?"

Taken aback, the brunette simply stares at Aubrey, slacked jaw with a look that says _Are you fucking kidding me?_

"Babe..." Stacie warns softly. "Stop joking."

Then Aubrey chuckles and says, "Kidding, humpty dumpty. Geez..."

Beca scoffs while rolling her eyes before she says, "Haha. Very funny, Posen." Then she remembers about Chloe's birthday, and she asks, "Hey Bree. Have you planned anything for Chloe's birthday next month?"

"Actually, I have." The blonde says casually. "I have invited all of the Bellas to have a party here in my place."

"Hmmm..." Beca nods absentmindedly.

"Anything you want to add?" Aubrey asks.

"I'm writing a song for her." Beca explains. "I'd like to sing it to her that night. Is that okay?"

"More than okay." Aubrey smiles softly.

"Great." Beca grins.

"Anyway, where are you taking her, shorty?" Stacie asks.

"Just a France restaurant that will certainly draw so many paparazzi tonight." Beca replies nonchalantly.

"Huh?" The couple is confused, and Aubrey asks, "Why?"

Beca shrugs, "It's time for me to introduce Chloe as my girlfriend to the public."

While Stacie is nodding, her wife asks, "Are you sure it's a good thing to do now? When she's just starting getting better?"

"Hm." Beca is taken aback for a second. Even though she has prepared everything, but now that Aubrey mentions the redhead psychological condition, she starts second-guessing her decision and thinking that she might be pushing it too soon. "You're right. So... should I... postpone the date?"

"No." Chloe answers while walking toward the brunette and holds her hand.

With an apologetic smile, Beca says, "I'm sorry, Babe. Maybe I didn't think it through before. I only thought about the media's reaction without considering your condition. Are you sure you still want to have this date?"

Chloe smiles and reassures, "Absolutely, Babe. I'm ready to tell the whole world that you're mine. I've been ready for a long time."

While Beca is smiling unsurely, Aubrey worriedly asks, "Are you sure, Chloe? The media can be brutal. And the fans that worship Ashley will rampage upon finding out at the same time that Beca has broken up with her and started a relationship with you. It will be so stressful."

"I'm sure." Chloe replies without hesitation. "Beca has already planned the whole thing with her publicists, and the duet will help the understanding. Besides," She smiles fondly at her girlfriend. "I know that it will be hard, Babe. It has always been hard. But we still end up together. So I'm not afraid. As long as I have you."

Beca smiles and says, "Okay then. Let's have our first date, Babe."

When Aubrey seems to want to argue, Stacie says, "Okay if you think so. Just be careful, and maybe keep it down a bit with the touchy feely, Chloe."

While Beca snorts, Chloe rolls her eyes in mocked annoyance as she says, "I can keep my hands off of my girlfriend, Stace."

"I'm not so sure." Stacie teases. "But I think you can try."

"Babe..." Chloe pouts at her girlfriend, asking for back up.

"Come on." Beca smirks teasingly. "Our reservation is waiting, my touchy feely girlfriend who can't keep her hands off of me."

It earns the brunette a playful slapping on her arm from the redhead, but Beca simply laughs while pulling Chloe toward the front door.

"Have fun you guys!" Stacie yells from behind.

"We will!" Chloe replies.

"And be safe!" Aubrey adds.

"Yes _mom_!" Beca yells back.

"Hey!" Aubrey scolds, and everybody laugh.

Then the couple walk outside to the car, and Chloe asks in comic surprise, "You brought Azure?"

"Yeah." Beca shrugs nonchalantly while her hands automatically find her pockets to hide her nervousness. "You know, since she uh... she has a history value in our relationship."

Chloe smiles and kisses her chastely on the lips before saying, "I love you, Babe. You and your adorableness."

"Am not adorable." Beca says matter-of-factly with her cheeks flushed while opening the passenger door for the redhead.

"Thanks Babe." Chloe gets into the car, suppressing a huge grin on her face by biting her bottom lip. Then the brunette circles around to the driver seat, and drives to the restaurant with Rico and Adrian following their car closely from behind.

When Beca and Chloe arrive at the restaurant, the paparazzi have been waiting for them. After securing the way, Adrian and Rico open the door for the couple, and Beca immediately circles around to hold Chloe's hand.

They are walking through the rain of flashes from the cameras and questions from the paparazzi. There is no doubt that the questions are mostly about who Chloe is to the hotshot producer, and why they look so intimate on valentine's day. Beca ignores the paparazzi but gives her time to the fans who are asking for pictures and autographs. Even some of them ask for Chloe's too.

After spending a couple of minutes dealing with fans, the couple walk into the restaurant, and the waiter immediately leads them to their table. Beca pulls the chair out for her girlfriend, and Chloe kisses her cheek before sitting down. Then the brunette takes her seat in front of the redhead.

After telling the waiter her dinner course, while reading the menu, Beca says, "You'd want to try their Raspberry Napoleans, Babe. It's the best."

"Sure." Chloe replies.

"May we offer you our best liquor, Ma'am?" The waiter asks politely.

"Just ice tea for me." Beca says warmly, and then she turns to her girlfriend. "I don't drink. You can have one if you want to, Babe."

"No, I'm good." Chloe smiles. "Just water for me."

"Very well." The waiter says. "Please wait while we prepare your dinner."

After the waiter left, Beca takes Chloe's hand in hers and softly asks, "What do you think about this place?"

Chloe looks around, smiling upon seeing the elegant interior and says, "It's lovely. I love it. Definitely a first date material."

Smirking smugly, Beca says, "Good to know."

"Do you come here often?"

"Quite often. This is one of my favorite restaurants."

"Beca Mitchell likes to have dinner in a fine dining restaurant?" Chloe teases.

Beca shrugs and nonchalantly says, "Well, Ashley is a foodie. She loves to try just any kind of foods and restaurants. So, it's safe to say that we've tried too many restaurants in L.A. From the fast food to fine dining, from barbeque to cafe."

"Hmmm..." Chloe nods absentmindedly.

Suddenly aware that she has mentioned Ashley's name, Beca hurriedly adds, "Well, my most favorite is still Tacos."

Upon having their first date, Chloe is feeling too good to care about Ashley. Therefore, she giggles lightly and teases, "You and your love to tacos, Babe. Maybe I should learn to make them. So you can have tacos every day."

"Great idea." Beca grins.

"The healthy one." Chloe teases. "Without grease."

Beca slumps her shoulders and groans overdramatically, making her girlfriend laughs. Then, with her lips pressed like an upset child, Beca whines, "The fat is the essence of Tacos. You can't make Tacos without the grease part of the meat. It will be like taking Gary away from Spongebob. And it's not right."

Upon seeing Chloe laughs even louder, the brunette simply smiles softly. Making the redhead laughing has become one of her favorite things to do lately, and she enjoys every second of it.

When the appetizers arrive, Beca pulls her hand gently and starts eating. During dinner, they simply talk about everything and nothing at all. They keep everything light, and everything is going smoothly. Therefore, Beca decides not to tell Chloe about her being Patrick's best woman just yet. She doesn't want to ruin the good vibe they have on their first date.

" _You still have tomorrow, Mitchell."_ Beca thought to herself. _"Or the day after tomorrow. Besides, the preparation is still in a couple of months. You've got plenty of times."_

After they finish dessert, Beca pays the bill and holds Chloe by her waist when they're walking out from the restaurant. Just like when they arrived, the paparazzi shower them with flashes and questions, and to which, Beca totally ignores.

The brunette's sole focus is on getting Chloe back into the car safely. As the valet service parks azure in front of the couple, Beca immediately opens the passenger door for the redhead before circling to get into the driver seat, and then she drives to another place she has planned to.

"Where are we going, Babe?" Chloe asks when she realizes they're not heading home.

"Somewhere that you'll find out soon."

Throughout the drive, Beca rarely let go off Chloe's hand at all. Their hands are laced lazily on the redhead's thigh, making Chloe's heart fluttering, beating faster than usual. Even more so that one time or two, when they stopped at red lights, the brunette would absentmindedly kiss the back of her hand gently.

Eventually, they stop at a hill, and Chloe looks around in confusion. There's only their car in that area, and it makes the redhead worry. Therefore, she asks, "Babe, what are we doing here? There's no other car around, and it's dark outside."

With a reassuring smile, Beca says, "It's okay, Babe. Adrian and Rico are not too far from here, and I chose this dark place for a reason."

Chloe just keep staring at the brunette with puzzled look, and then Beca says, "Trust me. Come on."

Then the DJ gets out of the car and circles around to open the door for her girlfriend. "Wait here." Beca says while closing the passenger door and goes to open the trunk.

When the brunette is taking something out of the trunk, Chloe wraps her arms, rubbing it gently to warm herself from the wind while looking around worriedly. Upon seeing the redhead's gesture, Beca smiles and walks to her with some stuff in her hands.

"Don't worry, Babe." Beca says softly while putting down the things in her hands and takes off her blazer. "Here." She helps her girlfriend putting on the suit.

"Thanks Babe." Chloe smiles fondly.

Then the DJ picks up some kind of banner, and unfolds it on the ground before offering her hand to the redhead. "Come on."

Chloe takes the brunette's hand and follows her to lay down on the banner, and then the DJ covers their feet with a blanket.

Upon seeing the stars above her, Chloe says with wide eyes, "Whoaa..."

"Yeah." Beca smirks. "Whoa..."

"It's beautiful, Babe." Chloe says while cuddling up onto her girlfriend's chest, and Beca wraps her tightly with her left arm.

"It is." Beca points out with her index finger. "You see right there? The slightly beeping reddish star?"

"U huh."

"It's a star that appears on Valentine's Day." Beca explains softly. "It's called Betelgeuse."

"Bee what?"

"Betelgeuse."

"Beetlejuice?"

Beca chuckles lightly and says, "Yeah. It's pronounced almost like that. It's not as bright as ten years ago, but it's still shining brighter than the rest of the Orion's constellation."

"It looks like a beating heart."

"Yeah." Beca states. "That's why it's also called the Valentine's star."

"Hmmm..." Chloe smiles while hugging the brunette even tighter.

Beca simply twirls Chloe's red hair with her fingers absentmindedly while fixing her eyes on the sky, and the couple simply stare at the sky in silent.

The sky above them is so bright, and they are surrounded with the quietness that's only filled with a sound of wind. Though under her ear, Chloe can hear Beca's heart, beating in a steady rhythm, and it calms her.

Eventually, Chloe softly says, "It's like there are only the two of us Babe."

"It feels like it." Beca replies softly. Then she reaches above her head with her right hand and takes something before handing it to the redhead. "Here."

"My favorite!" Chloe exclaims excitedly upon getting a box of her favorite milk.

"Yep." Beca pops the P.

Then the redhead sits up to drink the milk and says, "I wonder how you only have two girlfriends in your whole life, Babe. I mean, judging from this first date, I bet you could've charmed more than two."

Beca chuckles, sitting up next to the redhead and pokes her nose playfully from aside as she says, "You, Miss Beale, are the only woman that I took out on a first date like this."

"Huh?" Chloe furrows her eyebrows in confusion. "What about Ashley?"

With her chin resting on her own left shoulder and her eyes fixed at the redhead, Beca says, "My first date with her was nothing like this."

"How come?"

"Do you remember the way I was when you first met me?"

"The alt snarky nervous girl?" Chloe teases.

"Yeah." Beca nods lightly. "I was worse when I first met Ashley. I mean, after hiding for four years, it was kind of hard having a first date. Not to mention, _the_ official first date, with a well-known celebrity. I didn't have any suit to wear; I didn't even know how to dress decently; I certainly didn't take her to a fine dining restaurant; I didn't even bring her any flower; and I was nervous as hell. I was totally a different person than you're seeing right now."

"What did you do then?"

Beca raises an eyebrow and asks, "You want to talk about my first date with my ex on our first date?"

"Just curious." Chloe shrugs, trying to be nonchalant by sipping the milk.

"Curiosity killed the cat you know." Beca dares playfully.

Chloe rolls her eyes in mocked annoyance and says, "You're with me now. I think I can handle the story of your first date with Ashley. I mean, we can't avoid talking about her forever, Babe."

After taking a couple of seconds to look at her girlfriend with narrowed eyes, Beca says, "Nothing much to tell. I was in my plaid shirt, wearing a huge sunglasses and a beanie, and we had dinner at a low profile diner that served ordinary burger."

"Why?" Chloe asks curiously.

"Because I was still hiding, and she hadn't known about my occupation or who I really was." Beca says matter-of-factly.

"And she didn't mind?"

"We had that date." Beca shrugs. "So, I think it's safe to say that she didn't mind. Besides, she didn't dress up as well. She was only in her ripped off jeans and a shirt."

"That's it?" Chloe asks with furrowed eyebrows. "Nothing special about it at all?"

"Well," Beca takes a deep breath, turning to look forward. "We talked. At first, she talked and I listened. Then gradually, I started to talk too, and suddenly it was already midnight, and the diner was closing, but I still didn't want to... end the date. You know, since it had been a while since I had someone to talk with other than Donna and Harvey. I mean, really talk. And she seemed to feel the same. So, when I asked her if she would mind having a late night snack, she said it was okay, and we ended up eating tacos in Azure by the parking lot. Around dawn, she fell asleep in the car, and I drove her back to her place."

"You brought Azure?" Chloe accidentally glances at how Beca is rubbing the black ice carbide ring on her left hand.

Beca can sense a bit of jealousy in Chloe's voice, and she takes the redhead's hand in hers as she softly explains, "Azure was the most low profile car I had, Babe. I couldn't exactly bring my other car without raising any suspicions. Before my second heart attack, Ashley only knew me as a junior producer in some unheard records that sometimes DJ-ing at low profile clubs. She hadn't found out that I was DJ M yet."

"Hmmm..." Chloe purses her lips.

Upon seeing that the redhead is starting to get a bit antsy, Beca softly says, "I think it's enough talking about Ashley for tonight. I'm enjoying our date, Babe. This is _our_ first date, and I love every second of it."

Chloe smiles fondly and puts down the box of milk before kissing her girlfriend chastely. "I love it too. I've had so many first dates before, but I've never felt like this. This is the best first date I've ever had."

With a light smirk, Beca says, "Well, our date is not over yet."

"Huuuh?" Chloe's eyes widen excitedly.

After adjusting her position so she's facing the redhead, Beca pulls out a little box out of her pocket and hands it to her girlfriend. "For you."

Chloe's breath hitched, and all of the sudden, she feels like the blood is drained out of her body; can't help it when her mind automatically thinking and hoping for a marriage proposal. With her trembling hand, the redhead takes the box and holds it on her laps, looking down as she asks, "Wh- what is this, Babe?"

"Open it." Beca says nonchalantly.

After swallowing hard, the redhead cautiously touches the box lid with her shaky thumb. The surface of the box is silky, and she rubs it gently while biting her bottom lip nervously. She can feel it in her chest; her heart is thumping so hard and her head is throbbing from the blood rush.

Then slowly, she gives a bit push to open the box with her thumb. Upon seeing the content, Chloe sighs deeply, slumping her shoulders down in disappointment. In that box, there's a crescent moon shape brooch, with red diamonds and sapphires on it.

Since the redhead is looking down at the box, Beca can't tell her expression upon seeing the present. Therefore, she asks, "Do you like it?"

Chloe remains silent for almost a minute to compose herself, and it makes her girlfriend anxious.

"Do you not like it?" Beca asks worriedly. "When I saw it, it reminded me of your radiant red hair, and your blue eyes. And it's shaped like C, your initial. But if you don't like it, we can exchange it with something you like."

Then the redhead puts on a smile and looks up at Beca before saying, "I love it, Babe. It's beautiful."

Beca sighs in relief, smiling as she kisses the redhead's forehead and says, "I'm glad you like it, Babe."

Chloe hugs her girlfriend tightly, trying to hide her disappointed look by nuzzling her nose into the crook of Beca's neck and says, "I love it. Whatever it is, as long as it's from you, then I'll love it. Because I love you."

With her lips pressed gently onto the redhead's crown, Beca says, "I love you too, Babe. Happy valentine's day."

After the redhead breaks the hug, Beca takes the brooch and says, "Let me put it on you."

Gently, Beca pins the brooch on Chloe's dress near her left chest. Then she brushes it gently with her thumb, and suddenly, she remembers the failed proposal she did in last year's Valentine's Day for Ashley.

She had put the engagement ring into the cake, but she miscalculated the timing, and ended up shoving the ring into her own mouth. After going to the bathroom to clean the ring, Beca had lost her courage to propose.

"Babe?"

Beca scoffs lightly as that memory flows into her mind, and Chloe's voice pulls her out of her daze.

"Babe."

Focusing her eyes back to her girlfriend, Beca softly says, "It looks perfect on you."

With her eyebrows furrowed, Chloe says, "You were kind of spaced out for a moment."

Beca shakes her head lightly, smiling as she says, "Just remember something."

"What?"

Tilting her head slightly aside, Beca takes a couple of seconds to think of _what if_. What if she had proposed, and then Ashley and her had gotten married on their fifth anniversary? Would she meet Chloe that night? Would everything end up like this? Or would she be celebrating valentine's day with Ashley instead of Chloe?

" _There's no way to find out, Pop."_ Emily's voice comes into her mind. _"Things do happen for a reason. For many reasons even. Some of them are good, some of them are not. It all depends on how we react on it."_

"Babe?" Chloe stares at her girlfriend with puzzled look. "You okay?"

Beca looks back at the redhead, smiling softly as she says, "I'm okay, Babe. And about the thing I was thinking, it doesn't matter anymore."

"Why?"

"Because it didn't happen." The brunette says without hesitation.

"Huh?"

Upon seeing to confusion written all over the redhead's face, Beca chuckles and says, "Come here you weirdo. Come closer so I can kiss you."

Chloe smiles and leans forward to kiss the brunette deeply, and when they break the kiss, she says, "I love you, Babe. So much."

While caressing the redhead's cheek gently with her thumb, Beca says, "I love you too, Chloe Beale."

Then they lay back down to look at the sky while talking about their college life and The Bella. About 15 minutes later, Chloe yawns, and Beca says, "Let's get you home, Miss Beale."

"Okay." Chloe takes the brunette's hand and pulls herself up.

The drive back is around an hour or so, and they arrive at Stacie's place at midnight. Since Chloe has fallen asleep, gently, Beca shakes the redhead's shoulder and says, "Babe, we're here."

"Hm?" Chloe mumbles while rubbing her eyes, and she's confused upon seeing Stacie's house. "Why are we here, Babe?"

Beca smirks, "You don't think that I'd take you back to my place on our first date right, Miss Beale? I'm a gentleman. And the rule of being a gentleman on the first date is to take the girl back to her own place."

With a soft giggle, Chloe says, "Babe, I think we're way pass that already."

"Nu uh." Beca shakes her head smugly. "You're gonna let me walk you to the door, and kiss you goodnight at the front porch."

"God!" Chloe exclaims joyfully. "You and your adorableness, Babe."

"Not adorable." Beca states matter-of-factly. "A badass gentleman." Then she unbuckles herself and gets out of the car before circling around to open the passenger door for the redhead.

While swinging their laced hands lightly, the couple walk toward the house. Then, by the front porch, still with Chloe's hand in hers, the brunette says, "I had a great time with you tonight."

Chloe rolls her eyes playfully and asks, "Seriously Babe? We're really doing this?"

"Yeah." Beca says in all seriousness, though there's a light tug of smile by the corner of her lips. "I'm very serious."

Again, Chloe rolls her eyes and softly says, "I had a great time too."

Then the DJ leans forward and kisses the redhead gently on the lips. Chloe automatically wraps her arms around Beca's shoulders and deepen the kiss while the brunette holds her by her waist. After they break the kiss breathlessly, Beca softly says, "I'll pick you up in the morning."

"U huh." Chloe responds still with her eyes closed. After pressing several chaste kisses on the brunette's lips, the redhead finally pulls away and opens the door. Then she turns around to look at her girlfriend with her beaming megawatt smile.

"See you tomorrow, Beale." Beca says with a soft smile.

"See you tomorrow, Mitchell." Chloe replies with a matching smile before closing the door gently.

With her hands in her pockets, the brunette skips her feet to her car. However, when she reaches the driver side, instead of getting in, she stands up with her back leaning on the car door, simply staring at Stacie's house, grinning goofily and feeling satisfied of the first date.

Still with her hands in her pockets, Beca sighs contentedly with a soft smile on her face. While her eyes are fixed on the house, out of nowhere, her mind strolls its way back to the end of her first date with Ashley.

* * *

_**Flashback** _

After Ashley fell asleep, Beca drove to the blonde's apartment building, and when they arrived, she even walked Ashley to her door.

Upon arriving in front of her apartment door, Ashley said, "I had a wonderful time with you."

"Me too."

"Do you want to... maybe come inside and have some coffee?" Ashley asked nervously.

The brunette's heart was thumping hard, and her cheeks are flushed. Nevertheless, she tried to play it cool by chuckling nervously and said, "I think you should get some rest, Benson. Besides, it's an unspoken rule that I should just walk you to your place, and then leave it just like that for a first date."

Upon seeing how adorable the brunette was trying to act all cool, Ashley asked teasingly, "Can I at least get a kiss good... morning then?"

With her jaw slacked open, Beca couldn't really say anything in return, and she didn't even get the chance. Just a second later, Ashley's lips met hers, and it was short but firm.

After she pulled away, the blonde brushed her hair to the back of her ear, biting her bottom lip shyly with her eyes fixed on her feet. Then she stole a glance at the brunette before she muttered, "Call me later?"

Beca grinned and replied, "Absolutely."

Then Ashley looked up at the DJ, smiling ever so brightly with her rosy cheeks before pressing another kiss on Beca's cheek and walks into her apartment.

After the door was closed before her eyes, Beca pumped her fist up triumphantly and then she touched her lips gently, still feeling the ghost of Ashley's warm lips on hers. The ticklish sensation in her stomach made her grinning goofily. Then with a contented sigh, she turned around and walked away.

Unknowingly to the brunette, on the other side, Ashley was standing with her back against the door, feeling her blood rushing to her head like crazy, and it made her feel lightheaded. She was happy but also dizzy at the same time, and she slid down, biting her bottom lip so hard to hold the joyful scream from escaping out of her chest.

* * *

Sudden ringing from her phone pulls Beca out of the memory lane, and she pulls out her phone out of her pocket to pick up.

" _I miss you already."_

Beca chuckles and says, "Well, guess what? I'm still standing in front of Stacie's place."

" _Really?!"_

Upon hearing how excited the redhead is, Beca chuckles and says, "Really."

Around a minute later, the redhead opens the front door, smiling from ear to ear while skipping her way to her girlfriend. Then she wraps her arms around Beca's neck and presses a hard kiss on her lips.

After Chloe breaks the kiss, with a goofy grin, Beca asks, "I guess there's no way you'll let me be a gentleman on our first date."

"Nope." Chloe pops the P.

"Thought so." Beca smirks. "So... want to go to my place, Miss Beale?"

With a wide grin, Chloe winks and replies, "I thought you'd never ask."

Then the couple go back to Beca's apartment.

* * *

**Earlier that night at Ashley's place.**

"Ashley!" Troian is banging the sanctuary door. "Open up, Ash!"

"Miss Bellisario, I have to politely ask you to leave." Nina says as calm as possible. "Miss Ashley had given me a clear order to not let anybody into this house."

"I'll take a full responsibility of this, Nina." Troian says firmly. "Don't worry."

"But-"

Suddenly, Ashley opens the door and says, "It's okay, Nina. Thank you."

Upon seeing how calm and collected the blonde is, Troian sighs in relief and asks, "Why didn't you pick up my phone calls?"

"Huh." Ashley is taken aback for a second. Then she walks back to the balcony and nonchalantly says, "I don't even know where my phone is."

While following the blonde, cautiously, Troian asks, "So, you don't know then?"

"About?" Ashley sits down in front of the canvas.

Troian stands next to the blonde, seeming torn when she says, "The internet blew up... about Beca and Chloe on a date?"

"I do." Ashley replies casually while giving a last touch on her painting. "About a week ago, my publicists told me about it."

"And you're okay with that?"

"Hmmm..." Ashley pushes the tip of the brush onto her chin, shrugging as she says, "I think so."

This time, it's Troian's turn to be taken aback, and she blurts out. "You're not broken hearted?"

Ashley turns to look at her best friend, smiling lightly as she says, "I was. A week ago. And then I started painting. And now, I'm feeling better."

Knowing that Ashley doesn't like to sugarcoat things, Troian believes her and sighs in relief.

Seeing through her best friend, Ashley smiles and says, "I got a little bit stronger, Troian." Then her smile becomes wider, and she writes those words down on the bottom corner of her painting, reading it out while scratching her brush on the painting, "I... got... a... little... bit... stronger... There. Done."

Troian takes a look at the painting for a moment before she asks in confusion, "You drew Beca's smiling face? Why?"

With a light shrug, Ashley answers, "I didn't intend to. It just... came out of my mind."

"Hmmm..." Troian nods absentmindedly.

Ashley smiles and says, "She could be happy. Well, I don't really know. But I do hope so. I guess it makes me feel better you know, thinking that she's happy. If she's miserable, then I don't think I'll be able to move on. I will hang on to her, hoping that she'll come back to me. And it won't do any good to both me, and her."

Troian hugs her best friend tightly from aside, kissing her crown and says, "I agree, Ash." Then she breaks the hug and says, "Patrick is downstairs with Shay. We're planning to take over your entertainment room and binge watching FRIENDS. Want to join us?"

"Sure." Ashley gets off the chair and brings the canvas in, put it next to the other paintings she made in the last week, saying while walking, "Just let me shower first."

"Okay. I'll wait downstairs."

"U huh."

Then the blonde finds her phone and charges it before taking a shower. While the water washing all of the paint on her skin, Ashley let her mind wander, thinking about the thing she should do.

After showering, still wrapped in a towel with her hair wet, Ashley calls her publicist.

_"Hey Ash."_

"Hey Ellie. So sorry to bother you this late."

" _It's okay. Anything I can help you with?"_

"Yeah." Ashley says casually. "After Beca gives her official statement, can you put out mine too?"

" _Sure. What do you want to say?"_

"Tell the fans that Beca and I broke up in early November last year, and we did it in a good term. Ask them to support our mutual decision."

" _Is that all?"_

"Yeah. Thanks Ellie."

" _You're welcome."_

After ending the phone call, Ashley feels much lighter. While drying her hair, she takes her time staring at her paintings one by one, starting from the first one to the latest one, and she smiles in satisfacition.

Then she changes into something comfortable, but before she walks out of the sanctuary, her eyes catch Beca's navy hoodie on the bed. Gently, she picks it up and presses it under her nose, breathing deeply into her lungs. She finds that there's no trace of Beca's scent on it anymore.

With a light smile, she folds it carefully and puts it into the drawer in her walk-in closet. She chooses the bottom one, the furthest at the corner one. After staring at it for a couple more seconds, Ashley closes the drawer and heads to the entertainment room, feeling the lightest she's ever been since the break-up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, that would be chapter 29. How do you think about it? I'd love to know it. For the next chapter, there will be another time jump to Chloe's birthday. How it will turn out, well, just sit tight and make good choices until I post chapter 30. Thank you for reading :)


	30. Six Degrees of Separation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey Folks. Happy Sunday :)
> 
> In the last chapter, it seemed like Beca was starting to move on from Ashley. And so was Ashley. Chloe was also getting much better. Well, in this chapter, I'm bringing back the hurt; the dark and twisty. So... brace yourself. Just a suggestion; maybe have a tub of ice cream with you while reading this chapter :P

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I put on a song in this chapter, and it's I knew I loved You by Savage Garden. I don't own the song, nor Pitch Perfect, neither most of the characters. Hope you enjoy :)

 

**Chloe's Birthday, March 9** **th** **2026**

A few weeks have passed, and even though the media have had so many speculations about how Beca broke up with Ashley and started a relationship with Chloe in such a short time, the couple survived it so far.

The official statements from both Beca and Ashley did bring down the tension a little bit. However, there are still people that despised Beca for breaking up with Ashley and dating Chloe.

The negative headlines so far were not straying too far from _DJ Mitchell Cheating On Ashley Benson With College Girlfriend?; The Red Riding Hood That Turns Out To Be The Wolf; The Redheaded Lover Stealer;_ or _Chloe Beale: The Home Wrecker._

The good thing was, there were also some positive headlines that stated, _True Love That Found Its Way; DJ Mitchell Found a Way Back to Her First Love After Ten Years of Yearning; Where There's Love, Then There's Hope;_ and _A Song Brought Them Back Together._

Nevertheless, the media and gossips weren't the main issue that broke Chloe's heart. It was the fans' reactions. Many of them had given her hate speeches, posting and commenting her in social media with cruel words. It felt more personal to her because the fans didn't despise her only about being Beca's girlfriend, but also bombarding many insults about her characters, her life, her friends, and her family. Moreover, most of them were lies.

For Beca, it was normal for the fans to act like that. But for Chloe, it stung because she had never been treated that way. There was a time where Chloe was very overwhelmed by the fans' reactions, and she broke down in tears. A week after their first date, Beca found the redhead in the bedroom after work, curling on the bed, shaking and sobbing.

They had a little fight about it, but nothing they couldn't handle. To make the redhead feel better, Beca surprised her at school the next day, and it certainly made Chloe not only happy, but also relieved.

Troian and Patrick helped by announcing their wedding plan as a diversion four days after valentine's day. It did help, because PLL's fans were over the moon to find out that the lovely couple would finally get married after years being engaged.

The thing that eventually tuned down the fans' rampage was Ashley's short video on her Vlog, asking the fans to stop bullying the couple. Their focus changed from despising Beca and Chloe to praising the blonde for how gracefully she took the break up, and how kind she was even after getting broken hearted.

For that, Beca sent her a bouquet of lilies to say thank you, that to which, Ashley didn't give any response to because she didn't want more muss when she just started to feel better.

Two weeks after the first date, Beca and Chloe became customized with the residual anger from the fans. Moreover, the paparazzi found another news to hunt: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's sudden divorce. Therefore, the news about Beca and Chloe were set aside from the spotlight.

Since then, everything are only getting much better for Beca and Chloe. Other than Beca hasn't been able to give herself completely, they have become more comfortable having the relationship.

Even Aubrey has felt better and she has been treating the tiny brunette more nicely. Seeing how serious Beca in the relationship made the blonde trusted her more. The more Aubrey saw how committed Beca to Chloe, the less stressful she was, and it certainly improved her own marriage too.

Likewise, without Aubrey pushing her around, Beca also treated the blonde nicer, and it certainly made Chloe even happier to see the two people she loves the most could treat each other better. In addition to all of that, Beca has been giving more attention and time to be with the redhead in daily life.

Twice a week, Beca would go with Chloe to do some grocery shopping, and they already filled the brunette's apartment with their pictures together. They also already had two other dates, as simple as walking by the beach at sunset and having a picnic at Griffith Park near the lake.

Almost every day, the redhead would get a note slipped into her purse, sayingstuff like  _Love you Babe. Have a great day._  or  _Will be missing your smile the whole day._ from her girlfriend _._ Therefore,it's more than safe to say that Chloe is over the moon from the treatment, and Beca herself feels happier each and every day.

Even more so for today, because the redhead will turn 36. Early in the morning, Beca woke up and made breakfast for her girlfriend. With a tray of grilled cheese and a glasses of orange juice, the brunette walks into her bedroom.

After putting down the tray on the bedside table, Beca gently gets on the bed, and wraps her girlfriend from behind before kissing the back of her shoulder. "Wake up, birthday girl."

"Hmmm..." Chloe stirs in her sleep, smiling lightly still with her eyes closed.

Then Beca presses another hard kiss on the back of her shoulder and softly says, "After ten years of not celebrating your birthday, I'm so glad that I'm with you today. Thank you for staying healthy and alive. I love you."

Chloe chuckles lightly and turns around to kiss the brunette chastely on the lips. "Healthy and alive?" She giggles. "Babe, I've never got that kind of birthday wishes before. I mean, usually people will say _have a blast,_ or _hope you make this year count,_ or _hope your dreams come true._ "

Smirking smugly, Beca says, "Well, you said that your dream already came true." Her smirk turns into a soft smile, and she caresses the redhead's cheek gently as she says, "After everything you've been through because of me, there's nothing I'm more grateful about than to see you healthy, happy, and alive."

Seeing the warmth and sincerity pouring out from her girlfriend's steely blue eyes certainly flutters Chloe's heart. She leans forward to kiss the brunette deeply, and Beca slips her right arms under the redhead's neck to pull her closer into her embrace, while her left hand resting on Chloe's cheek.

Just as Chloe slips her hands under the brunette's shirt, Beca pulls away slightly, smirking as she says, "Not so fast, Beale. I made you breakfast."

Knowing that her girlfriend isn't avoiding her, Chloe rolls her eyes playfully and pulls her hands back without saying anything. Lately, Beca has been less resistance with her touch, and the redhead has been taking advantage of it. The brunette hasn't let her pull out her shirt yet, but Chloe has found ways to arouse her girlfriend over her clothes, and under the shirt, or just anything that doesn't require the DJ to be naked.

Then Beca presses another hard kiss on her girlfriend's lips and pulls away to take the tray.

"Grilled cheese?" Chloe asks with a playful smile. "For breakfast?"

"Yep." Beca pops the P. "I just learnt how to make it yesterday with Donna at the office. Hope it's good enough for Chef Beale."

Chloe chuckles and munches the said breakfast. "Hmmm..." She chews slowly, smiling while staring at the brunette teasingly before saying, "It's good enough."

With an arrogant shrug, Beca pats her own right shoulder with her left hand and says, "It's special from Beca Mitchell. It's made with a secret ingredient." Then she whispers loudly, "Love."

It certainly turns the redhead's cheeks red, and makes her heart flutters even more. Then she puts down her grilled cheese and kisses Beca gently on the lips before she says, "I love you Babe. So much."

Beca kisses her cheeks four times, saying in between kisses, "I, love, you, too."

After that, they simply have breakfast in a comfortable silent before taking a shower separately. When Beca walks out from the bathroom, wearing a t-shirt and shortpants, she sees that Chloe is sitting in front of the mirror, putting on some makeup.

With a light smile, Beca walks to her closet and takes out the present for Chloe. Then she approaches the redhead while holding the present behind her back. When she's already standing behind her girlfriend, Beca leans downward to kiss her cheek over the shoulder.

"What are you hiding there, Babe?" Chloe asks, smiling with her eyebrows furrowed while looking at the brunette's reflection in the mirror.

Beca grins goofily and says, "Something that you'll find out in less than a minute if you're willing to close your eyes for a moment."

"Hmmm..." Chloe narrows her eyes, staring at her girlfriend through the mirror with curious look. But then she closes her eyes and says, "Okay."

After the redhead closes her eyes, Beca puts something on her neck, and Chloe knows that it's clearly a necklace. Then Beca kisses Chloe's cheeks once again and softly says, "Now you can open your eyes."

Slowly, Chloe opens her eyes, and she's struck to see a necklace made of white gold, features a pear-cut aquamarine with a border of pave round-cut white diamonds, and has two bezel-set diamonds hang above the aquamarine pendant.

While her hand rubbing the stone on her chest gently, Chloe says with wide eyes, "It's beautiful, Babe."

Beca rests her chin on her girlfriend's shoulder and hugs her from behind before she says, "It's aquamarine. You're birthstone. The jewelers told me that it would protect the person who wears it, to which I don't really believe. I mean, it's a stone. But..." Her smile grows fonder. "But among other tons of meaning, one of them said that it could bring love back into someone's life; into a relationship."

"And?" Chloe asks with a curious smile.

"You brought love back into my life, Chlo." Beca says softly. "Back when we were in college, you were the first person who brought love back into my life. And now we're together."

Upon seeing Chloe's glimmering teary eyes, Beca feels a bit shy. Therefore, she pulls away and clears her throat, trying to be nonchalant when she adds, "Besides, the color matches your eyes."

Chloe chuckles lightly and stands up to face her blushing girlfriend. While wrapping the brunette's neck with her arms, she softly says, "You are so so adorable. Especially when you're trying so hard to hide it."

"Am not adorable." Beca says matter-of-factly. "I'm a badass."

"U huh." The redhead smiles teasingly before leaning forward to kiss her girlfriend deeply.

Automatically, Beca's hands rub Chloe's back down to her firm ass, and when the redhead breaks the kiss, the DJ breathes out, "No offense, Miss Beale. You look hot in this blouse and skirt. But I think you'll look even better without it."

Chloe giggles softly and pushes her girlfriend onto the bed before pulling down the zipper on the back of the skirt, letting it dropping down effortlessly onto the floor. "You mean like this?"

Supporting herself halfway up on her elbows, the brunette swallows hard upon seeing Chloe's bare thighs, and then she responds with wide eyes, "Meh."

With a mischievous smile, Chloe opens the first two buttons on her blouse and asks, "How about now?"

As casual as she can yet with watery mouth, Beca shrugs, "A bit better."

Then the redhead unbuttons the rest of her blouse and pushes it down her shoulders, wrapping it around her elbows. "And now?"

After huffing out a ragged breath through her mouth, Beca mutters, "A bit better than before."

"Oh. A bit huh?" Chloe says nonchalantly yet still with that devilish smile on her face. Then she takes off her blouse completely and throws it onto the brunette's face.

When Beca rips the blouse off her face, Chloe is already taking off her bra, pulling it out very slowly through her arms before holding it between her fingers and drops it onto the floor, making the brunette clenches her hands on the bed sheet and bites her bottom lip so hard, feeling the heat pooling underneath in her core.

"How about now?" Chloe teases in barely a whisper.

Upon seeing the redhead's perky breasts and toned stomach, Beca swallows hard and stutters, "A-almost perfect?"

"Almost perfect." Chloe responds so nonchalantly before slipping her thumbs in the side of her underwear and pushes it down very slowly, bending forward with her eyes fixed on her girlfriend's, making the brunette's eyes go even wider, and her heart thumping wildly.

When she's already completely naked, Chloe stands up straight, pushes her red hair back, and asks with a husky voice, "How about now?"

Beca drops her head back, grunting before she curses, _"Damnit!"_

Then the brunette reaches out a hand to touch the redhead, but Chloe bats her hand away, and huskily, even devilishly says, "You haven't answered me yet. No answer no touching, Mitchell."

"Perfection." Beca breathes out. "Everything about you is perfect."

Chloe smiles triumphantly and says, "Perfect answer." Without waiting for the brunette's response, the redhead climbs onto the bed and leans downward to kiss her fiercely, to which Beca returns hungrily.

They end up having a steamy morning sex where both of them are satisfied even though the brunette is still fully clothed. When their breaths are already even, Beca turns to lay on her side and rubs the curve under Chloe's breast with her thumb. "Can we stay in today? I want to spend this whole day with naked you on my bed."

Chloe chuckles, "Absolutely..." When Beca's eyes light up, the redhead smirks. "Not Babe. We need to go to work."

Upon seeing the brunette sighing overdramatically in disappointment, Chloe kisses her chastely on the lips and nonchalantly says, "But we can continue this tonight after the party."

"It's still more than 12 hours away." Beca whines. "How can I concentrate on work when all I can think about is having naked you in every possible ways?"

It certainly makes the redhead laughs even louder, and then she says, "Well, you have to go to work. Besides..." She trails her index finger down Beca's throat, feeling how it raised when the brunette is swallowing, and then she stops in between the brunette's collar bones. "It will be much better to have you all riled up after holding your _need_ the whole day. Think about the stuff I'll let you do to me tonight."

Beca raises an eyebrow and asks, "And what are those stuff?"

Chloe leans closer to the DJ's ear and whispers a couple of things that makes Beca's eyes roll back, and she can only breathes out, _"Damnit Beale!"_

With a light chuckle, the redhead pulls herself away to put her clothes back on. On the other hand, Beca is lying on her side, supporting her head with her elbow while keep staring at the redhead with a goofy grin on her face.

After she's all dressed up, Chloe approaches her girlfriend, leaning down and cups the brunette's cheek with one hand before kissing her lips gently. "I'll see you tonight, Babe. Your lunch is on the kitchen table."

Still with a goofy grin, Beca replies, "See you tonight, red. I love you."

Chloe presses another chaste kiss on the brunette's lips and says, "I love you too." Then she turns around and walks out of the bedroom.

When the redhead is already out, Beca lays on her back, smiling goofily while shaking her head lightly, still thinking about the prior activity. _"Damnit Mitchell! Get a grip!"_ She scolds in her mind.

After taking a deep breath, Beca goes to the bathroom to take care of her soaked underwear before changing and go to work herself.

* * *

Beca is overly cheerful the whole day, she keeps on humming and whistling while working. By lunch, Emily comes to her office to have lunch together.

"Hey Em!" Beca greets the youngest Bella.

Emily rolls her eyes playfully upon seeing how blinding the smile on the DJ's face, and she asks in mocked annoyance, "Am I in some kind of parallel universe?"

"Ha!" Beca rolls her eyes. "Very funny, kid." Then she munches her sandwich and asks, "How are our sisters?"

After taking a seat across from her former captain, Emily says, "They are settling at Stacie's place."

"Huh?" Beca furrows her eyebrows in confusion. "Is Stacie's place enough for all of them and their families?"

Emily swallows her food and answers, "They don't bring their kids and spouses since it will only be a three days visit anyway. Besides, Chloe, you, and I are going back to our own places."

"Hmmm..." Beca nods absentmindedly while chewing her food. Then she asks, "Aubrey is preparing the party with them then?"

"I won't say that it's a party." Emily states matter-of-factly. "It's just a Bella gathering."

"Yea, yea, yea." Beca rolls her eyes playfully. "Gathering, party, whatever. I assume Aubrey is preparing it now."

"Yep." Emily muffles with her mouth full. "Stacie told me that she even took a day off to make sure that everything's perfect for tonight."

With a knowing look, Beca says, "Classic aca-nazy."

"U huh." Emily responds. "How about the song for tonight by the way? Are you ready for the performance?"

"Absolutely." Beca says certainly with a huge grin on her face.

Emily rolls her eyes playfully and teases, "You look way too cheerful for my taste lately. I kind of miss my a bit snarky and whiny Pop."

Beca barks out a laughter and says, "Why? You should be happy. I've never been better in the last four months."

"Good then." Emily smiles softly. Then she asks, "So, you give her the necklace yet?"

"Yep." Beca pops the P. "This morning."

"What did she think?" Emily asks before shoving her lunch into her mouth.

"She loved it." Beca says casually. "Thanks for going with me, Em."

"No problemo." Emily sings out.

Beca sighs with a light smile and says, "I think I might be ready to give her the ultimate present tonight."

"Huh?"

Upon seeing Beca raising her eyebrows and grinning from ear to ear, Emily exclaims, "Ew! I so do not want to know about it! Especially when I'm having my lunch!"

Beca laughs whole-heartily and says, "I didn't say anything."

"I knew what you were thinking!" Emily scolds half-heartily.

Still laughing lightly, Beca shrugs and nonchalantly says, "On your expense then. Not mine."

Emily shakes her head, rolling her eyes in half-annoyance before she says, "I'm so out of here."

When the youngest Bella gets up, bringing her half-eaten lunch with her, Beca cheerfully says, "Bye Em."

"Hmph." Emily responds while walking out of the office, and it makes Beca chuckles lightly.

Around five minutes after she finished her lunch, Beca's phone ring, and she doesn't even have to look to know who it is from. So she picks it up directly, "Hey Babe."

" _Baby, have you-"_

"I have." Beca grins, and she hears Chloe chuckling on the other side.

" _I haven't even finished yet."_

"Well, I happened to know that you wanted to ask me if I have lunch yet." Beca teases.

" _And your meds?'_

"It's all in one package." Beca says matter-of-factly. "You put them in my lunchbox, remember?"

Chloe chuckles again and says, _"Good then. I want to be sure about one thing though."_

"What?"

" _Are we still on for tonight?"_

Beca chuckles, leaning back onto the couch and says, "I don't know about you, Beale. But I'm pretty _on_ right now."

It certainly makes the redhead laughs. _"Sometimes I can't believe how insatiable you are."_

"You feed the beast." Beca replies nonchalantly.

" _I certainly did."_

The smile on Beca's face can't go even wider without splitting her face. "How about you? Lunch and meds already in your tummy?"

" _On their way."_

"Good. How are your students today?"

" _They're fine. I've got to go, Babe. Can't wait for tonight. I love you."_

Though Beca is a bit confused by how unusually fast Chloe wants to end the phone call, she replies, "I love you too."

Then she gets back on her work while humming lightly to a song that she's going to sing that night.

Suddenly, Donna comes into her office and says, "I assume you've already had your lunch and meds, monkey."

"Of course." Beca replies with a grin.

Donna chuckles yet rolling her eyes playfully and says, "Emily is right."

"Huh?"

"She told me that you're too cheerful for her taste." Donna smiles lightly. "And I think for my taste too. What did you do to my monkey?"

Beca simply laughs, and then the older redhead says, "I just want to remind you that the musical you produced, August Rush, the premiere is in a week."

"Okay." Beca nods.

"Are you taking Chloe to the red carpet?" Donna asks casually. "If you are, then I will send the usual designer to her for dress fitting."

"Yeah." Beca says without hesitation.

"Okay then." Donna says before walking out of the office.

* * *

Meanwhile, Chloe is having lunch with a certain blonde at a cafe. It turns out, the redhead didn't go to school that day. Instead, she's going out with her best friend.

"Are you sure you want to do it tonight?" Aubrey asks worriedly. "Sorry. Let me change my phrase. I mean, are you sure she's going to say yes?"

"You changed the question. Not the phrase." Chloe says matter-of-factly.

"Chloe..." Aubrey stares at her best friend sternly.

"I believe so." Chloe says before sipping her coffee. "Everything has been going so so great lately, Bree. Besides, she has always been the one for me. And I just... I don't want to wait anymore. I've been thinking about doing it since Christmas. And around two weeks ago, I was... I got my reassurance."

"What reassurance?"

Chloe takes a deep breath, smiling ever so fondly when she says, "Well, a week after our first date..."

* * *

_**Flashback: A week after the first date.** _

After coming back from school, Chloe broke down in tears in her girlfriend's bedroom upon reading some headlines and comments in her social media about her relationship with Beca. Though there were many positive ones, she focused on the negative.

She had been crying for a while until she heard the door opened, and then her girlfriend asked, "Babe, what's wrong?"

Chloe turns to look at the brunette and sobs, "I... I read some of the comments in my social media and the news, a- and..."

With a worried and sympathetic look, Beca sighed deeply and got onto the bed, lying herself next to the redhead, facing her while saying, "Babe... I told you not to."

"I- I didn't mean to..." Chloe choked out. "I was just trying to check my emails whe- when it came up."

While wiping her girlfriend's cheeks, Beca softly says, "It doesn't matter what they say, Chlo."

Chloe nuzzled into the crook of the DJ's neck, and Beca automatically pulled her closer into her embrace. Then the redhead sniffled and said, "How could they be so mean? They don't know a thing about us."

"That's the point, Babe." Beca said softly before pressing her lips onto Chloe's forehead. "They don't know anything about us. So, don't take their words. Besides, it's less than it's supposed to be because of the official statements Ashley and I gave. And two days ago, Troian and Patrick announced their wedding plan to help easing the tension."

Upon hearing Ashley's name, Chloe pulled away slightly and looked at her girlfriend in confusion. "Ashley's official statement?"

"Yeah."

"What statement?"

Casually, Beca says, "She just mentioned that we broke up in early November last year, and it was our mutual decision. She also said that we did it in good terms, and she asked the fans to support our decision."

"Why would she do that?" Chloe asked in upset. "Is she trying to get some sympathies by playing as the good understanding ex? No wonder her fans are bitching about me all over."

It certainly confused the brunette, and she said, "Babe, she was... trying to help? I think? I mean, I didn't know for sure why she did that. But it did tune down the bad gossips. And today, she posted a video on her Vlog."

"What video?"

Beca sighed tiredly and pulled out her phone to show the video to her girlfriend. In that video, Ashley said warmly, _"Hey guys. It's been a while since the last time I posted any video. I wish that you're all well. Anyway, I want to clarify, if my official statement isn't enough, Beca and I already broke up. And I know that it's hard for most of you. Believe me, I do. But really, it was our mutual decision. It's no one's fault. We just... drifted apart. Sort of. So, stop blaming anybody over this. Let's be supportive instead. Beca is happy, and I'm happy for her. You should too. Hey, by the way, the first half 7_ _th_ _season of PLL is coming up soon. Really waiting for your excitements over the live twitter. Love you Benzoholic. Bye."_

Once the video was over, Chloe asked, "Have you seen this before?"

It took a couple of seconds before Beca tore her eyes away from Ashley's face on her phone's screen to look at her girlfriend. Then she honestly said, "I have. Emily told me earlier today, and we watched it together in my office."

Upon seeing the worried look on Chloe's face, Beca calmly said, "Chlo... Ashley and I are over. _Over_ , over. I'm with you now. And I love you."

"Really?" Chloe asked with her eyebrows furrowed worriedly. Clearly, she was still insecure about the blonde.

Beca smiled lightly and said, "Really. So stop worrying about her, okay?"

With a relieved sigh, Chloe leaned forward to kiss her girlfriend on the lips. Then she remembered about the mean comments from the fans, and she said, "But the fans, they turned on me so hard, Babe. And... I don't know how to deal with them. And it could affect the way people think about me."

"You don't." Beca replied without hesitation. Then she cupped the redhead's cheek with one hand and softly said, "Babe, you don't need to deal with them at all. Like you said, they know nothing about us. So what they think don't matter. This isn't about them. This is about you and me. Besides, how did your students and colleagues react?"

Chloe smiled softly and said, "My students had two cookies at lunch today, and each of them gave me one because they knew that I was sad. And my colleagues were so excited to find out that I'm dating you. They've been so kind about the situation, offering to cover my classes if I need some day off."

"See?" Beca smiled. "The people who matter won't mind. So, don't mind the people who don't matter. Focus on the good stuff."

Seeming more relieved, the redhead nodded lightly, smiling ever so fondly at her girlfriend, and Beca kissed her forehead gently.

Then Chloe softly said, "I love you too."

Beca pulled back slightly and caressed the redhead's cheek while saying, "Let's meditate, and then we can have dinner."

With a fond smile, Chloe simply nodded.

The next day at lunch, a student came into the classroom and exclaimed, "Miss Beale! There's someone out there looking for you!"

"Hey Rocky." Chloe smiled. "Who's looking for me?"

"See it for yourself." Rocky grinned.

With her eyebrows furrowed, Chloe walked out from her classroom, and she was greeted with a bouquet of her favorite flowers right in front of her nose.

"For you, Miss Beale."

Upon hearing her girlfriend's voice, Chloe calls in comic surprise, "Babe?"

Beca moved the flowers aside, showing her grinning face as she said, "Hey Babe. Surprise."

Instantly, Chloe hugged her girlfriend tightly, and her students cheered for them along with some other teachers while the brunette just chuckled lightly. After she broke the hug, the redhead asked, "What are you doing here?"

"I want to have lunch with you." Beca said casually. Then she pushed the flowers forward. "So, are you gonna take this, or should I give it to another girl?"

Chloe chuckled and asked, "Who are you gonna give?"

With a light shrug, Beca replied, "I don't know. Do you think that maybe a third grader would go for me? I mean, I'm such a catch."

It certainly made the redhead laughed even more. Then she linked her arm with her girlfriend's and cheerfully said, "Come on. I'll introduce _my_ Beca Mitchell to my coworkers."

"Hmmm..." Beca smirked knowingly. " _Your_ Beca Mitchell?"

"Yep." Chloe popped the P. "All mine."

Beca simply chuckled lightly while letting the redhead dragging her around to introduce her. Upon seeing how joyful the redhead was while talking animatedly with her coworkers, Beca couldn't help but sighing in relief and staring at her with a soft smile.

After parading the brunette around, Chloe pulled her into the classroom so they could have lunch together. When they finished, the redhead asked, "Are you going back to the studio now?"

"I can stay for another hour." Beca says casually while wiping her mouth with a napkin. "The next meeting is still in two hours."

"You would stay?" Chloe asked in comic surprise.

With a smirk, Beca replied, "I can just sit in the back, creepily watching you teaching. Maybe enjoying how _you_ , tripping in your words."

Chloe simply rolled her eyes playfully while grinning from ear to ear with her eyes so bright.

When the class started again, the students couldn't completely focus because they kept on stealing glances at the DJ in the back of the classroom. The DJ herself just looked at her girlfriend, giving her a playful wink one time or two that certainly made the redhead blushed.

After the clock hit 2 PM and the class almost ended, Beca folded a heart out of an ordinary paper with a message in it. Then she tapped the back of Rocky's shoulder and said, "Hey little man. Could I ask you another favor?"

"Of course." Rocky grinned.

Then Beca handed him the folded paper and said, "Please give this to Miss Beale."

Rocky nodded excitedly and took the heart before rushing his way to the front. When Rocky handed the folded paper, the redhead looked at her smiling girlfriend and mouthed, "I love you too, Babe."

Beca simply nodded and gestured her thumb to the door, and Chloe pouted yet nodded reluctantly. Then the brunette walked out of the school, going back to her studio with lighter chest upon seeing her girlfriend was feeling better.

_**End of Flashback.** _

* * *

"So, I'm sure." Chloe says to end her story. "And since then, we've had two more dates, and she went grocery shopping with me every time, Bree. Isn't she being so domestic already?"

Still, Aubrey seems worried, staring at her best friend with furrowed eyebrows as she says, "I just want to be sure, Chloe. I mean, you've only been in this relationship for less than four months."

"But we've already been in love with each other for half of our lives." Chloe convinces.

"I know. But are you sure that this is the perfect time for it?" Aubrey tries to reason. "I mean, you just got hit with the media and everything... and-"

"It's the perfect time, Bree." Chloe cuts her best friend off, staring at her with determination pouring out from her blue eyes. "With all of our sisters here, and after what happened this morning, I'm more than sure that this is it. She's it for me, and I can't wait to make it more permanent."

Knowing how stubborn her best friend can be when it comes to _her_ DJ, Aubrey sighs in defeat and says, "Okay if you're sure. Let's go find the perfect ring for your hobbit."

With her megawatt smile, Chloe says, "Let's go."

* * *

**Back to Beca's office.**

It's already around four, and the brunette is gathering her stuff, very impatient to go home to get ready for Chloe's birthday party. Suddenly, her phone is beeping crazily.

Beca is confused, knowing that it's the alert for any news about Ashley on the internet that she hasn't turned off yet. It beeped after valentine's day, but it had become less in the last two weeks. She's indeed intrigued, thinking that it must be another cooked up story about her and Chloe that involves Ashley.

Therefore, she opens it to find out. In the matter of seconds, all of the happiness she's been feeling drained out from every fiber of her being upon seeing a certain picture. She's completely frozen up, and she feels cold.

In that picture, Shay is taking a selfie while hugging and kissing the forehead of a woman with bubblegum pink hair on a bed that Beca is very familiar with. The woman with bubblegum pink hair is certainly Ashley, and Beca could recognize her anywhere even with a different hair color. From the view of their bare shoulders, she's sure that they are naked. Their eyes are closed, but Shay is definitely awake.

_Definitely in a relationship._ That is the caption of that certain picture on the news.

After being stunned for almost a minute with her eyes fixed on the screen, now Beca feels over heated under her skin, and she's not aware that she's gripping the phone so hard that her hand is shaking. Her heart is thumping wildly and vastly. It feels like her head is going to explode from the blood rush.

"Argh!" Beca throws her phone onto the wall, cracking it in several places, but she doesn't even have an ounce of care.

She's indeed frantic, failing to fill her shrunken lungs with her shortened breaths, and she's pacing around her office while grasping her head tightly. One by one, the images of Shay and Ashley had sex in the bed she used to share with her ex come into her mind.

_Shay's hands on Ashley's pearl white and sweaty skin._

Beca closes her eyes tightly and grasps her hair even tighter.

_Shay's lips on Ashley's soft and warm lips._

"Damnit!" Beca flips the chair in front of her.

_Ashley calling out Shay's name when she came._

"Agh!" Beca wipes her desk clean with one harsh swipe by her hands, panting so hard through her slightly parted and trembling lips. "This... this can't be happening." She says with ragged breath. "This can't be happening!" She slams her hands so hard onto the desk, and the impact from her engagement ring cracks the desk's surface that's made out of glass.

She can feel the heat of the pain from slamming the desk spreading from her palm to her shoulders and to all over her body. But it doesn't ease the pain and anger in her chest that is throbbing, trying to crawl its way out of her skin.

When she can't hold the pain under her diaphragm anymore, she bends forward with her arms wrapping her abdomen tightly, but it also doesn't work.

In her last effort, Beca grips the edge of the desk tightly to hold herself up, closing her eyes and keep reminding herself, _"Just take a breath... Just take a breath..."_

Try as hard as she might, her breaths come in raggedly, and she can't tune down the volcano in her chest. It just keep getting stronger. Then she shouts, "Just take a fucking breath, Mitchell!"

Frantically yet also automatically, she walks out of her office, heading to the pantry and grabs a bottle of Vodka from there. It's for the clients, and she knows that she shouldn't drink any alcohol. But she doesn't care. She just wants and needs to numb her unbearably aching heart. It was the only thing that could ease her pain in the past; the time before Ashley came into her life.

Then she paces her way back into her office, and walks straight into the bedroom next to it. While leaning her back onto the wall, she opens the bottle with her trembling and sweaty hands. Although it was hard at first because her damp fingers keep slipping off the bottle cap, eventually she could open it.

After that, she just holds it for a couple of minutes, gripping it in front of her trembling lips so tightly until her knuckles turn white, but she just can't bring herself to tilt the bottle up.

" _Don't ever hurt yourself that way again for loving someone."_

Ashley's voice comes into her mind in repeat, and she closes her eyes tightly before swinging her arm as hard as she can, throwing the bottle across the room, certainly shattering it into pieces and the liquid spreads all over the floor. Then she slides down onto the floor effortlessly.

Instead of drinking her pain away, she pulls her knees onto her chest, shaking while pressing her thumb's knuckles onto her forehead hard with her elbows resting on her kneecaps and her eyes closed.

"This isn't happening... this isn't real..." She mutters through labored breaths, and she keeps on saying those words repeatedly while thudding the back of her head gently onto the wall without shedding any tears.

"This isn't happening... this isn't real..."

* * *

It's already 05.13 PM when Emily hurriedly goes to Donna's office and worriedly asks, "Donna, have you seen this?"

"See what?" The older redhead looks up at the youngest Bella with furrowed eyebrows.

"This." Emily holds up her phone in front of Donna.

Donna's eyes go wide, and she asks, "Is that..."

"Yeah." Emily responds in panic when Donna can't finish her question. "Do you think Pop has seen this?"

"Let's find out." Donna hurriedly gets up and walks out of her office with Emily.

When they reach Beca's office, before the older redhead opens the door, Emily pulls her elbow and says, "If she hasn't found out yet..."

"We have to keep it from her at least until tomorrow." Donna says certainly, knowing that it's Chloe's birthday that night.

Emily simply nods and let her go. Then they walk into the DJ's office, and they both are stunned to find how messy it is. Every stuff that are supposed to be on the desk are now on the floor. The framed pictures are shattered, the chair is upside down, the computer is broken, and the papers and stationary are all over the place.

"Monkey?!" Donna calls out in panic while walking further into the room. "Monkey!"

"Pop!" Emily joins her while frantically looking around the room, and then her eyes catch the broken phone on the floor. Hurriedly, she picks it up and sees the picture on the cracked screen. It certainly makes her even more panic.

Then they hear muttering coming from the bedroom, and they hurriedly go in there.

"Monkey!" Donna exclaims upon seeing the broken down Beca. Then she hurriedly kneeling down next to the DJ and says, "Monkey, look at me."

However, Beca doesn't respond to her, and when the older redhead grabs her arm, she seems to be not aware at all.

On the other hand, Emily is carefully holding a piece of glass that has _Vodka_ label on it. "Donna."

Donna turns to look at the youngest Bella over her shoulder, and she's shocked to see the item in Emily's hand, but she can still think clearly to pull out her phone and dial a number.

"Who are you calling?" Emily asks worriedly.

"Help." Donna simply replies.

" _Donna?"_

"It's Beca." She's not using _monkey_ anymore, and the person she's calling knows that it's their code for drastic times. "We're in her office."

" _I'm on my way."_

Meanwhile, Emily is already kneeling in front of her former captain, shaking the DJ's shoulders and says in panic, "Pop. Pop. Look at me please."

However, Beca is totally shutting off. With her eyes closed, she just keep thudding her head onto the wall, muttering, "This isn't happening... This isn't happening..."

Then the youngest Bella turns to look at Donna and worriedly asks, "Do you think that she drinks at all? I mean, it's all over the floor..."

"I'm not sure." Donna shakes her head frantically. With her eyes fixed on the DJ, Donna asks, "When did that picture come up, Em?"

"I don't know." Emily says. "I was in a meeting, and when it ended after five, I checked my phone, and the internet was blowing up that picture. It's on every gossip sites."

"Oh God." Donna closes her eyes and takes a deep breath to calm her nerves.

"What should we do?" Emily asks worriedly.

"I don't know." Donna replies. "We can only wait."

Emily keep hugging the DJ with teary eyes, feeling the pain in her chest upon seeing how broken she is. Meanwhile, Donna is pushing the shattered glass with a rug to the corner of the room so nobody will step on it.

Around 10 minutes later, the waited person walks into the room and asks through panting breaths, "What happened to her?"

"This happened." Emily holds up her own phone and shows the picture to Harvey.

After steadying his breaths, Harvey slips one arm under Beca's knees and the other arm supporting her back before picking her up and puts her onto the bed. The DJ doesn't budge but keep holding her head tightly while sitting cross-legged with her elbows pressing onto her thighs.

Then Harvey gently tries pulling the brunette's arms down, and even though it's hard because Beca is so stiff, he pushes harder. "Monkey." He calls worriedly. "Monkey, open your eyes and look at me."

Still, Beca doesn't budge but keep on muttering, "This isn't happening... This isn't happening..."

Gently, Harvey rests his hands on Beca's cheeks and says, "Monkey, this is Harvey. Open your eyes."

Upon feeling the warm palms on her cheeks, Beca's eyes flutters open. They are fixed on him, but she's not looking at him at all. She's just looking through him blankly while keep on muttering, "This isn't happening... This isn't happening..."

"Beca!" Harvey shakes her shoulders harshly. "Snap out of it!"

Upon hearing Harvey's loud and firm voice, the muttering stops. Then slowly, Beca's eyes become teary and her face scrunched up painfully as she mutters weakly, "Harvey... Ashley... She and Shay... It's not real, right?"

With a sad look, Harvey rubs her arms up and down and says, "It's real, monkey."

"No..." Beca mutters weakly. "It's all only in my head."

Harvey sighs heavily and hugs the DJ as he says, "It's not in your head, monkey."

"This can't be happening, Harv." Beca mutters. "This can't be happening... This can't be real..."

Harvey sympathetically says, "It's happening, monkey. You have to let her go."

Beca shakes her head and pulls herself out of Harvey's arms as she rambles, "I need to call her. I need to talk to her, Harv. I..." She swallows. "I need to make sure if this is all real."

While caressing the DJ's head gently, Harvey sadly says, "Monkey, you have to let her go. You can't do this to her. You can't keep dragging her back. She's just starting to feel better after breaking up with you."

"But I can't, Harv." Beca says with restraint voice though there's no trace of tears on her cheeks. "Please... I need to be sure that this is real... Please Harvey..."

Upon having Beca pleading to him with her face scrunched up painfully, Harvey feels like his lungs are shrunken, and it's written all over his face. With his eyebrows furrowed from feeling the pain in his chest, Harvey patiently says, "Monkey, Ashley was in your shoes months ago. What you're feeling right now, the pain, she was as miserable when you went back to Chloe. She was destroyed when she found out that you were going to come out to the public about your relationship. She's been here before. And I can't let you do that to her again. Not when she's finally moved on."

"I was wrong." The DJ mutters while shaking her head. "I thought I had moved on from her... But I can't... It's too painful to see her with someone else... I can't Harv... I just can't..."

Harvey sighs deeply and says more firmly, "Beca, you have to stop acting like this. You need to stop being selfish. You made your decision; and it was to love Chloe, to stay with Chloe."

Beca drops her head down in her hands, scratching her scalps so hard with her fingernails before she says in barely a whisper, "This can't be real..."

The brunette is responding to them, but her mind is in other place. This is the dissociation state where Beca is automatically protecting herself by pulling out of the painful reality.

Meanwhile, upon seeing Beca like this for the very first time, Emily can't help but crying too. She's covering her mouth to hold back the sobs. Donna and Harvey on the other hand, had seen Beca in this state once in the past, and that was when Ashley left her. But not as bad. They'd also heard from Ashley that Beca would become like this when she was too distressed.

Therefore, Harvey knows that he needs to pull the DJ back to reality by holding her hands and squeezes them hard while asking, "Do you feel it?"

It takes a couple of seconds, but eventually, Beca nods very lightly.

Then Harvey says, "This is real, monkey. _I_ , am real. What you're feeling is real. It's painful, I know. But it's real. This is just the remaining pain of losing Ashley. You're just not ready to see her with someone else. And if you want her back for that, it's selfish, and you know that."

Again, Beca simply nods weakly. Then Harvey kisses her forehead and says, "Monkey, you love Chloe. Remember a week ago you talked to me about your feelings to her? About how happy you are with her? How happy she made you lately?"

With her eyes fixed on her hands, Beca nods again. Harvey knows that there's no way he can push the DJ out of this state at this moment but to let it pass. Therefore, he says, "It's Chloe's birthday tonight. She's waiting for you."

Beca nods again, and then Harvey adds, "Now, clean up yourself and get ready to Chloe's birthday party, okay?"

Without saying any word, Beca nods again. Right then, Donna calls, "Harvey."

The blonde man turns his head around to look at his wife, and he sees the same piece of shattered glass that labeled _Vodka._ Then he turns back to look at the DJ and asks, "Did you drink any of that vodka?"

Beca simply shakes her head weakly.

After sighing in relief, Harvey says, "Okay. I believe you. See? You're strong, monkey. You'll get pass this."

Without giving any response, Beca gets off the bed and drags her feet to the bathroom to take a shower.

"Don't lock the door, monkey." Donna softly says, and the tiny brunette simply gives her a weak nod.

Once the bathroom door is closed, Emily asks worriedly while wiping the tears on her face, "Is she gonna be okay?"

"No." Harvey says without hesitation. "Usually, when she was in that dark place of her mind, Ashley would be there to pull her out before she got too far in. She's the only one who could do that after all this time."

"But she's responding to us." Emily says. "She even talked about her feelings, and she doesn't even cry. It's a good sign right?"

Harvey sighs heavily while running his fingers through his hair before he says, "It's the other way around. If she's not crying, then we should be alarmed."

"What do you mean?" Emily asks in confusion.

With his hands on his hips, Harvey shakes his head and asks, "You heard how she kept on muttering _this isn't real, this can't be real_ , and how she only nodded or shook her head to respond in the end?"

When Emily nods, he adds, "She's shutting us out. Everything that's happening, it doesn't feel real for her. Part of her knew that this is real, but the other part rejects this reality. It's like she's in a parallel universe, watching herself through a screen like a movie. It's her way to detached herself from what's hurting her."

"Should we call Ashley and tell her so she can help Beca?" Emily asks worriedly.

After huffing out a long breath through his mouth in frustration, Harvey says, "I don't want to drag her into this. But if we don't have any other choice... Let's just see Beca's condition tomorrow."

"What should we do then?" Emily asks in panic.

Harvey looks at her and tiredly says, "Right now, we need to keep an eye on her." Then he looks at his wife and says, "Call Harley and make an appointment for tomorrow. If she's not showing even the slightest improvement in a couple of days, We'll take her to Atlanta to see her mother's grave. It usually helped."

"Okay." Donna says. "I'll find her some clothes to wear so she doesn't have to go back to her place." Then she looks at Emily and says, "And you should take a shower in my office. I have a couple of dresses that you can borrow. You have to stay with her this whole night, Em."

"Okay." Emily nods. Then she worriedly asks, "And I suppose that we should keep this from Chloe?"

After taking a deep breath and huffing it out from his mouth, Harvey says, "I don't know. If you think that Chloe can take it, then tell her. Maybe not tonight. It's her birthday anyway. Just don't leave Beca's side. Where is her phone? It's better that she doesn't have it now so she can't do stupid things like calling Ashley."

"It's broken." Emily says while handing the said item to the blonde man. "I think she smashed it after seeing the picture of Shay and Ashley on the internet."

"Good then." Harvey responds. "Now both of you go and do what you have to do. I'll stay here and keep an eye on her."

The two women hurriedly walk out of the bedroom to do their part while Harvey sits on the edge of the bed and makes some phone calls.

After letting Emily into her office and shows her some dresses, Donna comes back to find some clothes for Beca in the closet.

Then she puts it on the bed before heading to the bathroom and knocks the door. "Monkey, your clothes are on the bed. Harvey and I will be waiting in your office. Come out after you change, okay?"

When she gets no response, Donna asks, "Do you need some help?" Still, she gets nothing in return. Then she firmly says, "Answer me, or I'm coming in."

After a couple of seconds, there's a light knock from inside of the bathroom, and Donna knows that it's a code from Beca, giving her an answer without actually answering.

"Thirty minutes, monkey." Donna says firmly. "If you're not out of this bedroom in thirty minutes, we'll come in." Then she hears another knock on the door.

In the bathroom, Beca is standing under the shower and holds her palms in front of her chest, simply staring at them blankly. Her left thumb is absentmindedly rubbing the black carbide ring on her left ring finger.

She looks at supposedly her hands, but it doesn't feel like it. She's feeling this ache in her chest, but it doesn't feel like the pain belongs to her. It's like she's watching someone else taking a shower, and that person looks like her for sure, but she's not sure if it's real or it's in her head.

After that, she simply do everything in autopilot, letting her mind do it for her; the drying her body, the changing, the putting on some make up. She tries to pinch her own arm to make sure that everything is real.

However, even though she could feel the pain from the pinching, she's not entirely sure if it's not her brain that's doing what she wanted. Then she presses her palms onto the sink a bit hard on it to feel the cold ceramic while doing her breathing exercise.

For a moment, she feels slightly better. But then she's not sure if she's actually feeling slightly better, or her mind is just trying to convince that she's feeling slightly better. After taking a deep breath, she walks out of the bedroom.

* * *

 

When Beca is showering, Donna calls Doctor Quinzel's private practice to make an appointment. However, the doctor is out of the country, and won't be back until Friday.

After she told her husband about it, Harvey says, "Then we'll keep her close in the meantime. You have to pick her up every day, Donna. She has to work because it's the only thing that can give her comfort for now."

"I know." Donna sighs deeply. "I just hope that Chloe can deal with this. We can't watch her when she's not with us, and we certainly can't take her home to stay with us without raising any suspicions."

"If Emily can't tell Chloe about this, then we'll take her to Atlanta." Harvey says without hesitation. "We can just tell Chloe that monkey has some works, and she has to stay there for a couple of weeks. Just tell Tony to prepare the jet in case we're going to need it tomorrow."

"I will." Donna replies. Then she closes her eyes and tiredly says, "She was so happy earlier this afternoon." She chuckles sadly. "She was grinning from ear to ear like Santa just gave her a star."

Harvey shakes his head, sighing heavily and says, "I remember it clearly a couple of days after she had her first heart attack. Do you remember she told us that she didn't like to feel happy? Because it always cost her something in the end? That no good feeling came like a free lunch for her?"

With teary eyes, Donna says, "I remember." She scoffs weakly. "She said that if not feeling happy was all it took to not have this hole of sadness in her chest, then she didn't need to feel happy either; that she'd choose not to feel even the slightest joy if there would be price to pay."

Suddenly, the DJ walks out of the bedroom, wearing an unbuttoned light blue denim shirt over a white t-shirt combined with dark blue jeans and a pair of combat boots. She seems off and distracted.

Donna approaches her and hugs her tightly. "Monkey?"

With her arms wrapping weakly around the older redhead's back, Beca responds, "Hm?"

"I love you." Donna says softly. "We love you. And this is real. This hug and what I'm saying are very much real."

Though she's not sure, there's a part of her that believes what Donna said. Therefore, she nods lightly and responds, "Hm."

After Donna let the brunette go, Harvey punches Beca's arm playfully and teases, "Looking good, monkey. Ready to woo your woman?"

A weak smile appears on the DJ's face and she simply nods.

Donna smiles sadly, but she clears her throat and says, "Let's check on Emily in my office."

Then the three of them head to the PA's office, and they wait a little while until the youngest Bella is done getting ready. Harvey drives all of them to Stacie's place. Donna is sitting on the passenger seat up front while Beca and Emily are occupying the backseat. Along the drive, Beca just sits quietly while staring at her palms on her laps, and the other three adults don't say anything.

They arrive at Stacie's place around 7.30, but before Beca and Emily get off the car, Harvey turns around and says, "You two have a great time, okay?"

"You can come in for a while." Emily says.

Harvey smiles apologetically and says, "No. We still got work to do. Just tell Chloe we wish her happy birthday."

"Are you sure you don't want to come in and have a drink?" Emily asks to reassure.

"We'd love to. But really, we have to deal with some stuff." Donna says softly. "You know, dealing with her office and replacing the stuff."

"Okay then." Emily says before turning to look at her former captain. Upon seeing how quiet Beca is, the youngest Bella sighs in frustration and grabs her face gently before pinching both of her cheeks a bit hard, pulling it from side to side playfully while saying, "Smile Pop."

Beca laughs weakly, but even though she's laughing, it's like she's watching someone else laughing from aside.

Nevertheless, the other three sigh in relief, and then Emily let go off Beca's cheeks and says, "There. It looks good on you."

Still, Beca doesn't say anything but smiling at her aca-child with her eyes cloudy. Then Emily says, "Let's go."

Beca simply nods and unbuckles herself. Before she gets off the car, Harvey says, "Have fun, monkey."

Upon getting a light nod from the tiny brunette, Donna adds, "Don't forget to take your meds."

With a weak smile, Beca nods again.

Then Donna reaches out to rest a hand on the DJ's thigh and softly pushes, "Your words, monkey. Use them."

It takes a couple of seconds until Beca mutters, "I will take my meds."

"Good." Donna smiles in return, and then the DJ opens the door and gets off the car. Emily on the other hand is still in the car, and Donna tells her, "You need to push her to talk, Em. Not about Ashley. But push her to respond with words. Not too pushy though. She will get angry. Just a light nudge."

"Okay." Emily says before she gets off the car too. Then she hurriedly approaches her former captain and holds her hand, squeezing it a bit tight, and Beca let her.

When they are already standing in front of the door, Emily playfully asks, "Are you ready for your performance, Pop?"

Beca simply gives her a weak smile, and then the tall brunette says a bit more cheerful than before, "Let me hear your voice, Pop. Are you ready to shake the ground tonight?"

A wider grin appears on Beca's face even though it doesn't reach her cloudy eyes, and she says, "I guess I am."

Upon seeing that smile, Emily softly says, "Pop, I know that you're not up to any party right now. But Chloe is so happy, and our sisters are here to celebrate her birthday. Can you try to put your feelings aside for one night please?"

Beca nods absentmindedly several times and says, "I will."

"Okay then." Emily says. "Let's go inside."

Still with her hands holding Beca's, Emily pulls the DJ in and heads straight to the backyard where all of their sisters are already gathering.

"Baby!" Chloe exclaims while rushing her way to her girlfriend and hugs her tightly.

Beca simply smiles and wraps her arms around the redhead.

Then the redhead breaks the hug and asks, "What took you so long? And where is your phone? I couldn't reach you."

"Sorry." The DJ takes a deep breath and talks slowly, "Meeting ran long, Babe. And I couldn't find my phone."

"What?" Chloe stares at the DJ with puzzled look. "How did you lose it?"

"If she knew, then she wouldn't lose it, Chloe." Emily jokes nervously.

Chloe chuckles, "Right." Then she pulls the tiny brunette to meet their sisters, and Emily follows them closely.

"Hey Cap!" CR greets with a huge grin.

"Hey." Beca smiles lightly.

Suddenly, Fat Amy smacks the back of her shoulder, but their captain doesn't whine or scold the hilarious blonde as usual. Beca simply cringes in pain slightly.

Upon seeing the puzzled look on the Bella's faces, Emily hurriedly reasons, "Our meeting didn't go well, and she's a bit upset. But she's okay. Right Pop?" She looks at Beca with her pleading eyes.

"Right." Beca replies.

Then she joins her sisters, listening to them and sometimes giving short responses. She even laughs when they say something funny, and one time or two, she's the one who gives out jokes. However, everything comes to her in a blur, and she's not sure if she's really experiencing it. It still feels like she's watching a movie evolving before her eyes.

Chloe never leaves her side at all, and so does Emily who keep on stealing glances at her former captain, afraid that she'll break down any second. Thankfully, the youngest Bella can breathe in relief because even though her former captain seems off and keep rubbing the ring in her left hand absentmindedly, at least she's involved in the conversations.

After dinner, they are sitting in a circle at the backyard, and they are drinking while reminiscing about the past and their life as Bellas in college. While the other Bellas are sitting on their own, Chloe opts to sit on her girlfriend's laps while hugging her from aside, and Beca rests her arms lazily around the redhead's waist.

"You know what I miss the most sometimes when I think about our college life?" Flo asks with a soft smile.

"Certainly not Fat Amy's confidence punch." CR teases.

"Hey!" Fat Amy exclaims in mocked upset. "It's the best there is. You can't find other better punch than mine, black beauty."

While her friends are laughing lightly, Flo says, "No. Not Fat Amy's confidence punch. I still got nightmare sometimes when I remembered how wasted I was. Thank God you already put less alcohol in our drink now."

"Well," Jessica says before sipping her wine. "I'm certainly sure you'd never miss seeing Aubrey puked all over the place when we were still in our freshman year." Then Ashley adds, "And believe us. You're lucky. _That_ , still gave me chill when I remembered it."

"Hey!" Aubrey scolds in mocked upset while the rest of the Bellas are laughing ever louder.

Then Flo says, "Still not that. And yeah Bree. I do feel lucky for not being there when the pukegate 1.0 and 2.0 happened. I was frightened enough when I heard about it."

Aubrey simply rolls her eyes in mocked annoyance, and then her wife wraps her shoulders from aside while teasing, "Well, since I came into her life, we haven't experienced pukegate 3.0."

It certainly makes her wife pouting in mocked upset, but the rest of the Bellas are laughing harder. Even Beca grins.

Suddenly, Chloe's eyes light up, and she exclaims, "I know! I know!"

"What?" Flo asks.

"When Fat Amy flashed Mr. President with her hairy vajayjay." Chloe says comically.

"Eeeeeww!" Flo responds, scrunching her face in disgust, and she's not the only one who looks like that. "So not missing that, Chloe. It took me a while to rid that memory off my brain. Now you're so kind to remind all of us."

It earns a whole-heartily laughter from the others but Beca, who simply smiles. Then Lily mutters something that sounds like, "I can take all of us back with my time machine and change the history." Yet no one seems to notice.

"So what is it?" Emily asks casually before sipping her ice tea, committed to no alcohol drink because she has a duty to look after her former captain.

With a wide grin, Flo asks, "Do you remember the last Halloween we had together?"

"Aahh..." Her sisters responds.

"Yeah." Flo says. "We played truth and dare until late."

"I was so drunk, I barely remember anything at all." Jessica chips in, and then Ashley says, "Me too."

"Amateur." Fat Amy despises playfully.

"But I remember we had so much fun that night." Stacie says. "We were all in costumes, unless for Beca who insisted that she was dressed as a professional DJ, which was her usual plaid shirt with her headphones hanging around her neck."

"Halloween is certainly not her scene." Jessica chips in. Then Ashley adds, "I think playing dress up is never Beca's scene at all."

While her sisters are laughing, Beca simply smiles.

"That was indeed the best Halloween for us." Fat Amy says. "Even though like Jessica said, I can barely remember anything at all now."

"I remember one thing though." CR says, staring at her petite former captain teasingly. "Captain refused to do the dare I gave her that night."

With her eyebrows slightly furrowed, Beca responds, "Huh?"

"Oh yeah." Chloe nods absentmindedly, looking forward with her eyes unfocused while remembering that night. Then she looks at her puzzled girlfriend and softly says, "CR dared you to kiss me. But you bailed. You didn't drink that night because you had an early shift at the radio station the next morning. So, you used _I don't want to take advantage from a drunk Chloe_ as an excuse. Remember?"

It takes a while until Beca's furrowed eyebrows become less tensed, and then she scoffs lightly, "Oh that." Then she chuckles weakly before she says, "I did kiss you though. I think."

"What?!"

"You did?!"

"I'll be damned!"

"No, you didn't!"

"You wouldn't dare!"

The rest of the Bellas exclaim in unison. When the DJ doesn't say anything, Stacie says, "Now you have to tell us the whole story, shorty."

After taking a deep breath, Beca looks pass through Stacie in front of her, and her mind is trailing its way back to that night as she explains flatly, "Well, I was the only one sober that night. So I cleaned up after all of you fell asleep." Then she turns to look at the redhead with a light smile. "But really, seeing you in that witch costume that night was... Anyway, I decided to tell you my feelings, thinking that I had nothing to lose because you were so drunk, and maybe you wouldn't remember. And it took two glasses of wine to build up my nerve."

"So, did you tell me?" Chloe asks curiously.

Upon seeing the curious and expectant look on her girlfriend's face, Beca sighs and says, "When I went into my room, as usual, you were already lying on my bed. So I laid myself next to you, and you slurred _Why didn't you kiss me Becs?_ Then I turned to lay on my back and started to say _Honestly, wanted to kiss you because I'm..._ But before I could finish, I heard a light snoring, and I turned my head to look at you. Turned out, you already fell asleep. Then I just looked at your sleeping face. When you automatically reaching out for me in your sleep, I couldn't help it. So... I kissed you. Just a light brushing on your lips. I was afraid to wake you up."

"Why didn't you tell me before?" Chloe asks in comic surprise, beaming so happily.

Still with her eyes staring at nothing, unfocused as if she's in deep thought, Beca sighs again and says, "Honestly, I didn't even remember about it until CR mentioned it. Besides, I didn't dare to tell you back in college. I was afraid that you'd be angry. And over times, I just... forgot. I wasn't even sure that it actually happened." She pauses for a couple of seconds with her eyes fixed at nothing at all. Then she takes a deep breath before she says, "When I was still hiding, there were times I was convinced that it was only in my head."

The Bellas are now staring at the DJ sympathetically, especially Emily who can notice that Beca's steely blue eyes have become more cloudy than before.

"Why didn't you just kiss her when I dared you?" CR asks. "It would have solved the problem. In fact, it would have saved both of you ten years of waiting."

With a weak smile, Beca explains, "I was in love with Chloe. And I tried... several times to tell her how I felt. I did hope that we could be together, that she could love me too. So, I didn't want our first kiss, if we would have one, to be a messy drunken kiss where she could barely hold her head up and I was dared to do it for some kind of a game. I wanted it to be right and perfect."

"Aw..." The Bellas coo, and then Flo says, "How sweet."

Chloe cups her girlfriend's cheeks gently, smiling ever so fondly when she says, "I'm so in love with you, Babe. You make me fall even deeper each and every second of my life."

Beca simply smiles in return, and then the redhead kisses her lips gently before she playfully adds, "And for the record, I was so in love with you too, Beca Mitchell. I wouldn't mind to have that messy drunken kiss if it meant that we could be together eleven years earlier."

Still, Beca just gives her a light smile. She's still in her blurry state, isn't even sure that everything that's happening is actually happening. Everything seems to be in black and white for her at the moment. It's like she's watching an old movie where all of them are gathering in Stacie's backyard.

"You two are so meant to be together." Aubrey says softly.

Chloe turns to look at her best friend, beaming unbearably happy as she says, "We are." Then she turns to look back to her girlfriend and kisses her lips gently again before getting up. "I want to do something that will make your day better."

Without saying anything, Beca just stares at the redhead with puzzled look, and then Chloe walks toward the mic that was prepared for this certain moment. With a smile so fond, she starts to sing.

_Maybe it's intuition_  
_Some things you just don't question_  
_Like in your eyes_  
_I see my future in an instant_  
_And there it goes_  
_I think I've found my best friend_  
_I know that it might sound more than  
_ _a little crazy but I believe_

While singing, Chloe keep her attention solely on her smiling girlfriend even though she's aware that her sisters are humming along with her; all of her sisters but Emily, who just keep staring at her former captain worriedly.

Nevertheless, Chloe's mind is also so wrapped up in her proposal that she fails to see how distracted, and even detached Beca that night.

_I knew I loved you before I met you_  
_I think I dreamed you into life_  
_I knew I loved you before I met you  
_ _I have been waiting all my life_

Every memories of how in love they are with each other flow into the redhead's mind. The more she sings, the more determined she is to do what she wanted to do that night.

_There's just no rhyme or reason_  
_Only this sense of completion_  
_And in your eyes_  
_I see the missing pieces_  
_I'm searching for_  
_I think I found my way home_  
_I know that it might sound more than  
_ _a little crazy but I believe_

Chloe's chest inflates from the butterflies effect, from the happiness for loving someone. Then she sings even louder.

_A thousand angels dance around you  
_ _I am complete now that I found you_

Slowly, the redhead walks toward her girlfriend, still with her beaming smile and bright blue eyes.

_I knew I loved you before I met you_  
_I think I dreamed you into life_  
_I knew I loved you before I met you  
_ _I have been waiting all my life_

Meanwhile, upon seeing how tenderly Chloe is staring at her, a light smile appears on the DJ's face even though she's not sure about her feelings. It feels as if she's watching herself absentmindedly rubbing the black carbide ring in her left hand while her eyes fixed on her girlfriend.

Everything feels real but also blurry at the same time. Yet, the movie in her mind just keep on rolling regardless of her knowledge about how real the scene before her eyes.

Then suddenly, Chloe is already standing in front of the tiny brunette.

"Babe..." Chloe softly says while pulling the DJ up from her seat, and Beca complies. Then, with Beca's hands in hers, the redhead softly says, "The first time I laid my eyes on you, I knew I've found the one I wanted to spend my whole life with. And it sounds crazy. I know. But the more time we spent together, the more certain I am about this, about us."

When Chloe starts to talk instead of singing, it's like everything is zoomed in for the DJ; Chloe's bright blue eyes, her voice, even her blinding smile, and it feels too much.

" _Is she doing what I think she's doing?"_ Beca thought to herself in complete lost.

Beca can see herself looking around with wide eyes, but it doesn't feel like her, and it doesn't seem like her. From the look on her own face, she's supposed to be terrified, but she doesn't feel like it.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Bellas seem to have the same expectant-comical-surprised look on their faces. Aubrey and Emily look different though. While the blonde is sniffling lightly with a fond smile, the tall brunette looks shocked.

Chloe on the other hand, keep her eyes fixed on her girlfriend's, smiling ever so tenderly with her eyes glassy, glimmering under the lights. Then she pulls out a ring from a tiny pocket on her dress, holding it in front of her chest, between herself and her girlfriend. "Becs, you're everything I've always wanted and I'll always need. You are my dream and my home. I can never love anybody else the way I love you. And judging from how we still ended up together after everything, seeing that even time couldn't break a feeling so strong between us, I'm 100% sure that we're meant to be together. So... marry me, Becs. Marry me and I promise you the best life a couple could ever dream of. Marry me... and see it for yourself what true love can bring into your life. Marry me, Beca Mitchell... and you'll make me the happiest person alive."

All the while, Beca just keep staring down at the Electra Solitaire Gem Titanium Ring. It features an electric blue anodized titanium channel in the traditional band along with a single prong-set diamond.

The ring is classic and beautiful indeed, but it's not the reason why Beca is staring at it with wide eyes and clenched jaw.

"Babe?" Chloe's worried voice pulls the brunette back to the feel-like-surreal reality.

Beca looks up at her with unreadable expression, and it takes a while until she finds her voice again to say, "I..." She blinks, feeling like everything is happening to her in a slow motion. She can feel the cold air passing through her dry mouth when she takes a deep breath, and she can feel her chest heaving up and down along with the breath she takes. Then, still with that unreadable look on her face, she asks, "Is this real?"

Thinking that her girlfriend is most likely struck by her sudden proposal, Chloe chuckles lightly. Even the other Bellas laugh along with the redhead. Then she softly says, "This is real, Babe. The ring is made of titanium. It's strong and unbreakable. Like our love."

"Is this really happening?" Beca asks again with her eyebrows furrowed. "This is not only in my head right?"

Thinking how adorably stunned her girlfriend is, Chloe can't help herself but stealing one chaste kiss from the brunette before she says, "So real."

Then Beca brushes her dry lip gently with the tip of her tongue and turns her head slightly to look at Emily who's still slack-jawed. The DJ swallows hard and turns back to look at the redhead, feeling so strange that she sounds so calm when she says, "I love you, Chloe."

"I love you too." Chloe replies fondly.

Still strangely calm, Beca continues, "But don't you think it's a bit too fast for us? We're only in a relationship for less than four months."

With a fond and understanding smile, Chloe takes Beca's right hand and holds it when she explains, "Babe, I know you've always been afraid to be committed. But we've been in love with each other for more than ten years. It's more than enough for me to be sure that you're the one. I've been waiting for you for so long, and I don't want to wait anymore. I can't wait anymore. I'm ready to take the next step with you; to start our forever and happily ever after from now on."

Chloe's voice comes like an echo in the DJ's head. She's frozen up while staring unfocused at the redhead's face. The couple of seconds she remains silent sure feels like a lifetime, not only for her, but also for the redhead and all of her sisters.

Although it all seems surreal and blurry for Beca, it's certainly nerve wrecking for Chloe and the rest of the Bellas.

Obviously, Emily is nervous, terrified, not for the answer, but for the reaction. She's afraid that Beca will have a mental break down because she knows that as much as her Pop loves Chloe, she hasn't really moved on from her ex yet.

Suddenly, Aubrey starts to chant, "Say yes. Say yes. Say yes."

Then the rest of the Bellas join her, "Say yes. Say yes. Say yes."

It all comes like an echo, like from further away for Beca. Her mouth is almost dry, and she swallows, feeling the liquid passes through her throat very slowly. The chanting becomes louder, but it's like a background voice for the DJ. Before her eyes, she can see it though, as blurry as it is, Chloe is smiling ever so brightly.

Then Beca swallows again and gives her response. Out of nowhere, since her brain is short-circuited for the moment, Beca blinks and nods.

Then the smile on Chloe's face becomes wider.

Still with her eyes unfocused, Beca blinks and nods again. Then as the third time she nods and blinks, her pupils focus on Chloe's blue eyes again, and she can see it clearly how happy the redhead is.

Upon getting the nods, Chloe squeals joyfully, jumping and hugging her now fiancé so tightly. The DJ just rubs her back gently yet absentmindedly. Part of her is still struggling to determine how real the situation is.

After she breaks the hug, Chloe takes the DJ's left hand in hers and holds it up. Upon seeing the black carbide ring, the redhead steals a quick glance at her fiancé, and then, still with that blinding smile on her face, Chloe pulls out that ring and replaces it with hers.

Beca feels cold all of the sudden; so cold as if the blood is drained out of her system in the matter of seconds. Although she feels cold, but she can feel one trail of sweat dripping down through her temple. But her face doesn't show anything, and she doesn't even flinch. The one thing she's fully aware of is that she stops breathing at that moment. It feels like the earth stops turning, the time stops ticking, and her heart also stops beating.

Though her face is blank, Beca's mind is screaming, _"Please wake up! Please wake up! This isn't real. This is just a dream. So please wake up!"_

After replacing the ring, Chloe puts the black carbide ring on Beca's cold sweaty palm and says, "Now you have a new favorite ring."

When the cold black carbide ring is back on her skin, Beca can breathe again, and suddenly she can hear how loud her sisters are cheering for them. Some of them are sniffling in happy tears while Beca is gasping for air because her lungs are shrinking so fast.

On the other hand, Chloe is too busy getting congratulation hugs from her sisters, and she doesn't notice how her fiancé is trying hard to breathe among all of the Bellas.

"You all aca-bitches owe me 20 dollars each." CR shouts out. "Pay up!"

"Heya ginger!" Fat Amy shakes her head with overdramatic relieved look. "Took you more than a decade to land this weird pale skinny bitch. Phew..."

"Let's just put them in the bunker and let them reproduce." Lily whispers, and nobody seems to notice.

"Congratulations you two!" Jessica and Ashley exclaim in unison.

"The third Bella's pairing." Fat Amy says in disbelief. "Aca-believe it. So many aca-lesbians in this little group of weirdos."

"In my hometown, a man can have a village of wives and it is okay." Flo says in all seriousness, earning a whole-heartily laughter from her sisters.

Meanwhile, Beca seems to be almost falling down, failing to catch some air, feeling so overwhelmed for being hugged and touched by so many people all at the same time.

Emily hurriedly hugs her former captain and whispers, "Breathe Pop... breathe..."

Beca closes her eyes and tries to breathe through her mouth but it's stuck in her throat, and she's choking. Then the youngest Bella drags her to the closest chair, away from the group. After Beca is already sitting down, Emily says, "Breathe Pop."

With a weak nod, Beca closes her eyes and tries to breathe in through her nose. Her hands are clenched on her thighs, and she can feel her black carbide ring pressing onto her palm in her left hand.

After a few deep breaths, as she feels less tensed, Beca unclenches her hands slowly. Suddenly, someone cups her cheeks, and she opens her eyes to find Chloe kneeling in front of her, staring worriedly at her. "Are you okay, Babe?"

With her eyebrows furrowed, Beca asks, "Is this real?"

Thinking that her fiancé is lightheaded from the engagement, the redhead chuckles lightly and says, "Baby, it's real. We're engaged."

Beca tilts her head slightly to look at her aca-child, and Emily gives her a light nod. Then the DJ puts on the best smile she can muster.

"She's still shocked by the proposal, huh?" CR asks in comic surprise.

Chloe turns to look up at her sisters over her shoulder, grinning from ear to ear and says, "Yep. Just my Beca being her adorable self."

"How cute..." Jessica coos, and then Ashley says, "Indeed. I wished _you_ were that cute." Then Jessica gives her wife a playful glare that Ashley returns with a chaste kiss on her lips.

"So, are you ready to give your own surprise, hobbit?" Aubrey asks with teasing tone.

Upon remembering the performance, the cold hits Beca all over again. It's getting worse when she finds that everybody's eyes are on her, looking at her expectantly.

"You wanted to surprise me?" Chloe asks with her eyes wide in comic surprise.

"I..." Beca opens her mouth, but she can't finish her sentence because her stomach is churning, and her dinner is threatening to push their way out of her throat. Hurriedly, she runs into the house to find the closest bathroom and throws up into the toilet.

Apparently, everybody follow her from behind. Upon seeing that, Chloe becomes anxious, thinking that the DJ doesn't really want to be engaged with her.

"Shawshank!" Fat Amy exclaims near the bathroom door. "Are you pregnant?" Then the hilarious blonde turns to look at the redhead, staring at her with a playful accusing look when she asks, "Is this why you proposed, ginger? You got our captain pregnant?"

Chloe simply gives Fat Amy a weak smile, and then she cautiously asks, "Is this... maybe she's not ready to be engaged? Was it a mistake to propose to her? Did I push her?"

Hearing how worried and insecure the redhead is, Aubrey hurriedly reasons, "No Chloe. She said yes. And you know Beca. No one could make her say yes if she didn't want to. She planned to sing you a song she wrote. She must be so nervous, especially after the surprised proposal. She kept telling me and Stacie from weeks ago about how nervous she was to sing to you, that she had never been this nervous in her life before." Then she turns to her wife, eyeing her with a warning look and asks, "Right Babe?"

It's definitely a lie because Beca was so confidence about her song, and so excited to sing to the redhead. Nevertheless, upon seeing how Chloe keep picking on her fingers anxiously, Stacie smiles and says, "Right Chloe. She was so nervous. You know shorty."

"Classic shorty." CR teases.

Other than Emily who is rubbing Beca's back gently, everybody else are laughing lightly, and Chloe sighs in relief before laughing along with her sisters. Then the redhead approaches her fiancé, kneeling beside her to take over Emily's job to rub Beca's back and softly says, "Babe, you're too adorable for your own good."

"Aw..." Flo coos. "Look at you two taking care of each other; preparing surprises for each other. It's like you could read each other's mind."

"Never thought that Shawshank could go down this road." Fat Amy adds jokingly, making her sisters giggling.

They are certainly way too drunk to think more into it.

Meanwhile, Beca is still pouring out her dinner while wrapping the toilet seat tightly with her arms. Therefore, Emily turns to look at her sisters and sheepishly asks, "Can you uh... maybe give us some room to breathe?"

"Geez legacy." Flo says in mocked annoyance. "Protective much?"

"Please?" Emily pleads with a sheepish smile.

"Alright." Stacie says. "Come on girls. Let's leave Chloe deal with her _pregnant_ soon to be wife, and let the aca-child take care of her Pop."

Then they leave Chloe and Emily to deal with Beca's situation. It takes a while until the DJ stops throwing up, and then she stands up, holding herself up with her hands on the sink before taking a glass of water and gargles.

The tiny brunette is still shaking on her feet, and she can barely stand up on her own. Therefore, Emily wraps her shoulders and helps her walk with Chloe following them closely from behind.

When they reach the living room where the rest of the Bellas as sitting, CR asks, "You okay, shorty?"

Beca simply nods weakly, and then Stacie says, "Chloe, you and Beca can stay in your bedroom. You are a bit tipsy, and shorty is in no shape to drive."

"But what about CR and Fat Amy?" Chloe asks.

CR is the one who answers. "It's okay, Chloe. Fat Amy and I can sleep in the living room."

"Thanks." Chloe replies softly.

"Can I join you in the living room?" Emily asks. "Harvey drove us here, and Pop was supposed to be my ride."

"Sure legacy." Fat Amy teasingly. "We'd love to have the aca-child with us tonight."

"Thanks." Emily replies. Then the three of them go to Chloe's bedroom.

In her haze, Beca can still think clearly that Chloe will want to help changing her soaked clothes, and she's not ready for that. After sitting on the edge of the bed, Beca asks with shaky voice, "Babe, do you mind taking a glass of water for me?"

"Of course not." Chloe says softly. "I'll be back in a minute."

Then, after making sure that the redhead is out of the room, Beca weakly says, "Em, please close the door and find something for me to change. And make it quick before Chloe comes back."

Although she is confused, Emily hurriedly do as she's told. Then Beca quickly changes her damp clothes into a more comfortable one before lying down on the bed. She is panting through her slightly parted lips, still shaking a little bit, and she feels a bit feverish.

Merely a couple of seconds later, the redhead walks into the room with a glass of water.

"You helped her change?" Chloe asks in confusion at Emily, and her tone is a bit accusing.

"I didn't." Emily says defensively. "She asked me to get her some clothes, and when she was changing, I turned around."

"Why didn't you wait for me?" Chloe asks sharply. "I'm her fiancé, Em."

"Babe..." Beca says in barely a whisper. "Water."

Chloe hurriedly helps her fiancé to drink the water while Emily slips out of the bedroom before the redhead gets more upset.

After making sure that the DJ is lying comfortably under her Bali sarong, the redhead changes quickly and joins her fiancé on the bed.

With Chloe's hand caressing her head gently, Beca finally falls asleep. Not long after, Chloe is also falls asleep while hugging the DJ from aside. However, around an hour later, Beca starts to twitch, and the redhead wakes up.

Just before Chloe can do anything, Beca sits up abruptly and starts rubbing her legs harshly while muttering, "Get off me... get off me..."

"Babe?" Chloe touches her shoulder gently, but the DJ doesn't seem to notice. The redhead is certainly confused because her fiancé's eyes are open. Then she tries to shake the brunette gently, but Beca just keep rubbing her thighs now, still muttering, "Get off me... get off me..."

Feeling lost and slightly scared, Chloe yells, "Bree! Stace! Help!"

Less than a minute later, Stacie, Aubrey, and Emily rush into the bedroom. Apparently, they are the only Bellas who are sober enough.

"What happened?" Stacie asks in panic upon seeing how distraught her former captain is.

"I don't know." Chloe says frantically, and Aubrey is quick on her feet to hug her best friend, pulling her away from the DJ. "I was asleep, and then she started to twitch, and now she's..."

Emily on the other hand, hurriedly sits next to the tiny brunette and shakes her shoulders gently from aside. "Pop. Pop. What's wrong?"

However, Beca doesn't respond to any of them. Instead, she's rubbing her arms and chest harshly as if she's trying to get rid of something. "Get off me... get off me..."

"I don't think she's aware of her surrounding." Stacie says worriedly.

Suddenly, Beca is holding her own neck, even rubbing it down harshly while still muttering the same thing, "Get off me... get off me..."

Upon seeing how red Beca's face is, Stacie says in panic, "She will have a heart attack if she's going on like this."

"That's it." Emily pulls out her phone with her shaky hands. "I'm calling Ashley."

"Why?" Aubrey asks in upset. But Emily ignores her.

" _Junk?"_

"Benzo, it's Pop." Emily says with shaky voice.

" _Is she okay?"_

Emily can tell that Ashley is definitely worried, and then she hurriedly explains, "She's... I don't know what is happening with her. She seems to be awake, but she's trashing and keep saying _get off me_ while rubbing her limbs and neck."

" _Her night terror."_ Ashley responds hurriedly. _"Put me on video call, Em. Now!"_

The youngest Bella complies and holds her phone in front of her former captain.

Beca is lying on the bed now, holding her neck as if she's choking, kicking her feet frantically, and Ashley says, "Somebody, hold her. Now!"

"How?" Aubrey retorts in upset. "She's trashing like she's in some kind of exorcism ritual!"

Suddenly, Emily remembers the night at the hospital when Beca told her about calming the nervous system with a tight hug, and she hurriedly hands her phone to Stacie before getting onto the bed and holds the DJ tightly.

" _Pulls her arms down, and hold them under yours on her chest Junk. That way she can't hurt herself or you."_ Ashley says in hurry. _"Don't force her to wake up. It won't end well. Just hold her and let her pass it. I'm coming over, but keep me on."_

Emily hurriedly do as she's told, and Beca resists harshly, accidentally elbowing the aca-child on her stomach so hard. Even so, the youngest Bella doesn't let go, but she snaps at the redhead, "Chloe! Help me!"

Chloe shakes her head lightly to get her head out of the haze and hurriedly holds her fiancé along with Emily.

For around five minutes or so, Beca keep on trashing. But eventually, the resistance becomes weaker but she's still trying hard to gasp some air.

Meanwhile on the phone, Ashley is talking to someone named Liv and Pascal.

Ten minutes later, when Beca doesn't fight them anymore, Emily and Chloe let her go. Then the redhead worriedly asks, "Babe, are you okay?"

Beca looks around and asks in confusion, "Where am I? What happened?"

It certainly scares her fiancé and friends.

Chloe is clueless because she had never seen Beca had a panic attack, let alone a night terror. Nevertheless, as calm as she can, she says, "You're at Stacie's place, and we're in my bedroom. You just had a night terror Babe."

After sitting up and leaning her back onto the headboards, Beca grasps her head, scrunching her face with frustrated look and mutters, "I must be dreaming. This isn't real."

Cautiously, the redhead rubs her fiancé's arm to soothe her and says, "You're not dreaming, Babe. This is real."

However, instead of responding her fiancé, Beca pulls her knees onto her chest, wrapping her legs with her arms, and rests her forehead on her kneecap while rocking her body back and forth. "Wake me up... wake me up... I want to wake up... Please come and wake me up..."

"Babe?" Chloe puts her hand on the DJ's shoulder cautiously. "Babe, talk to me please."

Still, Beca doesn't give any response but keep muttering to herself, and nobody seems to know how to react. A couple of minutes later, the house bell rings, and Stacie hurriedly walks out of the room to open it.

Then Ashley comes into the room, breathing heavily because she's running up frantically behind Stacie. Upon seeing Beca's condition, she takes several deep breaths to calm herself before sitting in front of her ex and puts both of her hands on Beca's shoulders. "Becs?"

Upon hearing Ashley's voice, Beca looks up and she's taken aback for a second. Then she breathes out, "You're here."

With a relieved look, Ashley puts her palm on the DJ's damp forehead to check her temperature and softly says, "Hey."

Beca looks at her ex, smiling in relief with her eyes teary. Then she asks, "Is this real?"

Gently, Ashley takes the DJ's left hand and puts them on her own left chest while she herself rests her right hand on Beca's left chest to check her heartbeat. "Can you feel it?"

Beca closes her eyes, putting her attention solely on her left palm, and when she feels Ashley's steady beating heart, she opens her eyes and says in relief, "You're here... you're real..."

"I am." Ashley says softly.

Slowly, the DJ leans forward to hug the blonde tightly. At that moment, Ashley sighs in relief, even shivering from the contented feeling of having Beca in her arms again. Then she kisses the tiny brunette on the side of her head, breathing in the soft scent that apparently she has missed so badly with her eyes closed.

"It tried to choke me..." Beca grumbles like a child while pressing her nose onto the curve of Ashley's neck. "And I couldn't breathe... I tried to fight it, but it wouldn't go away... And you weren't there with me."

"I'm with you now, Becs." Ashley rubs her back gently while hugging her even tighter. "It can't hurt you anymore. You're safe."

Beca nods but doesn't let her go. When Ashley accidentally sees Chloe's hurting eyes, she puts her hands on the DJ's arms and tries to break the hug gently.

However, Beca shakes her head and hugs her ex even tighter, pleading with restraint voice, "Don't. Please. I need this. I need you."

Upon hearing how vulnerable the tiny brunette is, Ashley sighs in defeat and wraps her arms around Beca's back as tightly, feeling her chest so warm and also light.

"Ash..." Emily says cautiously.

"Hm?" Ashley responds.

"She doesn't know where she is, and she thinks that she's dreaming." Emily says worriedly.

"It's normal." Ashley says calmly. "I'll explain it to you later."

Meanwhile, everybody else in that room just watch that scene before their eyes with mixed feelings.

Chloe's heart breaks and she feels helpless because she couldn't give the same comfort to her fiancé. Now that the person she loves the most chooses Ashley over her, she can't help but letting a single tear running down her cheek. Then she hugs Aubrey even tighter.

Stacie just puts two and two together, and she is torn between feelings sympathetic to the redhead who has no clue yet gets broken hearted, or pitying her petite former captain who's indeed still in love with Ashley. The youngest Bella feels almost the same, but she's also upset with the situation where Beca, Chloe, and Ashley aren't happy.

On the other hand, Aubrey has lost all of the trust to Beca, and the wall is going back up so vastly. She knows that she can't trust Beca anymore, thinking that the tiny brunette had put on the best facade in the last couple of months. Her instinct to protect her best friend from hurting kicks in automatically.

Suddenly, the bell rings again, and Stacie asks more to herself, "Who would that be?"

"It must be Liv." Ashley says without turning around to look at the tall brunette. "Beca's doctor. I called her earlier to come here in case Beca gets a heart attack."

"Oh." Stacie responds before walking out to open the front door.

Not long after, Stacie walks back into the bedroom along with Doctor Wilde. Upon seeing how crowded the room is, Doctor Wilde politely says, "I'm Doctor Wilde. Beca's physician. Maybe some of you can spare us more room so I can check on her."

Stacie immediately drags her wife out. As much as Aubrey wanted to stay with her best friend, her wife just wouldn't let her.

When Ashley wants to pull away, the DJ keep holding her tightly. Then the blonde softly says, "Liv needs to check you, Becs. I will be right next to you."

Beca pulls away slightly to look at the blonde with pleading eyes. "Promise?"

"Promise." Ashley replies softly.

Then the tiny brunette breaks the hug and lays back down on the bed while her ex fiancé sits next to her and rests a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, grumpy." Doctor Wilde greets warmly.

Beca simply smiles weakly in return, and then the brunette doctor holds up a pen size flashlight in front of her face. "Follow the light, grumpy."

Certainly, the DJ complies, and then the doctor says, "Her eyes are a bit dilated." Then she holds a portable handheld ECG machine in front of the tiny brunette. "Can you hold this and press your thumb on the button?"

Without saying anything, Beca takes the gadget and presses her thumb on a certain button. Meanwhile, the doctor puts a thermometer into the tiny brunette's mouth before holding Beca's left hand to check her heartbeat manually.

While waiting, Beca keep stealing glances at her ex, afraid that she will disappear any second. But Ashley simply smiles at her calmly.

When the gadget beeps, Doctor Wilde takes it back to see the result. "Her heart rate is normal." Then she checks the thermometer. "She has a fever though. And it's quite high. What happened to her?"

"She has a night terror." Ashley says. "And based on what Emily told me, it seems like she's also delirious."

"What happened?" Doctor Wilde asks in concern.

Knowing that she can't tell the truth in front of Chloe yet, Emily says, "Maybe we should talk outside."

When the youngest Bella reaches the door, she looks back over her shoulder at Ashley and says, "You're coming with us, Ash."

"Okay." Ashley nods while standing up, but Beca pulls her hand and pleads, "Stay."

With a calming smile, Ashley caresses her head gently and says, "I'll be just a minute."

"Promise?" Beca asks again, still with the same childlike pleading eyes.

"Promise." Ashley squeezes her hand gently before walking out of the room.

After they are out of the room, Chloe cautiously calls, "Babe?"

However, Beca just looks at her blankly without saying anything, and Chloe closes her eyes, feeling her chest tightened painfully upon seeing how indifferent her fiancé is.

As hurt as she is, Chloe doesn't push. She decides to give the DJ some space by sitting on the edge of the bed silently.

They remain silent for almost ten minutes until suddenly, Beca frantically flips her left hand back and forth while asking, "Where is it?"

* * *

**Meanwhile outside the room.**

"The last time she had a night terror was almost four years ago when Ashley left." Doctor Wilde says. "What happened to trigger the night terror tonight?"

After staring at her best friend while considering telling the truth for a couple of seconds, Emily sighs heavily and says, "She saw a picture of you and Shay on the internet this afternoon. And earlier tonight... Chloe proposed."

Ashley and Dr. Wilde drop their jaws in unison.

Upon seeing the shock on them, Emily elaborates, "She was... so unsettled after seeing the picture. Harvey said something about detaching herself from reality. Then with the proposal, she was completely taken aback. And when Chloe took off your engagement ring, Beca just... lost it. She threw up, and she had that night terror. The whole time, she was muttering that this isn't real, that this is just a dream. Has she... I mean, she seems..."

The youngest Bella is indeed frustrated about how to phrase it gently, and Doctor Wilde understands. Therefore she calmly says, "She is not crazy, Emily. It's normal for people with depression and anxiety to experience dissociation or depersonalization when they're too distressed. As long as it's not consistent and being treated right away, she'll be okay. It's the way our mind trying to protect us."

"But the throwing up and the night terror..." Emily says with restraint voice.

"It's the way our body tell us that there's a conflict between our logical thinking and emotions." Doctor Wilde explains patiently. "Beca pushed herself too far to be okay, while emotionally, she wasn't okay at all. So the body took the fall by throwing up. Then her mind attacked her when she was in the most vulnerable state. Sleeping."

While Ashley is too busy dealing with her once again broken heart, Emily worriedly asks, "Is she gonna be okay?"

Doctor Wilde sighs deeply and says, "I'll prescribe her some sleeping pills to prevent the night terror, and meds for her fever. But the night terror typically won't stop until she resolves the core problem. So, I suggest you to call her psychiatrist."

"We have." Emily says. "Donna called her earlier, but Doctor Quinzel is out of the country for the moment. She won't be back until Friday."

"Then she has to deal with the sleeping pills for a while." Doctor Wilde states.

"Do you think we should tell Chloe?" Emily asks worriedly.

Without hesitation, Doctor Wilde says, "As Beca's doctor, without her consent, I can't tell anything to Chloe since she isn't a family, and she isn't Beca's emergency contact. It's Ashley and Donna. As long as Beca doesn't try to hurt herself, I have an obligation to keep her medical condition. Besides, I think it's yours and Ashley's responsibility to tell Chloe about the situation that caused grumpy's depression and anxiety jump off the chart. Not mine."

"Ash?" Emily turns to her best friend, looking apologetic when she asks, "What do you think?"

The blonde is indeed conflicted because she doesn't know how to tell Chloe that Beca's night terror was partly caused by seeing her picture with Shay. It means she will indirectly tell the redhead that Beca still has feelings for her.

Before Ashley can decide, suddenly they hear Beca's frantic voice coming from the bedroom, and they hurriedly go back in.

"Where is it?" Beca says to no one in particular while frantically flipping the pillows, trying to find something.

Ashley approaches her cautiously and asks, "What is it, Becs?"

Doesn't have time to answer, Beca simply holds up her left hand.

Ashley sees an engagement ring on it, but she ignores the pang of hurt in her chest because Beca's condition is more important for her right now. As calm as she can, Ashley grabs the brunette by her arms and says, "Becs, breathe... Take a deep breath for me please."

While the DJ is trying to catch some breaths, Ashley turns to look at the very stunned Chloe with questioning look, and the redhead shakes her head because she doesn't have any idea of what her fiancé is looking for.

"I can't find it." Beca says in distress. "I can't find it anywhere."

On the other hand, Emily finally realizes the looked item. She hurriedly rush to the bathroom and finds the black carbide ring on the sink. Then she grabs it and rushes her way back into the bedroom. "There you go, Pop." She hands the ring to her former captain.

Beca sighs in relief, smiling softly as she pulls out Chloe's ring, hands it to Emily, and puts on Ashley's ring back to her ring finger.

"Thanks Em." Beca says before pulling Ashley to the bed and snuggles up onto the blonde's chest, hugging her tightly.

Ashley gives Chloe an apologetically look because the redhead certainly doesn't know how Beca usually acted when she was in this state.

On the other hand, Chloe just stands next to the bed with crossed arms, tapping her foot anxiously while staring at Beca and Ashley uncomfortably.

To ease the tension, Dr. Wilde says, "Give me your arm, grumpy."

Beca complies without saying anything, and the doctor injects some meds into her system. "I just gave her a light sedative. You know, since it's not good for her heart. But she'll fall asleep in a couple of minutes." Then she turns to look at the redhead. "Chloe, right?"

Chloe nods lightly, and then the doctor asks, "Medically, Beca is fine now. I will leave a prescription, and you can get her meds in the morning. Just remind her to drink a lot of water. But have Beca told you about her condition?"

After taking a deep breath, Chloe says, "If it's about her heart condition, then yes. She has told me. I'm the one who usually prepared her meds."

Then Doctor Wilde says, "Please come with me. There's something I need to explain about Beca's meds for the next couple of days." She turns to the youngest Bella. "Maybe you should come too, Emily."

After there are only Ashley and Beca in the bedroom, Ashley kisses Beca's crown and whispers, "You need to stop worrying me, Becs."

"Hm." Beca just snuggles closer, wrapping her arms around the blonde even tighter.

Ashley sighs, smiling as she starts humming lightly to _Love Will Set You Free_ by Kodaline in repeat while rubbing the brunette's back gently. After a while, Beca finally falls back asleep in the blonde's arms.

These reversed roles rarely happened, and only occurred when Beca was in the most vulnerable state. Therefore, Ashley is more than worried to leave her ex. However, she knows that staying isn't an option.

When Ashley feels that Beca is already in a deep sleep, she untangles herself gently, and kisses Beca's forehead. Then she caresses her head gently while staring at her longingly.

"Sleep well Becs."Ashley whispers, smiling bitterly with her eyes teary. "It can't hurt you. It's gonna be okay. You're gonna be okay."

Upon seeing the DJ's frowny lips, Ashley smiles sadly and touches the corner of Beca's lips lightly with her thumb.

"Hm..." Beca hums in her sleep, and the frown turns into a light smile.

Feeling more reluctant to leave, Ashley clears her throat and gets off the bed. Then she tries to compose herself by huffing out a damp ragged air through her mouth and wiping the tears on the corner of her eyes.

After that, she takes a few deep breaths before heading out to the living room. However, she stops on her track halfway down the stairs when she hears Chloe's worried voice.

* * *

 

"What should I do?" Chloe asks, and Ashley is certain that the redhead is crying. "I had never seen her like that before, and I couldn't do anything to help her. Ashley could. And I'm afraid that she was having that night terror not because she was nervous of performing a song to me. What if she still loves Ashley?"

Then Aubrey's voice comes in, saying, "Trust me, Chloe. It's the only reason. Beca loves you. The nervous feeling and maybe a bit of shock from the sudden proposal might have triggered the night terror. We know how terrified she is to be committed. But she loves you. She chose you over Ashley. She wants to be with you. Besides, from now on, you'd know how to deal with her nightmare."

"But Bree..." Chloe pleads.

Ashley takes a deep breath and walks into the living room. When Stacie sees the blonde, she eyes her friends, hinting them to stop the conversation.

Then CR and Fat Amy understandingly excuse themselves.

"Bye blondie." Fat Amy says playfully. "Thanks for helping our Shawshank."

"Yeah." CR chips in. "We wouldn't know how to deal with her if you weren't here."

"Glad I could help." Ashley smiles warmly.

Then CR and Fat Amy head to the kitchen, leaving Ashley with Chloe, Stacie, Aubrey, and Emily in the living room.

With her hands in her pockets, Ashley says, "She's already asleep."

After wiping her tears, Chloe turns to look at Ashley and mutters, "Thanks."

Ashley simply gives her a tight smile while her mind is turning in a full speed. As much as she hates being in this situation, she knows that she has to comfort the redhead for Beca's sake. Judging from her ex's mental state, there's no way she can deal with Chloe's insecurity, let alone her anger right now.

Therefore, she walks toward the group and takes a seat in front of Chloe, ignoring Aubrey's deathly glare. Then she looks at the redhead and calmly says, "Don't take it personally, Chloe."

"Huh?" Chloe responds in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Her night terror." Ashley says. "I know that it's hard not to take it personally, or not to think that you're responsible for it. I've been there before. But... don't."

"Huh?" Chloe intensifies her furrowed eyebrows.

After taking a deep breath, Ashley explains, "I was as clueless as you were the first time I saw her having a night terror. She just had her second heart attack, and we hadn't even been officially dating yet. I stayed at her place to take care of her, and the night terror happened. Since I didn't know what to do, I called Donna, and she brought Liv to Beca's apartment immediately."

"And it stopped after that." Chloe states.

"Nope." Ashley says matter-of-factly. "I learnt a lot about night terrors and how to deal with it. Then I found out that it was about unresolved emotional problems. I figured she was anxious of having a relationship with me. So, I talked to her about being in a relationship. We talked about our own pace, what we were comfortable and not comfortable with. That kind of stuff. And it eventually stopped. Over times, when it happened again, I already knew how to deal with it before it got... as bad as tonight."

"Did it happen often in the past?" Chloe asks cautiously.

"Well, there were a handful of times." Ashley says. "It happened just anytime when she was in a huge transition; when she had to change. The worst one I knew before this was the one I just told you. Then a couple of times after she came out to the public, and the last time was when I left her almost four years ago. Thankfully, knowing her own bad habit, when she started smoking again after I left her, she decided to stay with Donna. So, they were there for her. But it eventually stopped after she decided to tell me the truth about her life."

Wanting to ease Chloe's guilty feeling, Aubrey instinctively takes that chance to coldly says to Ashley, "You sure did some number on her. Making her doing the things she was scared the most, and then left her so she would beg you back."

Emily and Ashley drop their jaw in disbelief, and then the younger blonde retorts in upset, "Excuse me?"

"Bree..." Stacie warns her wife, but Aubrey stubbornly says to her wife, "What? I'm just telling her my opinion. She knew Beca was depending on her. Yet she left for a selfish reason. Look how broken Beca is after being with her for five years."

Ashley scoffs and calmly says, "That is rich coming from you. Or should I remind you about the things you did to Beca? From back in college until today? I can do my counting just as good as you do, and I believe you don't want me to get into the details right now."

Aubrey's cheeks blush shamefully upon realizing that she is the one who started all of this. But as usual, declaring defeat isn't in her dictionary.

However, when Aubrey opens her mouth to talk, the younger blonde holds her index finger up to stop the older captain. "And for the record, Beca came back to me on her own conscience without any _interference_ from anybody. Simply because she loved me. Get your fact right. Or are you just too blinded to think straight?"

Ashley certainly knows that she is hinting too close to their secret arrangement, but she's too upset to care right now. She came here solely to help her ex, who apparently just engaged. And she's not in a condition to be all nice, especially when she's trying to comfort the redhead, who was a huge reason for her break-up with Beca.

"I think it's enough." Stacie hurriedly meddles. "Our concern is Beca now."

After rolling her eyes in annoyance, Ashley turns back to look at the anxious Chloe who keep pulling her fingers, seeming so lost in her own head. The younger blonde sighs deeply and asks as softly as she can, "Do you have any other question?"

With her eyebrows furrowed, Chloe sincerely asks, "What should I do if her night terror happen again?"

After scratching the back of her head, Ashley explains, "Actually, we shouldn't try to wake up a person with a night terror but to let her pass it. But in Beca's case, if it got too intense, it could cause her a heart attack. Therefore, we need to soothe her without pushing her to wake up."

Chloe nods but doesn't interrupt, and then the blonde continues, "Usually, I just held her tightly, wrapping her arms under mine on her chest so she couldn't hurt herself or me. She would resist at first, but she'd become calmer when the oxytocin kicked in."

"Oxytocin?" Stacie cuts in with puzzled look.

"It's a hormone that will calm our nerves." Ashley explains to Stacie patiently. "Our brain produces it when we're being hugged. Just look for it in the internet for more medical explanation." Then she turns back to Chloe and says, "After I hugged her for a couple of minutes, she usually would fall back to sleep. But rarely, just like you saw tonight, she would wake up and feel confused of what happened. It's completely normal. The first time I experienced her night terror, she didn't even recognize me until she woke up again for the second time."

Chloe simply nods absentmindedly, and then Ashley adds, "And don't mind the clingy childlike behavior. It's also normal for her to act that way after having a night terror. The right term would be regression. She was terrified and defenseless. But it usually wouldn't last long. You'll see it when she wakes up. She won't even remember a thing about the night terror and what happen after that."

"Are you sure?" Chloe asks worriedly.

"U huh." Ashley responds.

"But what if she do remember?" Aubrey asks sharply, and then she continues with despising tone, "Should we tell her that you came to her rescue?"

With wide eyes and a light smile that says _wow_ , Ashley simply looks at the older blonde in disbelief for a couple of seconds before scoffing lightly without saying anything in return.

Then Aubrey sharply says, "You could've just called the doctor to come here. You certainly didn't need to come here too."

"Aubrey!" Emily snaps at the older captain.

On the other hand, Ashley just stares at the aca-nazi, looking at her in pure annoyance, yet also arrogantly. Then she nonchalantly says, "For your information, because _obviously_ you didn't know any better, screaming exorcism when someone was having a night terror never helped. I thought as a lawyer you could act much smarter than that." She shrugs and tilts her head slightly in an undermining manner. "Proven so wrong so far."

"What did you just say?" Aubrey asks in upset.

"You heard me." Ashley smirks. "Or other than the _obvious_ lack of compassion, do you also have a problem with your hearing?"

Emily snorts to hold her laughter because she had never seen anybody other than Beca and herself stood up against the almighty Aubrey Posen. Not until now at the very least.

"You!-" Aubrey wants to snap at Beca's ex, but her wife cuts her off sharply, "You will stop talking, Bree."

"But-" Aubrey argues, but Emily cuts her off by firmly saying, "You started it. Don't play with fire if you're not ready to get burned, Bree."

"Em." Stacie warns the youngest Bella, and Emily simply rolls her eyes in annoyance.

Judging from her heaving chest, Aubrey is indeed angry. But she remains silent because her wife is staring at her sternly.

After glancing her eyes away sharply from the angry yet silent Aubrey, Ashley looks back at Chloe. She puts on a tight smile and says, "In the past, Beca had never remembered a thing. And I didn't tell her because finding out that she had no control over her mind would only upset her. Instead, I told her that she was talking in her sleep about something that probably concerned her. Then we talked about it. But if she do remember, then it's up to you to tell her the whole truth or not, Chloe."

"I think you should tell her, Chloe." Emily says cautiously. "I mean, Doctor Wilde did prescribe her some sleeping pills. And knowing Pop, she will ask about it certainly."

Clearly, Emily still can't tell the redhead about the commotion that afternoon. And looking at how anxious Chloe is, the youngest Bella just can't bring herself to tell her the whole truth.

With her eyebrows furrowed, Chloe bites her bottom lip anxiously while keep pulling her fingers.

Knowing well that Chloe is conflicted, Ashley calmly asks, "What did Liv tell you?"

With worried look, the redhead steal a glance at the younger blonde and replies, "She told me that Beca shouldn't take the sleeping pills too much because it's bad for her heart. But it's necessary until she can see her therapist. Otherwise, she will keep having this night terror until she solves her problems."

"Then take her to see her therapist." Ashley says certainly.

Still finding it hard to talk to Beca's PA, Chloe sighs heavily and mutters, "I'll call Donna tomorrow, and ask her to make an appointment."

Ashley simply smiles understandingly in return.

"What did she see when she was having a night terror?" Chloe asks curiously. "She kept saying get off me, and she told you it tried to choke her. What is _it_?"

Feeling uncomfortable of talking about the content of Beca's dream as insignificant as it is, Ashley scratches the back of her ear and cautiously says, "I'm not sure I'm the one who's supposed to tell you about it. You know how private Beca is with certain things. And-"

"But I'm her fiancé." Chloe cuts her off firmly. "And if I don't tell her about the night terror she had, how am I supposed to find out?"

"You wait." Ashley says without hesitation. "You wait until she tells you. Besides, the dream doesn't matter. It's just a manifestation of her repressed feelings."

As the ring comes back into her mind, Chloe hurriedly asks, "And the ring? Is it-"

"It's her favorite ring." Ashley cuts her off, remembering the things Beca told her about the ring on her birthday.

Although she doesn't completely believe in Ashley, Chloe sighs in defeat and nods.

The younger blonde sees through her and softly says, "It's okay Chloe. Beca is... Well, every bits and pieces of her, even the one that makes you mad or sad, they are worth it. Because when she loves someone, she gives all of her. Yes, she indeed finds it hard to open up. But when she do, she'll let you see everything about her. You just have to be patient."

Chloe sighs in relief, smiling as she says, "I know."

Seeing that she isn't needed anymore, Ashley stands up, smiling tightly as she says, "I better go."

Chloe hugs the younger blonde and says, "Thank you so much, Ashley. You know, for doing this."

"No problemo." Ashley replies while patting the redhead's back gently.

After they break the hug, Ashley pulls out her phone and says, "By the way, you need to save Liv's number. You know, in case stuff like this or worse happen again. She's a cardiothoracic surgeon who has been treating Beca since her first heart attack more than six years ago."

The redhead do as she's told and says, "Thanks again."

"Don't mention it." Ashley replies casually. "We both care about her."

Chloe just smiles in returns, and then Emily says, "I'll see you out, Benzo."

"Let's go, Junk." Ashley smirks before she turns to Stacie and says, "Please say hi from me to Baby Belle."

"I will." Stacie replies softly as she walks to the front door with Emily and Ashley.

When Stacie is already going back inside, leaving them on the front porch, Emily excitedly says, "I am so proud of you, Benzo."

"For what?"

"Duh." Emily says excitedly. "For standing up against Aubrey. That was... My God, I still can't believe you would do that. I'd never seen the other Bellas, other than Pop obviously, ever dared to defy her. And you are an outsider." Then she smirks. "You're tiny but you're big, Benzo."

Ashley chuckles while rolling her eyes playfully. "Well, I did learn one thing or two from your Pop. And what is her problem anyway? I thought I was the one who needed to get laid."

Emily laughs whole-heartily and says, "I guess. I don't know. Lately, she had treated Beca nicer. But I guess with what happened tonight, she just... You know how protective she could be when it came to Chloe."

"Don't I?" Ashley retorts in annoyance. "I experienced it first handedly, Junk. And Beca told me a couple of months ago about how Aubrey treated her."

"Calm your pits, Benzo." Emily teases. "I think you gave her enough lesson already today."

Ashley mocks a thinking look by pressing her index finger onto her chin with her eyebrows furrowed. "I think I still need to do more intervention."

Emily chuckles again, and then she pulls Ashley's bubblegum pink hair as she asks, "Don't get me wrong, Ash. Your new hair looks great. But what happened to your blonde hair? It wasn't like this when we met three days ago."

With a light shrug, Ashley tries to be nonchalant when she says, "Just needed a change of hair color. You know, before PLL starts filming again. Besides, I was determined to make some huge changes in my life yesterday."

"So... you and Shay huh?" Emily asks teasingly.

Ashley rolls her eyes in annoyance and says, "It was a huge misunderstanding. We are not in a relationship."

"Huh?" Emily responds with furrowed eyebrows. "But the picture and the headlines..."

After shaking her head in annoyance, Ashley explains, "I took her offer for a date last night. Thinking that I'm ready to dip my toes back into the dating pool. Then we came back to my place, and we were drunk. It was from a combination of alcohol and..." She rolls her eyes, but her reddish cheeks do tell that she's ashamed. "Months of dry spell. Long story short, we ended up having sex in my bedroom. In the morning, she took our picture when I was still sleeping. I didn't even know about it. But honestly, I didn't mind as long as she kept it for her own."

"But she posted it." Emily states.

"Yep." Ashley huffs heavily in upset. "She posted it in her social media without my permission."

"You must me so mad."

"Duh." Ashley states. "I yelled at her, and we fought about it." Then she pauses for a split second before she continues in defeat, "As angry as I was, I understood why she did that though. She has loved me for a very long time. And I couldn't be more relieved that my first time after Beca was with my best friend. Not with some stranger I met at a club. Besides, Shay is a good friend. I think... it's time for me to give her a chance."

Emily smiles sympathetically and says, "But it means you've moved on then."

Diverting her eyes away from her best friend, Ashley bites her bottom lip and brushes her hair to the back of her ear. Then she takes a deep breath and says, "I honestly don't know, Em. I mean, I'm definitely feeling better. But..." She scoffs with a sad look. "To be completely moved on from your Pop? I still don't know how to do that."

"I'm sorry to drag you into this." Emily says apologetically. "I just... You were the first person that came into my mind when I was so panic to see Beca having a night terror."

"I understand." The blonde says softly, but she looks sad for sure. "It's not that I wasn't glad to see her. But seeing her tonight, I just..." Her eyes have become teary, but she continues with restraint voice. "It felt so right having her in my arms, watching her falling asleep next to me. And apparently, I've missed her..." It comes out in barely a whisper. "So much."

With a matching sad look, Emily squeezes the blonde's arms and says, "You'll figure it out, Ash. I know you will. Give it times."

"I know." Ashley smiles lightly while wiping the tears by the corner of her eyes. Then she let out a damp chuckle and says, "I'll see you soon, Junk. We're still hanging out on Saturday right? You know, to talk about Troian's wedding."

"Absolutely." Emily grins. Then she hugs the blonde tightly and says, "See you soon, Benzo. You'll be okay."

"Sure." Ashley replies before pulling away and walks to her car.

* * *

Then Emily walks back into the house. Apparently, Stacie, Aubrey, and Chloe are still in the living room. Suddenly, she remembers about Beca's engagement ring in her pocket, and she hands it the redhead. "Chloe, it's uh... it's yours."

With a broken smile, Chloe takes the ring and says, "Thanks Em." She turns to look at Aubrey and Stacie. "I will go back to my room."

Aubrey smiles softly and says, "Don't worry too much, Chloe. Beca loves you. Since ages ago."

Upon getting a reassurance from her best friend, the redhead sighs in relief and simply smiles in return before heading to her bedroom.

After there are only the three of them left in the living room, Aubrey firmly says, "You shouldn't have disrespected me in front of some stranger, Emily."

Emily coldly replies, "Earn my respect then. And let me put this straight if you haven't got the clue. Ashley is my best friend. She isn't a stranger at all for me and Beca. You tried to hurt her when she was trying to help us; to cover up the mess you started. You owe her just as much as you owe Beca. Remember that before you treat them as you deem fit with your shitty attitude."

Without waiting for any response, Emily walks to the kitchen to calm her nerves. Apparently, Fat Amy and CR are still there, and obviously, they have heard all of the conversation.

"Come and join us, legacy." Fat Amy says.

"Yea." CR chips in. "Tell us about your life in LA so far, girl."

Emily knows that they are trying to cheer her up, and in the end they will give her some lessons about treating Aubrey more nicely. It's a good intention, and she knows it too. Therefore, after taking a bottle of water in the fridge, the youngest Bella joins her two sisters in the kitchen isle.

Just as predicted by her, after a couple of jokes here and there, Fat Amy says, "You know that I didn't really like Aubrey too in my first year. I mean, she was uptight, and she forced us to do horizontal running every day."

"And the pukegate..." CR shakes her head overdramatically.

"But...?" Emily rolls her eyes in half-annoyance, knowing where this is going to end.

"But she sure has grown up from the uptight aca-nazy, legacy." CR adds patiently.

Emily scoffs, "Really? Doesn't seem like that for me. I didn't even know the college Aubrey. Lucky me."

"Come on, kid." CR persuades. "She had her... yea she wasn't nice. But there were times that she was the only one we could rely on. She did give her place as a captain to shorty in the last minute. And remember world championship? Remember how she brought us together? Helped us finding our sound back?"

With a defeated sigh yet still slightly annoyed, Emily simply nods in return.

Then Fat Amy pats her back gently and says, "She's just having a hard time right now. So try to be nice to her."

"Besides, the more hard time you give her, the harder it is for Stacie." CR states. "If you can't do it for Aubrey, then do it for Stacie."

"And for baby Bella." Fat Amy chips in.

"Fine." Emily says in half-annoyance.

"You know we love you, legacy." Fat Amy adds. Then she teases, "As stupid as you still are."

Emily slaps the hilarious blonde's arm playfully and scolds, "I'm not stupid. I'm a grown ass 29 year old, for god's sake."

"Classy aca-child." CR teases.

Then the two older Bellas simply laugh, and then Emily joins them too.

* * *

**Earlier in Chloe's bedroom.**

After going into her bedroom, Chloe puts the ring on the bedside table next to Beca's side. Then she joins her fiancé on the bed. For a while, the redhead simply stares at a sound asleep Beca with a sad smile.

Then she caresses the DJ's cheeks gently and says, "I love you Babe. So much."

Automatically, the brunette stirs slightly closer in her sleep, and it certainly makes the redhead more relieved. Around 2 AM, Chloe finally falls asleep while hugging her fiancé tightly.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That would be chapter 30. Just as I said in the beginning, dark and twisty. Hope I don't break your hearts too badly. I was going to cut it right before Beca gave her answer for Chloe's proposal. You know, made it a cliff hanger. But since I let you waited for more than a week, I put a part of the next chapter in this one.
> 
> The next chapter will start with Beca waking up. It's gonna be... well, just sit tight and make good choices. Thank you for reading :)


	31. Unfavored Reality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey, folks :) Sorry I've been MIA for a while. In case any of you are wondering, no, I'm not abandoning this story. My father had a minor stroke, and I was with him at the hospital. And last week I had mid-term tests. So, it's been quite hectic lately. Now I'm back, and since I've made you wait too long, I'll edit a couple of chapters to post this week. Maybe two more after this one.
> 
> As usual, I'd like to thank the readers, the people who follow and favor this story, and the reviewers. Thank you for being patient, and thank you for staying even though it's been hard :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now, let's go back to the story. In the previous chapter, Beca was devastated upon finding out Ashley and Shay slept together, and then Chloe proposed without knowing anything, and in the end, Beca had a night terror and Ashley came to help her.
> 
> In this chapter, we will start with Beca waking up in the morning. This chapter is only about one day story. It's a very slow burn, and prepare yourself for dark and twisty; as always and promised :)
> 
> There're a couple of songs in this chapter including a piece of Here Comes Goodbye by Rascal Flatts, a bit of Way Back Into Love by Hugh Grant featuring Haley Bennett, and Riot by Rascal Flatts.
> 
> I don't own Pitch perfect, nor most of the characters, and neither the songs. Hope you enjoy :)

**Tuesday, March 10** **th** **2026.**

Beca wakes up in the morning and feels this heavy tension on the back of her neck. When she finally gathers her senses, she hurriedly raises her left hand and looks at it closely. Instantly, she sighs in relief upon seeing the black ice carbide ring is still on its rightful place.

As she drops her hand back onto the bed, she chuckles lightly in relief and thinks to herself, _"That was the weirdest dream you've ever had, Mitchell. Certainly, Ashley didn't sleep with Shay, and Chloe didn't propose."_

Then she turns on her side and sees Chloe's sleeping face. Beca smiles lightly and kisses the redhead gently on the forehead before turning on her other side, hoping that she can catch more sleep.

The DJ is stunned to see an engagement ring; the one in her dream that Chloe gave her, sitting on the nightstand next to her. Her breath hitched, and her eyes widen while her heart is thumping hard. After a couple of seconds, she closes her eyes tightly and shakes her head, hoping that the ring is only in her head.

However, when she opens her eyes again, the ring is still on that bedside table. Right then, her chest tightens, and she automatically curls on her side, shrinking from holding the pain in her chest upon realizing that everything is real. It's like someone just punched her on the stomach, and it makes it hard for her to breathe.

" _You need to get out of here."_ Beca thought to herself almost in panic. _"You need to deal with this pain."_

After hurriedly changing into Chloe's exercise attire and ties her hair into a messy bun, Beca takes a pair of running shoes from the redhead's closet. It's slightly bigger than her feet, but she doesn't care. Then she heads downstairs to find CR, Fat Amy, and Emily are still sleeping in the living room.

"Where is mommy?" Beca hears Belle's faint voice coming from the kitchen.

"Mommy is still sleeping, princess. She's a bit tired after Aunt Chloe's birthday dinner." Stacie replies to her daughter.

Without making any noise, the DJ hurriedly walks out of the house and starts running around the neighborhood. At first, she starts in a slow pace, and then she runs faster along with her pacing heart. As hard as it feels, she tries putting her attention solely on her breathing.

Nothing comes into her mind but a sole focus to move the pain in her chest to her legs at the very least. She has no destination, and she just keep running, letting her feet taking her to wherever they want.

Thirty minutes into running, a single track of tears start running down her face slowly, and she wipes it away instantly without stopping running. Now, not only her chest is hurting, but her legs are also screaming in pain because she is sprinting like she doesn't need them anymore. In addition, her heart is thumping heavily, making it harder for her to breathe.

Nevertheless, she just keep dashing her way around the park, ignoring a few people who are spending time there early in the morning. In another ten minutes, when she feels like her lungs and legs are giving up on her, she runs to a secluded area at the corner of the park and drops herself onto the grass under a huge tree.

Then she closes her eyes to feel everything one by one; the sound of her labored breaths coming out through her lips, her heavily heaving chest, the heat under her sweaty skin, the ticklish electrical sensation all over her legs; the sweats dripping off her face and neck; and her hard thumping heart.

For a short moment, those feelings drift her mind away from the things that's hurting her emotionally. Gradually, her breaths become even, her heartbeats become steadier, and she feels a bit chilly as the wind blowing on her sweaty skin.

Then she opens her eyes and finds a few spots of silver linings from the sun, shining through the tree branches. Absentmindedly, she holds up her left hand in front of her face, simply staring at how the bright light hitting on her pale skin in several spots.

Slowly, she turns her hand, looking at it from different angles with nothing in her mind. One time or two, the light hits her black ice carbide ring and reflects on her eyes, but it doesn't bother her.

Then she drops her hand down onto the grass, and out of nowhere, she starts to sing. It's not loudly but slowly, even brokenly in barely a whisper.

 _I can hear her say I love you like it was yesterday_  
_And I can see it written on her face_  
_That she had never felt this way_  
_One day I thought I'd see her_  
_with her daddy by her side_  
_And violins would play  
_ _Here comes the bride_

Her expression is flat, but her eyes are a bit teary. Nevertheless, it doesn't stop her from keep singing absentmindedly.

 _But here comes goodbye_  
_Here comes the last time_  
_Here comes the start of every sleepless night_  
_The first of every tear I'm gonna cry_  
_Here comes the pain_  
_Here comes me wishing things had never changed_  
_And she was right here in my arms tonight  
_ _But here comes goodbye_

Then she closes her eyes and remains silent for a long while, simply putting her attention on breathing in and out of her lungs. As her breathing becomes deeper and steadier, so many things hit her, flashing simultaneously in her mind, and she doesn't fight them anymore; too tired to fight actually.

" _You! Are the most selfish, heartless person I've ever known!"_ Chloe snapped at her on the night they met again.

" _For once in her life, Beca needs to stop being selfish!"_ Aubrey said on the day Chloe tried to kill herself.

" _This mess... we had our reason... we didn't know any better... But now we do know better. And next time... if there is any next time... how could we live our life if something happen to Chloe, knowing that it's because of us? Because we're too selfish?"_ Ashley cried on the night they broke up.

" _This is the part I agree with Aubrey. You can't stand in between. Not between being a friend or a girlfriend to Chloe. But between Ashley and Chloe. Don't apologize to me. You're not hurting me by being selfish. It's them, Ashley and Chloe that you're hurting. The two women you've always claimed you love the most."_ Emily said after she came back from the beach house.

" _This is just the remaining pain of losing Ashley. You're just not ready to see her with someone else. And if you want her back for that, it's selfish, and you know that."_ Harvey said yesterday.

Then her mind approves, _"It's true. You are so fucking selfish, Mitchell. Maybe you should just disappear. It will save them a lot of troubles."_

However, other voices in her head negate her.

" _Oh. Okay. You're just gonna leave now."_ Chloe said angrily at the retreat.

" _No! You can't leave again. You can't disappear on us again!"_ Emily snapped at her in Atlanta after she broke up with Ashley.

" _Tell me that you think running away is the right thing to do! Tell me! Honestly!"_ Ashley yelled at her when they were fighting.

The yelling in her head has become unbearable, and Beca runs her fingers through her damp hair, grasping it so hard on her crown with her eyes closed tightly.

" _Because that's what you always did! And you're doing it again now!"_ Another yelling from Ashley on the night they broke up.

" _You always left. It's in your nature. It's who you are."_ Aubrey scorned her in the hospital.

" _There you go again, Beca! Walk away! Is there anything else you can do better than walking away?!"_ Chloe yelled at her before she left to the beach house.

"Damnit!" Beca slams her fists onto the grass. She's panting hard, and her chest is heaving heavily while her hands are grasping the grass tightly. _"Breathe, Mitchell... Just breathe."_

Then she do a breathing exercise in 3-1-5 sequence, trying to put her attention to her tensed body parts, starting from the back of her neck to her shoulders, then all the way down to her clenched hands and toes.

Around 10 minutes later, she falls asleep under the tree; maybe from the combination of feeling slightly relaxed, the chilly wind blowing on her sticky skin, and the lack of sleep the night before.

Eventually, Beca wakes up upon feeling a light nudging on her arm. When she opens her eyes, a little brunette girl is squatting next to her, staring at her with her eyebrows furrowed. She seems to be around four years old.

"Are you dead?" The little girl asks, and Beca can see that she is a bit afraid.

The DJ smiles weakly, rubbing her eyes and sits up, wrapping her knees on her chest before she says, "I kind of wish so."

The little girl's eyes widen, and Beca hurriedly adds, "I mean, I'm not dead. I just fell asleep."

"Rena?" A brunette woman comes closer, and upon seeing Beca's familiar face, she apologetically says, "I'm sorry. Did my daughter bother you?"

With a light smile, the DJ stands up and says, "No. Not at all."

"You are DJ Mitchell, right?" The woman asks curiously while hugging the little girl.

Beca hesitates for a split second, and the woman sees that. "Sorry. I was being inappropriate. I'm Vanessa, and this is my daughter Rena."

"Hi. I'm Mitchell." Beca nods lightly. "Beca Mitchell."

"Oh my God!" Vanessa gasps excitedly. "It's real! You are _the_ Beca Mitchell!"

"Yea." Beca gives her a tight-lipped smile. Then she asks, "Uhm... do you know what time is it?"

"It's almost 8.30." Vanessa says. Then, with blushing cheeks and a sheepish smile, she asks, "Uhm... If it's not too much to ask, can my daughter and I uh... take some pictures with you? My friends and family won't believe me if I tell them I meet you in a park without any prove."

"Sure." Beca replies casually.

After taking a few pictures with them, Beca says, "I better get going."

"Thank you." Vanessa says before looking at her daughter and says, "Rena, say bye DJ Mitchell."

Then the little girl look at Beca, smiling shyly as she squeaks, "Bye, DJ Mitchell."

"Bye, Rena." Beca waves lightly before turning around and walks away.

* * *

**Earlier at Stacie's place around 07.30**

With her eyes closed, Chloe reaches her hand to the spot next to her, and she wakes up abruptly upon feeling the vacant and cold sheet. After looking around to find that she's on her own in the room, she hurriedly checks the bathroom to see if her fiancé is in there, but she finds nothing.

Then she rushes downstairs and sees that CR and Fat Amy are still sleeping on the couch. Upon not seeing the DJ in the living room, Chloe frantically runs to the kitchen, but still, Beca isn't there. When she runs to the backyard, she only finds Emily talking on the phone to someone.

"Em!" Chloe sounds panic. "Have you seen Beca?"

"What?" Emily seems puzzled, and then she says over the phone. "Sorry. I've got to go. But yeah, that's what happened last night." Then the youngest Bella paces her way toward the redhead and asks, "Isn't she in the bedroom with you?"

"No, she isn't." Chloe says while walking back into the house. "I woke up, and she wasn't next to me."

"Have you checked the bathroom?" Emily asks worriedly.

"I have, Em." Chloe says in upset. "But I didn't find her anywhere."

The loud voices wake the dynamic duo in the living room, and Fat Amy rubs her eyes while asking, "What's going on, ginger?"

"Beca is gone!" Chloe exclaims in panic. "I can't find her!"

"What?!" CR and Fat Amy respond, sitting up abruptly at the same time.

Then Emily grabs Chloe by her shoulders and says, "Chloe, calm down... Sit down, and tell us what happened."

Chloe takes a deep breath and sits down on the couch. Suddenly, they hear the front door shut, and the four of them whip their heads so fast to see if it's the looked person. When Stacie comes into the view, they seem disappointed.

"Okay." Stacie says in mocked annoyance. "I'm certainly not Adele, but can you look even more disappointed to see me?"

As calm as she can, the youngest Bella says, "Stace, Chloe said she couldn't find Beca. Have you seen her?"

"What?" Stacie seems confused, walking to the couch to join her sisters. "I didn't see her this morning when Belle got ready to school. And it was around 6.30."

Meanwhile, Chloe is so worried, sitting on the couch with her elbows on her thighs, tapping her feet repeatedly and biting her thumbnail. She keeps on muttering, "Where is she? Where is she? Where is she?"

"Did she maybe leave a message?" Stacie asks cautiously.

"I didn't see any on the nightstand." Chloe states in frustration.

"Why don't we call her?" CR asks while wrapping the redhead around her shoulders from aside.

"She lost her phone." Emily states while pulling out her phone.

"Then who you're calling, legacy?" Fat Amy asks.

"Her PA." Emily replies, and it seems like the called person has already picked up. "Donna, Pop is gone... ... ... We can't find her, and she didn't leave any message... ... ... We're still at Stacie's place... ... ... Okay. Drive safe." After ending the phone call, Emily looks at her sisters and says, "Donna is coming, and she said that Harvey will take care of this right away."

"Take care of this?" Chloe asks. "How?"

"They have a way." Emily reassures. Then she asks, "Is her messenger bag still in your room?"

Chloe nods, "Yeah."

The other Bellas seem a bit relieved, and then Stacie says, "Chloe, maybe she's just taking a walk around the neighborhood."

Terrified that her fiancé has run away, Chloe can only shakes her head. She's definitely on the verge of crying, sinking in worry and guilty feeling.

The five of them are waiting for Donna anxiously while the other Bellas are still sleeping in the guest rooms.

"Have you tried calling Patrick?" Stacie asks the youngest Bella.

"Right." Emily pulls out her phone and dials Patrick's number instantly. After a couple of seconds, she says, "Hey Patrick, is Beca with you?... ... ... I see. Did she contact you at all this morning?... ... ..." She sighs heavily. "I hope it's nothing, but we can't find her... ... ... No, she lost her phone yesterday... ... ... Thank you, Patrick. I'll call you if I hear anything too." She ends the phone call.

"He doesn't know, does he?" Stacie retorts tiredly.

Emily shakes her head and says, "No. But he's going to Pop's apartment to check if she's there. He'll call us if he finds her."

Stacie, CR, and Fat Amy sigh in frustration but say nothing. They just wait in silent. Around 8.15, the bell rings, and Stacie hurriedly opens the door.

Then Donna walks into the living room, looking very professional in her blazer and skirt with a pair of high heels, holding a purse and an overnight bag in her hands. "Have any of you heard from her?"

"No." Emily says.

As the older redhead takes a seat on the couch next to Emily, she says, "Harvey is sending out a search party. They'll cover the airport, train stations, and bus stations. We'll find her soon."

The others simply nod without saying anything in return.

Suddenly, Aubrey's voice comes from behind as she walks from the stairs to the living room. "What's going on?" When she sees that her best friend is crying, the blonde is quick on her feet, rushing to sit next to Chloe and holds her tightly. "What happened Chloe? Why are you crying?" She asks worriedly.

Chloe wipes the tears on her face and says with hoarse voice, "It's Beca... She's gone..."

"What do you mean she's gone?" Aubrey asks in upset. When Chloe breaks down in tears, the blonde looks around at her wife and friends before staring at the youngest Bella and asks in upset, "What did she do this time?"

Emily rolls her eyes and says as calm as she can, "We can't find Beca. But it doesn't mean she's gone. Calm your pits, Bree."

"Maybe she's just taking a walk." Stacie hurriedly adds, eyeing her wife, hinting her to consider Chloe's condition and Donna's presence before spatting out her anger.

Knowing that anything she says will only upset the two redheads more, Aubrey holds her anger and simply shakes her head while sighing heavily.

On the other hand, the older redhead seems to be calm. Though in fact, she's worried about Beca, because the last time her boss was gone, she had her car and Pascal was able to track her. But it's not the same this time. However, Donna is putting on her collected look, and she just sits calmly with her legs crossed.

Suddenly, Donna's phone rings and she picks up instantly. "Harvey... ... ... Yes, I'm at the Posen-Conrad's... ... ... Not yet. How about you?... ... ... Okay. I'll call you if she comes back." After ending the phone call, she looks up and says, "He hasn't found her yet."

"So much for having the best security measures." Aubrey comments sharply.

Coldly, Donna looks at Aubrey and says, "If I were you, I'd be very careful about the things I said and did in front of my superior. You know, considering you're still working at the Lucifer Corps, and you know who _owns_ it."

Knowing that she hasn't been able to show her best work performance at the office lately, Aubrey bites her tongue.

Meanwhile, her wife and sisters remain silent. They've known from a long time ago that the older captain might be fierce to her subordinates, but not with authority figures. Alice and her own father are the living prove for that.

With a calm but also a nerve-wracking smile, Donna keep her eyes fixed on Aubrey and casually says, "Oh by the way, you certainly know the hell and high water Harvey and I will do to protect Beca _and_ Ashley. We rarely interfered with their personal lives if it wasn't necessary, but when things got too far, we took the matters into our hands. And when we did, it usually wasn't pretty. Ask Jesse."

Thinking that Emily has ratted her wife to Beca's PA, Stacie immediately looks at the youngest Bella in upset. But Emily simply glares back at her sternly as if challenging _what?_

Everybody is on the edge, Chloe is still crying silently in her best friends arms, and the dynamic duo; CR and Fat Amy just look back and forth between Donna and Aubrey nervously.

On the other hand, as angry as she is, Aubrey remains silent because she knows that Harvey and Donna aren't the kind of people who only talk, but will actually do everything to protect Beca. Although she doesn't say anything, her reddish face shows that she might be so close to blowing up a vessel, or having a pukegate 3.0.

Upon seeing how quiet Aubrey is, Donna puts on her best fake sweet smile and says, "I guess you've already got the picture."

Aubrey simply clenches her hands tightly, feeling so angry yet she can't fight back.

Then Stacie calmly says to Beca's PA, "I hope you don't get the wrong impression, Donna. My wife just has a deep concern about Chloe."

"Oh I understand." Donna says, waving her hand as if it's not a big deal. "I also have the same deep concern about Beca and Ashley. Aubrey is not the only person who will do whatever it takes to protect the people she loves the most. We're on the same page about that. For Beca's and Ashley's sake, Harvey and I would do _everything_. We have never been afraid to let them bleed as long as it means that they could heal. And we certainly aren't afraid to make other people bleed for hurting them either. You know, metaphorically _and_ literally."

It's soft but certainly cuts deep. Nevertheless, Stacie calmly says, "Glad to know that we're on the same page. All of us just want what's best for our best friends."

Still acting so nonchalantly, Donna smiles and says, "I believe you. But let's all agree that we should be _smarter_ and _more appropriate_ in protecting and loving them."

For a couple of seconds, Stacie remains silent while fixing her eyes on Donna as calm as she can. She knows well that Donna is not so subtly insinuating the way her wife hasn't been treating Beca and Ashley fairly for Chloe's sake. But she also knows how much pressures Aubrey is dealing with right now. Therefore, she simply smiles and says, "Noted."

Then they simply wait in silent again, but the quietness is so tensed that even CR and Fat Amy don't even dare to joke. Donna herself seems to be calm and collected since this isn't the first time she intimidates people sweetly.

Around 9 AM, Beca walks into the living room, and her friends bombard her all at the same time by exclaiming,

"Shorty!" 

"Thank God you're back, Pop!"

"Captain!"

"Shawsank!"

Beca is taken aback for a second from the reactions, but before she can say anything, she's being tackled by her supposedly fiancé with a tight hug. As confused as she is, Beca just rubs Chloe's back gently with her eyebrows furrowed.

Still with Chloe in her arms, the tiny brunette looks around to find her friends are still staring at her in half-upset yet also relieved. She becomes more confused to see Donna there, standing and staring at her angrily with her arms crossed on her chest. Nevertheless, since Chloe is still hugging her, Beca says nothing.

Then the redhead breaks the hug and worriedly asks, "Where did you go?"

"I went jogging." Beca replies with puzzled look, confused of the reactions.

"Until nine?" Chloe asks again.

With a weak smile, Beca says, "I went jogging, and I fell asleep at the park nearby, then a kid woke me up."

Chloe simply sighs heavily, but she's still staring at her fiancé worriedly, thinking back to the incident last night.

Upon seeing the worried look on the redhead's face, Beca says to reassure, "I'm fine, Chlo."

Then the redhead nods and kisses the DJ's lips chastely.

Although she's a bit irritated with intimate body contact at the moment, Beca doesn't pull away, but she also doesn't kiss back. Then she walks toward her PA, leaving her worried fiancé becomes more worried.

"What are you doing here Donna?" Beca asks in confusion, but Donna slaps her arm harshly.

"Aw!" Beca's face scrunches in pain. She rubs her arm up and down while anger flaring up in her in a matter of seconds.

But Donna slaps her arm again harder.

"Aw!"

Then another hard slapping on her arm coming from her PA.

"Aw! Donna!" Beca exclaims angrily while rubbing her stinging arm.

"Where the hell were you?!" Donna snaps at the DJ.

"I went jogging." Beca replies in upset. "What the fuck is going on?"

"What do you think is going on?!" Donna snaps angrily. "We thought you ran away!"

"Why the fuck would you think I ran away?" Beca asks the older redhead in half-confusion, but she's mostly still upset.

"What the hell did you expect us to think after what happened yesterday?" Donna scolds, still sending deathly glare at the DJ but her stern voice is soften. "You left the house without leaving any messages or telling anybody, and you didn't have any gadget that I could track. It was like you just disappeared. Were you trying to give Harvey and me a heart attack?"

Knowing that she must have terrified the older couple so badly from the incident at the office yesterday, Beca sighs heavily, slumping her shoulders while looking down at the floor and apologetically mutters, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to worry you. I just... went jogging around the block."

Then Donna hugs her tightly and scolds half-heartily with restraint voice, "If you dare to do that again, leaving without any messages, I swear to God I will kick your ass so hard after I find you, monkey."

While patting her PA's back gently, Beca mutters, "I bet you will. And I'm sorry."

After sighing in relief, Donna breaks the hug and says in half-annoyance, "I have to call Harvey. You made him put out a search party all over LA."

"And you didn't think to look around the neighborhood?" The DJ asks, but Donna simply glares at her.

"I need to text Patrick." Emily says in half-annoyance while typing on her phone.

Beca simply smiles weakly while Donna is already on her phone. "She's back Harvey... ... ... She said she went jogging and fell asleep at some park around the neighborhood... ... ..." She rolls her eyes. "Yeah. I know. I've told her the same thing. Tell Pascal to call back the search party... ... ... I'll tell her. Bye, Love."

Even before the DJ says anything, Donna says, "Harvey said you are a fucking asshole. And I completely agree."

Beca simply chuckles weakly, knowing how crazy the older couple could be only to keep her safe.

"You okay, Pop?" Emily asks worriedly, and the DJ simply nods lightly.

"Geez, Shawshank." Fat Amy says while shaking her head. "You could've woken me up. I would have come with you."

"For a horizontal running?" CR asks doubtfully yet playfully, and it earns her a deathly glare from the hilarious blonde.

"Of course I would." Fat Amy says in mocked upset. "Do you remember the fight we had with the Tonehangers? Shawshank and I were a great team."

"Yeah. Until _you_ horizontal running, leaving _her_ being arrested. _Alone_." Stacie chips in matter-of-factly.

"That's why we're a great team." Fat Amy argues. "We covered each other's asses."

CR, Emily, and Stacie chuckle lightly, and then CR says, "You mean, captain covered your guilty ass."

Fat Amy shrugs nonchalantly and says, "That's what a captain is for. They took the fall for their team's mistake."

CR, Emily, and Stacie laugh lightly again. But not with Beca, Aubrey, Chloe, and Donna. While Aubrey is biting her tongue from yelling at the tiny brunette, the two redheads are staring worriedly at the seem to be too quiet Beca.

"Babe..." Chloe calls softly with a hint of worry in her voice.

Beca turns to look at her fiancé and smiles, even though her eyebrows are still slightly tensed. "Hey."

Chloe hugs her again and says, "You need to stop worrying me."

An image where Ashley is comforting her flashes in Beca's mind. She automatically flexes her neck and shakes her head. She feels like she just heard Ashley said the same thing to her very recently. Nevertheless, she knows that it can't be real. She closes her eyes tightly and thinks to herself, _"It's only in your head. It's not real. But Chloe is real. And she's here."_

Upon feeling how tensed her fiancé is, Chloe breaks the hug, staring worriedly at the tiny brunette and asks, "Are you okay, Babe?"

"I uh..." Beca shakes her head, blinking her eyes repeatedly to clear her mind. "I'm fine."

Chloe caresses the tiny brunette's cheek gently, still staring at her worriedly as she asks, "Are you sure?"

With her eyebrows furrowed, Beca smiles and says, "Yeah." Then she turns to look back at her PA and asks, "Why are you here Donna?"

"They called me, telling me that you were gone." Donna says. "Besides, your car is at the office. So I figured you'd need a ride."

Beca nods absentmindedly and weakly says, "Okay. Just let me shower first. Do you bring any clothes for me?"

"Of course." Donna says in a mocked offended look while handing the DJ a bag. "Who do you think I am?"

With a weak scoff, Beca takes the bag and mutters, "Thanks." Then she walks upstairs to Chloe's bedroom and takes a shower.

"I better take a shower too." Emily says. Then she turns to Stacie and asks, "Can I borrow your clothes, Stace?"

"Sure." Stacie stands up. "I'll show you." Then the two tall brunettes walk away from the living room, leaving Aubrey, Chloe, CR, and Fat Amy with Donna.

It's certainly awkward, and the tension between Aubrey and Donna is still there. Therefore, Fat Amy nervously says, "I'll go check on the others."

"Me too." CR hurriedly says, and the dynamic duo squirm out of the living room.

Now there are only Aubrey, Chloe, and Donna in the living room. Chloe is too busy with her own thought, rubbing her hands anxiously on her laps while biting her bottom lip, considering how to tell her fiancé and Donna about the night terror.

Meanwhile, Aubrey is sitting on the couch next to her best friend with her arms crossed on her chest, feeling angrier for seeing how coldly Beca treated Chloe.

On the other hand, Donna seems calm while typing on her gadget, sending emails for her colleagues and coworkers.

After five minutes or so, Chloe steals a nervous glance at the older redhead and calls, "Donna?"

"Yes?" Donna looks up at Chloe.

After taking a deep breath, Chloe asks, "Has Emily told you about what happened last night?"

"What happened last night?" Donna asks casually. She clearly knows about it because Emily has told her over the phone earlier this morning. But she's testing if the younger redhead will tell her the truth.

Chloe steals a nervous glance at her best friend before looking at Donna and cautiously says, "Beca had a night terror."

Acting to be clueless, Donna simply asks, "And how did you deal with it?"

So many things are filling Chloe's mind with fear. She's afraid that Donna will blame her, or push Beca to break up with her, or even be mad at her because she couldn't help the DJ last night. Nevertheless, Chloe also knows that Donna will find out about the truth anyway, whether from Emily or Ashley. Therefore, she takes a deep breath to shake off the nerves, and without looking at the older redhead, she mutters, "Emily called Ashley, and Ashley called Doctor Wilde. They came here last night to help Beca."

"Hm." Donna nods with her eyebrows slightly furrowed. She's a bit surprised that Chloe would tell her the truth, but being honest do gain the younger redhead a point from Donna. Then she smiles lightly as she calmly asks, "What happened before the night terror?"

Upon hearing how calm Donna is, Chloe dares herself to look at Beca's PA and unsurely says, "I proposed?"

"You proposed?" Donna furrows her eyebrows, showing a puzzled look. "Only after four months of dating?"

Chloe sighs heavily, can't even bring herself to look at Donna when she dejectedly says, "I did. I just... I thought that we were ready. That she was ready. Was it a mistake?"

After sighing heavily, Donna replies, "I can't say if it's a mistake. A bit thoughtless in my opinion, considering that you've only been together for a couple of months, and your relationship isn't so stable yet. But it isn't my place to say if it's a mistake or not. Anyway, do you think that she's ready?"

"Well... she said yes." Chloe says still with worried look, grabbing her thighs so tightly.

Without hesitation, Donna says, "There are a lot of things that could cause a night terror for Beca. But mostly are fear and anxiety. Judging from the night terror, do you still think she's ready even after she said yes?"

"What kind of question is that?" Aubrey asks in upset. "Are you trying to say that Beca had a night terror because Chloe proposed? Are you blaming her just because Beca coincidentally had a stupid nightmare on the same night as Chloe's proposal?"

Ignoring the blonde, Donna casually says to Chloe, "It's a simple question with a simple answer Chloe. Are you still as sure as before the night terror happened? Yes or no."

Chloe sighs heavily, simply staring at her hands on her laps before she mutters, "No. I think I might be rushing it. She had that night terror because of me. It was my fault. I must have pushed her too far again."

Upon seeing how sincere the younger redhead feels badly, Donna smiles genuinely and softly says, "Before she came here last night, some bad news came up at the office, and it made her upset. It could also trigger the night terror. The thing is, we won't know for sure until Beca sees her therapist. So, don't overthink it."

Upon getting a bit comfort from Donna, Chloe looks up at her and cautiously asks, "What thing came up? And why it upset her?"

"Can't tell." Donna says certainly.

"Why?" Aubrey asks accusingly, still crossing her arms on her chest.

Staring sharply at the blonde, Donna firmly says, "Because it's not my story to tell, and certainly not your business at all." Then she turns to look at the younger redhead and says with soften voice, "You should ask monkey yourself about it, Chloe."

Chloe sighs deeply and says, "I will. And Doctor Wilde did say that she should see her therapist."

"I will make an appointment with Harley." Donna replies casually. "And for the record, I already found out about her night terror earlier this morning. So, I appreciate it that you come clean to me. Telling the truth isn't that hard right?"

For the first time this morning, Chloe smiles in relief and says, "Thank you, Donna. And I'm sorry for not telling you when Beca needed a space last year, and for not calling you last night. I was distracted."

"Don't mention it." Donna says nonchalantly. "But you need to know this. Beca is very important to me and my husband. She's family, and we care about her. I hope from now on, you will tell us right away if anything happen to her."

"I will." The younger redhead nods while smiling lightly. "Do you think we should tell Beca about the night terror? Ashley said that if she doesn't remember, then we shouldn't tell her at all."

"What do you think?" Donna asks casually. Upon seeing that the younger redhead starts tapping her foot again, she says, "There's no right or wrong answer, Chloe. You can tell me what you think, and I will tell you what I think. It's simple."

Chloe sighs deeply and says in defeat, "Honestly, I don't know. I mean, I want to know what upset her, but I'm also afraid that finding out about the night terror will upset her more. But Doctor Wilde did prescribe her some sleeping pills, and she will notice. So... I guess we should tell her?"

"If that's what you think is best for her at this moment, then do it." Donna says nonchalantly.

For a split second, Chloe's eyes light up. But then those bright blue eyes dim just as fast before she nervously asks, "Should we tell her about Ashley too?"

"Do you want to?" Donna asks bluntly.

"No, I don't." Chloe blurts out.

"May I know why?" Donna asks casually.

Chloe takes a deep breath, and honestly yet also dejectedly says, "Last night, if Ashley didn't come, I don't think I could calm Beca the way she did. I'm afraid that Beca will go back to her because I'm..." She sighs heavily. "Last night..." Her chest tightens and her eyes become teary as she says in restraint voice, "Last night, I was so useless."

With her eyebrows furrowed, the older redhead asks, "Why would you think that you were useless only because Ashley was here?"

"Because it's true?" Chloe says unsurely, fiddling the edge of her shirt with her fingers while tears are threatening to burst out of her eyes.

Donna chuckles, "Who told you that?"

Relieved that Donna doesn't say how stupid she is for thinking that way or agreeing with her, Chloe let out a damp chuckle, wiping her tears away as she says, "I just... After last night, I'm feeling that way."

Donna rolls her eyes and says, "Judging from how happy you made my monkey in the last couple of months, I have to disagree. I don't think you're useless. You're just... less informed. Now that you know better, you can do better. And you should."

"You think so?" Chloe asks to reassure, though her smile has become wider. She seems more relieved and relaxed.

With a disbelieved sigh, Donna shakes her head and retorts, "Do you think that Harvey and I knew what to do with monkey right after we met her? She was a pain in the ass. It took not only times, but also a lot of effort to come this far. It took her more than four years and a heart attack to finally open up to us. And even now, she's still a hard pain in the ass for us. Look at what she did this morning."

Chloe laughs lightly, "It's not just me then."

Donna scoffs lightly and says, "With Beca, everybody have to walk the extra miles to gain her trust, and to find out how to deal with her. She's lucky Harvey and I love her enough to do the walking."

Feeling more relieved and lighter, Chloe takes a deep breath, smiling as she asks, "So, about Ashley. Should I tell her?"

Donna sighs deeply and says, "As much as I don't like lying to Beca, but I think we should keep it to ourselves. For her sake, and Ashley's sake. Let's not make this more complicated than it already is."

Upon feeling that Donna is being understanding, Chloe feels so relieved and accepted. Then she says, "Thank you, Donna. For understanding why I don't want to tell her."

While shaking her head lightly, Donna says matter-of-factly, "Don't thank me. Truth always has a way to come out, no matter how good we try to hide it. It's just a matter of time. But for now, it's the best that we keep it from Beca until she's stable enough."

"Okay." Chloe nods, still with that relieved smile on her face.

Then Donna smiles, narrowing her eyes in a way that tells that she's a bit intrigued. "I've got to say. Honestly, I didn't like you at all in the beginning of your relationship with monkey. I mean, the pressure you put on her was tremendous."

Chloe simply smiles sheepishly, and then the older redhead continues, "But seeing how you've changed, and how things have been going better lately, I'm starting to see that you can be good for her."

"I'm trying." Chloe says softly. "I love her so much, Donna. I don't want to lose her ever again. So, I'll do whatever it takes to be with her; to make her happy. Even if I have to walk through fire."

"Just don't forget to be happy yourself." Donna says casually.

With a smile so fond, Chloe says, "She is my happiness. As long as I have her by my side, I'll be happy. She's all that I need to live and be happy."

Donna simply gives her a sympathetic smile. She can't imagine what will happen if Chloe finds out about the reason why Beca was so unsettled last night even before the proposal, let alone why Beca chose to stay with her. Then she sighs deeply and shakes her head, thinking about how unfair this situation is for Chloe, Beca, and Ashley.

Meanwhile, Aubrey can only listen to the conversation with her mouth wide open, struck by how easily Donna deal with Chloe's anxiety without coddling, even by telling the harsh truth about her not liking the redhead.

Unknowingly to them, Beca is already standing near the stairs for almost a minute since Donna told Chloe that the redhead could be good for her. Instead of feeling loved, she feels suffocated by guilt and anger. Then she rubs the back of her neck, flexing it in circle to ease the tension.

After huffing out a long tired breath through her mouth, the DJ walks into the living room and takes a seat on a personal couch.

Then Donna asks the tiny brunette, "Where's Emily?"

Beca simply shrugs, and then Chloe says, "She must be getting ready. I'll prepare some breakfast for us while waiting for her." She turns to look at Aubrey. "Will you help me, Bree?"

"Sure." Aubrey stands up and follows her best friend to the kitchen.

Then Donna turns to look at Beca and asks, "How are you feeling this morning, monkey?"

Beca looks at her PA for a couple seconds with unreadable expression before she answers flatly, "I don't know how I feel." She diverts her eyes to look at the floor. "Or what to feel."

Donna feels her chest tighten and a lump starts forming in her throat. It has been so long since she saw Beca this miserable. Nevertheless, she clears her throat and says, "It's okay to feel that way for now."

Without saying anything in return, Beca simply nods weakly. Then nobody says anything for a while until Emily comes downstairs with Stacie.

After sitting on the arm of the couch where her former captain is sitting, Emily wraps Beca's shoulders from aside and asks, "You okay, Pop?"

"Yea." Beca replies without looking at her aca-child.

Trying to ease the tension, Stacie casually asks, "How was the jogging, shorty?"

"Fine." The DJ says, still not maintaining any eye contact.

When Stacie opens her mouth to talk some more, Emily shakes her head, hinting that their former captain doesn't seem to want to talk, and Stacie complies.

The silent air is uneasy for all of them. Beca is trying to ground and compose herself; to detach herself from the negative thoughts in her mind. Meanwhile, Donna gives the DJ the space she clearly needs right now. On the other hand, Emily and Stacie are on the edge, worrying about their former captain.

Eventually, Chloe comes back into the living room and says, "Breakfast is ready."

"I think it's brunch." Emily tries to joke, and it earns a light laughter from everybody but Beca.

Then all of them head to the dining room and sit around the table. As usual, Chloe prepares a plate for her fiancé. She puts two stacks of pancake and a scoop of scrambled egg on a plate before serving it in front of the DJ.

At first, they eat in silent. Other than Beca who just keep playing with her food, the others are stealing glances at each other. They don't know what to say or do at the moment.

When they almost finish, Chloe cautiously asks, "Babe, how are you feeling?"

"Fine." Beca says while her eyes fixed on the plate that's still almost full.

Chloe nervously glances at Donna before she asks her fiancé again, "Do you uh... remember about what happened last night?"

A couple of seconds when Beca remains silent, is also a couple of seconds where everybody else stop breathing. Then the tiny brunette sighs deeply and puts on a smile before looking up at her fiancé. "I remember everything."

Everybody are taken aback for a second, and then Beca continues with a weak smile, "We're engaged. And I'm sorry that..." She sighs heavily again. "I'm sorry for ruining it by throwing up. I was..." She closes her eyes and flexes her neck as the picture of Ashley lying on the same bed with Shay comes into her mind. "I was nervous about singing for you."

"And do you remember anything else after throwing up?" Chloe asks, isn't aware that she's holding her fork too tightly because she's so anxious about her fiancé's reaction.

With her eyebrows slightly furrowed in confusion, Beca unsurely replies, "I went to sleep?"

"Yea. And..." Chloe puts her fork down and rests her hand on Beca's shoulder. "You uh... you had a night terror, Babe."

Beca is taken aback for a second, and her mind automatically says, _"Weak."_ Then her whole body becomes more tense. She clenches her jaw and automatically shakes her head before asking, "Did I hurt anybody?"

"No." Emily hurriedly lies, thinking that Beca doesn't need to know about the large bruise on her stomach. "You didn't hurt anybody."

Still with her eyes fixed on the table in front of her, Beca simply nods weakly. It took a couple of seconds until she mutters, "I'm sorry."

"It wasn't your fault, monkey." Donna says softly.

Beca simply gives her PA a weak smile, and then she looks at her fiancé. "What did you do to stop it? Usually..." She flexes her neck again, feeling heavy in her chest upon remembering her ex. Then she swallows hard and says, "You had never seen me like that before. So... I'm sorry if I scared you or something."

Chloe grabs Beca's clenched hand, squeezing it gently and softly says, "It's okay Babe. You didn't hurt or scare me. But I'm afraid for you. Are you okay?"

With a weak smile, Beca replies, "I'm fine. So, what did you do to stop it?"

Cautiously, Emily answers, "I called Ashley."

Beca's eyes light up instantly, thinking that maybe the image of Ashley comforting her wasn't only in her head.

"And she gave us Doctor Wilde's number." Chloe hurriedly adds. "We called the doctor, and she came to give you some sedative. She also prescribed you with some sleeping pills."

Emily subtly looks at Donna, and the older redhead simply gives her a light nod. The youngest Bella understands that it means Chloe has talked to Beca's PA about it.

On the other hand, the light in the DJ's eyes dim so quickly, and it feels like someone just punched her stomach. Then she scoffs sadly as she thinks to herself, _"Of course she didn't come. She has moved on. She doesn't care about you anymore."_

Beca puts down her fork and pulls her hand back from Chloe's at the same time. Then she rests her elbows on the table, grasping her hair so hard with both hands as if it could stop her mind from thinking about Ashley.

Chloe is quick to hug her from aside. "Baby, it's okay. You're okay."

Felling more suffocated by the hug, Beca mutters, "Can you give me some space to breathe, please?"

Although it hurts, the younger redhead do as she's told. She pulls away from her fiancé but keep rubbing her arm gently. "I'm here for you, Babe. Anything you need, you just have to tell me."

Beca takes a deep breath and says, "I know." Then she tries to divert the attention from herself by asking, "Why aren't you at work?"

With a worried look, Chloe answers, "Our sisters are here. So Stacie, Aubrey, and I take a couple of days off. We're planning to do some shopping and go to the beach today."

"You should come with us, shorty." Stacie chips in.

"I can't." Beca says instantly. "I have to go to work."

"Babe..." Chloe says patiently, but the worry in her voice is obvious. "Maybe you should take a day off. You know, to relax a bit."

Remembering Harvey's mandate yesterday, Donna casually says, "Beca and Emily have a very important meeting this afternoon. So, they have to go to work."

"Oh." Chloe seems disappointed. "Okay then."

Suddenly, Beca remembers the engagement ring from Chloe. She pulls it out from her pocket and hands it to the redhead. "Babe, do you mind keeping this safe for me?"

Chloe's chest tighten and her eyes become teary. Then she asks with restraint voice, "You don't want to wear it? Do you not like it?"

With an apologetic smile, Beca says, "It's beautiful, Chlo. And I like it. Really. It's just... you know how clumsy I am. I don't want to scratch the diamond or even worse, lose it."

Chloe sighs heavily and takes the engagement ring from her fiancé.

"You're okay with wearing that black one." Aubrey says firmly, and she's clearly upset to see how sad her best friend is. "It's also a diamond ring, I bet."

"It is." Beca says flatly. "But the diamond is planted _in_ the ring. Not on it. So, there's no possibility to scratch or lose the diamond. And it's a black diamond in a rectangular shape. People won't notice that it's an-" She stops on her track upon realizing that she's almost telling the truth about the black ice carbide ring.

Chloe is dreading to find out about the ring. With her eyebrows furrowed and her heart racing, Chloe asks, "That it's an what Babe?"

Beca swallows hard and stutters, "That uh... that it's an expensive diamond ring."

For the next couple of second, although her eyes are fixed on her plate, Beca can feel Aubrey and Chloe are staring at her in disbelief.

To divert the conversation, Donna looks at the DJ and says, "Monkey, finish your breakfast."

"I'm not hungry." Beca mutters.

"Maybe you're not hungry, but you're going to finish it anyway." The older redhead says firmly.

Beca glares at her PA angrily. But Donna nonchalantly says, "And you can finish it while glaring at me. I don't care. But you have to eat. Or should I call my husband to come and shove the egg into your mouth? After what you did this morning, I bet he'd be happy to do it."

Knowing that it isn't an empty threat, Beca huffs harshly and starts eating her breakfast in upset.

Upon seeing that the DJ is finally eating, Donna sighs in relief and thinks to herself, _"At least she's eating."_ Then she looks at Chloe and says, "Chloe, since you're coming to the red carpet with Beca for a premiere, you have to do some dress fitting."

"Red carpet?" Chloe asks with puzzled look.

Donna waves her fork nonchalantly and says, "It's for the movie August Rush. It's on next Monday. I've made an appointment with the usual designer tomorrow afternoon. Is 2 PM okay with you?"

Still seems confused, Chloe says, "Yea. 2 PM is fine. But..." She steals a glance at her fiancé. "Beca hasn't told me anything about it."

"Because I just reminded her yesterday." Donna says. "She must've forgotten to tell you."

"Babe?" Chloe looks at her fiancé, asking for a confirmation.

"Uh... yeah." Beca says while chewing her food slowly. "I forgot."

With wide eyes, Chloe asks, "You want to take me to the red carpet? For real?"

Upon seeing the excitement on her fiancé's bright face, Beca can't help but smiling lightly. "Yeah. I want you there with me."

"Okay then." Chloe says cheerfully and turns to look at her best friend. "Will you come with me to the dress fitting, Bree? I'm gonna need your opinion."

"Sure." Aubrey says with a light smile.

"Then I guess I'm the only one in charged with entertaining our guests tomorrow." Stacie says in mocked annoyance.

"I can take a day off tomorrow." Emily says.

"You have to." Stacie says matter-of-factly. "Our sisters are going back in two days, and you haven't properly seen them yet." Then she asks her former captain. "How about you, shorty? Can you take a day off tomorrow?"

Beca is having a storm in her mind, and entertaining anyone isn't something she'll be gladly do right now. If she could, she would prefer to lock herself up in a room until the kingdom come. Therefore, she replies apathetically, "We'll see."

Her friends are looking at her worriedly. But not with Aubrey who says, "They are here to celebrate Chloe's birthday. And now that you two are engaged, I think you can do better than _we'll see_ to spend a couple of days with us."

"Yea. You're right. I can do better. I just don't want to." Beca says thoughtlessly.

It certainly hurts her friends' feelings, especially her fiancé's. Then Aubrey says more firmly, "I know that you're not feeling well, but _we_ are your best friends. Our sisters came across the country to spend time with us. And we are happy for your engagement. You can at least pretend to be nice."

"Sure. Just add it to the list of things I have to pretend doing for you." Beca says still apathetically before shoving a spoonful of egg into her mouth. "I'll consider doing it after I fulfill all of your other demands. And don't flatter yourself, Posen. You were never my best friend. I won't even pretend that you are."

"Beca." Stacie warns, staring at her best friend in upset. But the DJ doesn't seem to have any care in the world, and simply staring at Aubrey with bored look.

Chloe seems puzzled and torn at the same time. In the last month, Aubrey and Beca have become nicer to each other. Seeing them at each other's throat again is strange, especially upon hearing the pretending stuff. Nevertheless, the younger redhead can only look back and forth between her fiancé and her best friend worriedly.

Upon seeing that Stacie is clenching her hands tightly, and Aubrey is so close from blowing up a vessel, Emily hurriedly says, "Let's go, Pop. We have to prepare our meeting."

Without saying anything, the DJ stands up and walks away, leaving her fiancé confused and worried. Then Chloe hurriedly chases Beca and grabs her elbow from behind, turning her around. "Babe, are you okay?"

Trying not to be harsh, Beca gritted her teeth and retorts with the calmest tone she can muster, "Can you please stop asking if I'm okay? How many times do I have to tell you that I, am, fucking, fine?!"

"Pop!"

"Monkey!"

Emily and Donna exclaim at the same time while Chloe automatically pulls back her hand and takes a step back, stunned by how angry her fiancé is. The sting of the pain in Chloe's chest brings tears into her eyes. But she says nothing, and simply nods weakly in defeated manner.

Beca might have thought that she had used the calmest tone she could muster. But in the reality, she was raising her voice with every words. Upon realizing that she has hurt her fiancé, Beca sighs deeply and weakly says, "I'm sorry. I'm just... I'm upset for having a night terror. But I shouldn't have taken it out on you."

Chloe hugs her tightly and says with restraint voice, "It's okay. And I'm sorry if I upset you. I didn't mean to. I'm just worried about you, Babe."

"I know." The DJ says dejectedly. Then she pulls away slightly to look at Chloe with her eyes slightly teary. "I'm sorry, Chlo. I just..." She wants to say _I just need time and space._ But seeing the sad look on the redhead's face changes her mind. She sighs in defeat and says, "I'll make it up to you. Tomorrow, I want you to pick any dresses you want. Take our sisters with you, and they can have anything they want. As for today, since I can't come with you, why don't you take them out and treat them at the best restaurant in town? I'll pay for it. I'll call Rico, and he'll take care of everything."

A sad smile appears on Chloe's face, thinking that she and their sisters would prefer to have their former captain than to eat at a fancy restaurant without her. Nevertheless, she doesn't want to push her fiancé even further. Therefore, she says, "I will tell them." Then she kisses the tiny brunette chastely on the lips. "I'll call you at lunch."

"Call the office. I still don't have any phone yet."

"Okay. I love you."

Beca simply nods before turning around and walking out of the house.

* * *

In the car, Beca sits on the front passenger seat while Emily is sitting behind her, and Donna is driving.

"I've made an appointment with Harley, monkey." Donna says casually. "You'll see her on Friday. And Doctor Edgar will come to the office today for acupuncture session after lunch."

"Okay." Beca replies flatly.

"I believe you already know that what you did to Chloe earlier wasn't fair." Donna says still as casually. "As reasonable as it was for you to feel upset, you were directing your anger to the wrong person."

"I know."

"Then I don't need to lecture you about keeping your emotion in check."

"Hm."

Meanwhile, Emily stays quiet because she doesn't want to upset her former captain even more.

When they arrive at the studio, Beca immediately rushes into her office, and works on everything to distract her mind. She listens to tons of demos, and looks for potential artists on the internet. Fortunately, it helps.

At midday, Donna and Emily comes into her office to have lunch together. They keep the conversation light and mostly about work. Halfway through eating, the office phone rings, and Beca already knows whom it is from. She picks up instantly and says, "Mitchell."

" _Hey, Babe. Have you had lunch yet?"_

"I'm having lunch with Em and Donna."

" _Okay. Uh... Babe... Are you... Uhm... How's work?"_

Beca can tell that her fiancé is hesitant to ask if she's okay. She sighs deeply and says, "I'm fine, Chlo. Stop worrying."

" _Okay."_ The redhead sounds defeated. _"I'm having lunch with our sisters. They are so excited when I told them about the dress shopping tomorrow."_

"Good." Beca says flatly. "I have to go Babe. I'm in the middle of talking about work with Donna and Em." Then she hears Chloe sighing from the other end.

" _Okay. Don't forget your meds. I love you."_ The redhead sounds sad.

"You too." Beca ends the phone call. When she looks up, Emily is staring at her sternly. "Don't." Beca says in upset.

"I didn't say anything." Emily says coldly.

"Then don't." Beca says with a warning tone.

Emily and Donna change look, but then the redhead simply talks about work again, knowing that there's no use of talking any sense into the DJ when she's upset. So far, the only people who could do that would be Ashley ultimately, and then followed by Harvey and Harley.

After lunch, Beca spends two hours for an acupuncture session and taking a nap. It certainly helps calming her mind. The tension on the back of her neck eases a lot, and she doesn't feel as angry as this morning. But she's left with this empty feeling that she tries to brush off for the rest of the day.

It's almost 7 PM when the DJ decides to go back to her place, thinking that Chloe must have been waiting for her worriedly. As she's walking out of her the studio, her bodyguard hurriedly opens the car door for her.

"I want to take a walk tonight, Adrian." Beca says. "My apartment isn't that far. It's only 20 minutes' walk anyway."

"Donna gave me a strict order to drive you to anywhere you want to go." The bodyguard says.

Tired of putting up a fight, Beca simply rolls her eyes and gets into the car. A thought comes into her mind as she remembers how she treated her fiancé this morning. "Let's take a detour. I need to buy flowers."

"Sure." Adrian replies as he starts driving.

When they find a florist, Beca accidentally sees a convenience store next to it. She walks into the flower shop to order what she wants, and then she goes to the store. Once she's already inside, Beca looks for Chloe's favorite chocolate milk, and goes to the cashier. That's when her eyes catch the cigarette racks. She picks up one pack; the one she used to smoke, and holds it gently. She's simply staring at it for a couple of seconds with her eyebrows furrowed.

There's a fight in her mind. She knows that she's not supposed to smoke, but she can't help herself to think that smoking will help easing her tension. It helped in the past, it always did, as temporary as it was.

"Miss, are you gonna take that too?" The cashier's voice pulls the DJ out of her mind.

Beca steals a quick glance at the cashier and flips the cigarette in her hand several times before she says, "I'll take one. And a lighter."

"Okay."

After paying, Beca pushes the cigarette deep into her messenger bag, and goes to pick up her flower before heading back to her apartment.

* * *

**Meanwhile in Emily's office.**

The youngest Bella is enjoying a cup of coffee in her office, and suddenly, she wants to video call her best friend. Then she decides to skype Ashley through her computer.

" _Hey, junk."_ The blonde seems to be lying on her stomach on the bed while holding her phone.

"Benzo. What are you up to?"

" _Just reading in my room. What's up?"_

"I'm just killing time while waiting for Pop to finish her work."

" _How's she, Em?"_

"She's upset the whole day." Emily says before sipping her coffee. "She _almost_ slipped out the reason she started the relationship with Chloe, she yelled at Chloe, and she just... she's not acting like herself right now."

Ashley sighs deeply. _"Well, it's expected judging from what happened yesterday."_

Upon seeing the blonde absentmindedly biting her thumbnail anxiously, Emily hurriedly adds, "But after having that acupuncture session, she seemed to feel better. So, you can stop biting your thumbnail."

Ashley stops on her track and drops her hand down onto the bed. Then she sighs deeply again. _"I thought she was happy. I was gonna go to her office to check on her this afternoon, but Troian and Patrick said it wasn't a good idea."_

With a sympathetic look, Emily puts down her cup and softly says, "I don't mean to be harsh, Ash. But she's not your problem to worry about anymore."

" _I know."_ Ashley says without hesitation, staring at the tall brunette convincingly. _"Yet knowing it doesn't stop me from worrying about her."_

Trying to change the subject, the youngest Bellas casually asks, "So, how are you and Shay? Still fighting?"

Ashley scoffs, rolling her eyes and says, _"I still haven't replied any of her messages, or returned her phone calls yet."_

"Are you still angry with her?"

" _I'm not that angry anymore. But I'll just let her stew for a couple of days, so the next time she wants to post just anything intimate about me and her, she'll think more than twice."_

Emily laughs and says, "You are mean, Benzo."

" _Nu uh."_ The blonde smirks while shaking her head lightly. _"It's her first lesson as my girlfriend; don't do something stupid that include me without my consent. And believe me, it's the easiest one to learn. Ask your Pop."_

With her eyebrows furrowed, the tall brunette asks, "Girlfriend?"

Casually, Ashley shrugs and says, _"Well, it's out as it is anyway. And Shay has already assumed that we're dating. Since I'm giving her a chance, I'll just roll with it."_

"Are you sure?"

" _I'm not."_ Ashley says honestly. _"But I already knew from the very beginning that Shay wasn't in this just for fun. She loves me. So, not giving her a chance after we slept together, knowing that she's already been in love with me for years, **that** would be mean."_

"Hmmm..." Emily nods absentmindedly. "It's true. Besides, I think instead of waiting to move on by yourself, it's better to move on with someone else."

Ashley rolls her eyes. _"She's not just a rebound, Junk. I like her."_

"You said she was annoying." Emily says matter-of-factly.

" _Who isn't?"_ Ashley says in mocked annoyance. _"Everybody is annoying at some level. At least she's not as maddening as your Pop. And for the record, I told you that she was annoying because she kept asking me out right after I broke up with Beca. Now tell me that you wouldn't be annoyed when someone, who clearly knew that you were broken hearted, tried to woo you."_

Emily laughs lightly and says, "Whatever you say, Ash. I just want you to be happy."

" _I just want me to be happy too."_ The blonde smiles lightly.

After sipping her coffee, Emily asks, "By the way, when will you change your hair back to blonde?"

" _In a couple of days."_

"So fast?"

" _It was a sudden impulse. I forgot that I have a premiere to attend on Monday. Besides, PLL will start filming again next week. I'll have to change it back to blonde anyway."_

"The movie Pop produced?"

" _Yep."_ Ashley pops the P, mocking a cheerful look. _"I'll be there with Shay as my plus one."_

"Just a heads up, Chloe will be there with Beca. Brace yourself, Benzo."

" _I know."_

"Should I be worried?"

" _Nope."_ Ashley says without hesitation. _"I will behave."_

Emily rolls her eyes playfully. "I'm not worried about you. I'm worried about Beca meeting Shay for the first time after you started dating her. Just so you know, Pop has a mean left hook. She was arrested once for punching someone."

Ashley laughs lightly and says, _"I know, Junk. But don't worry. Shay will be at her best behavior. I will make sure of that. Besides, Troian and Patrick will be there to act as a buffer if we bump into each other. It's a huge theater. The chance of us meeting Beca and Chloe is slim."_

Suddenly, Emily's phone rings. "Sorry Ash. It's Chloe. Give me a second."

" _I'll wait."_

"Hey, Chloe." Emily says over the phone.

" _Hey, Em. At what time you and Beca will be home? We'd like to surprise her at her place."_

"Oh no no no no no." Emily says hurriedly. "I don't think it's a good idea. She's still upset, Chloe. And I don't think coming home to a bunch of people will do her any good."

" _That's why we should be hanging out together. We want to make her feel better. And it's not my idea, Em. Our sisters insisted to spend time with her. They missed her, and they wanted to cheer her up from whatever it was that upset her yesterday at the office before she came to my birthday party."_

" _How many pizza should we order?!"_ Emily hears CR's voice yelling in the background.

" _As many as possible!"_ This time, it's Fat Amy.

"Please don't tell me you're already at her place." Emily pleads. "She won't like it, Chloe. She will be angry."

" _Well, back in college, as upset as she was, hanging out with us always made her feel better. And yea. We're already at her place."_

"That was back in college." Emily raises her voice. "Not today. I think we should give her some space." Then she hears a deep sighing from the other side.

" _I'm afraid that if we let her alone, she'll slip away from us, Em. You know her. I think this time, we have to pull her back. And don't worry. Stacie knows her well, and she approved. We shouldn't let Beca be alone right now. She needs us."_

Still in disbelief yet doesn't know how to argue anymore, Emily sighs deeply and says, "Just let me ask her first."

" _Okay. But we're already here. So, join us as soon as possible."_ Then the redhead ends the phone call.

"Damnit!" Emily curses.

" _Another trouble in paradise I suppose."_ Ashley says worriedly upon listening to the conversation.

Emily rolls her eyes in annoyance and starts gathering her stuff. "I don't know how or why they can keep on doing the same stupid mistakes. I have to go, Benzo. I have to find Pop and tell her about this so called surprise gathering. Maybe I should ask Harvey to ship Beca to another country for a little while."

Ashley sighs and says, _"I agree with you. But... just tell her calmly about their plan and let her decide, Em. And I think Harvey should ship her to Mars. Maybe she'll finally have her space there. Literally."_

Emily chuckles dryly and says, "Okay. Bye, Benzo."

" _Bye."_

After turning off her computer, Emily hurriedly walks out of her office and goes to Beca's. However, she just missed her former captain for around fifteen minutes. The office is already empty, and the youngest Bella checks the bedroom before pacing her way to Donna's office.

As soon as she opens the door to the redhead's office, Emily hurriedly asks, "Donna, do you know where Beca is?"

"She was in her office when I checked on her an hour ago." Donna says with puzzled look. "Why? What happened?"

Emily sighs deeply. "She's not there anymore."

"No way." Donna stands up and walks toward the tall brunette. "I told her to tell me if she wanted to go home."

"She's not there." Emily says convincingly. "I just came from her office."

"Wait a second." Donna pulls out her phone and dials a number. "Adrian, are you with Beca?"

" _Yeah. We're on our way back to her place."_

Donna sighs in relief and says, "Okay then. Call me when you arrive. And I want you to stay there at the lobby all night. Make sure she's under your radar the whole time. Pascal knows the drill. Ask him to activate the motion sensor in her apartment and send you one other person so you can take turn. "

" _Sure Boss."_

"Thanks." Donna ends the phone call and looks at the youngest Bella. "She's on her way home, and Adrian is with her. He'll stay at the lobby tonight."

"Shit!" Emily curses under her breath. Upon seeing the confused look on the redhead's face, Emily rolls her eyes in annoyance and says, "My sisters are at her place, preparing some kind of surprise gathering to cheer her up."

Donna huffs tiredly and says in annoyance, "When will they learn their lesson?"

"I'm also wondering the same thing." Emily says matter-of-factly. "I'll go to her place now. Hopefully, I can beat her there before she arrives."

"Go. Go now." Donna says. "But drive safely, Em. I don't need another kid to worry about."

Emily chuckles dryly before turning around and walking away.

* * *

When Beca arrives at her apartment, she's confused upon hearing loud laughter coming from the living room. Cautiously, she walks inside and she sighs heavily upon seeing all of the Bellas are there. She's not as angry as this morning, but still, it upset her.

"Captain!" CR exclaims.

"Hey Beca!"

"Shawshank!"

Beca simply forces a tight-lipped smile.

"My God!" Flo exclaims excitedly. "You're so sweet, Beca. I bet those flowers are for Chloe."

The other Bellas coo and compliment how cutely romantic their former captain is. Everybody but Aubrey certainly, who just keep staring at the DJ with doubtful look.

Still with that forced smile on her face, Beca asks, "Where is Chloe?"

Right then, the redhead walks into the living room, and her eyes light up upon seeing her fiancé is home with a bouquet of her favorite flowers. Then she paces her way to hug the DJ. "I've missed you."

However, Beca breaks the hug and pulls her fiancé away from living room.

"Don't start making out while we're still here, Shawshank!" Fat Amy shouts playfully, followed by a bark of laughter from the rest of the Bellas.

Once they are already out of hearing range, Beca asks in a whisper, "What is going on?"

With a smile so fond, Chloe caresses the DJ's cheek gently and says, "Our sisters are here to cheer you up. And since you didn't have time earlier, we decided to make that time now."

Beca closes her eyes and huffs out a long tired breath through her mouth. _"Keep your emotion in check, Mitchell. Keep your emotion in check."_

"Babe?" Chloe calls cautiously, but her fiancé stays silent with her eyes closed.

Then the redhead rambles in panic, "Is this too much? We just wanted to make you feel better and be there for you when you need us. Please don't be mad. We thought you'd like some company."

Beca takes a deep breath and puts on the best smile she can muster. "It's okay. I appreciate it. Just uh... just let me take a shower first."

With a relieved smile, Chloe nods and kisses her lips chastely.

"This is for you." Beca says while holding up the flowers, and after the redhead takes the flowers, the brunette takes out the chocolate milk from her bag and gives it to her fiancé.

Chloe is beaming with her megawatt smile as she asks, "What for? Are we celebrating something?"

Beca shakes her head lightly as she says, "I just... I'm sorry for the way I acted this morning."

"Baby..." The redhead smiles fondly. "You don't need to be sorry. You were upset."

"It wasn't an excuse to be rude." The DJ says with a tight-lipped smile. "So... I'm sorry."

"I love you."

"I uh..." Beca feels suffocated by the guilty feelings, and it makes it hard for her to say _I love you too_. Instead, she mutters, "I'll just take a shower now, and then I'll join you in the living room"

"Okay." Chloe says, still smiling while staring at the flowers.

The DJ doesn't waste time but rushing into her bedroom to take a very long shower to calm her nerves.

When she comes back to the living room, Emily is already there, looking at her apologetically. But the DJ simply gives her a tight-lipped smile. Then she sits next to her fiancé, and Chloe immediately hands her a box of pizza. "Your favorite. Veggie pizza."

With a weak smile, Beca takes a slice and says, "It's not my favorite, Babe. I would prefer meatlovers filled with grease and cheese if I had a healthier heart."

Chloe giggles and cuddles up onto her fiancé's chest, simply putting her attention back on the TV's screen. Apparently, the Bellas are halfway watching Music and Lyrics.

Beca can't be more careless about the movie, and she simply chews her food slowly. Her sisters are laughing and commenting about the movie, but it passes through her mind.

After the DJ has finished her second slice of pizza, Chloe hands her some meds and says, "Your meds. And there's a sleeping pill in it."

"I'll take it before going to sleep." Beca shoves the sleeping pill into her pocket before taking her heart meds.

Chloe simply smiles and snuggles up onto her fiancé again to watch the movie.

On the other hand, Beca just sinks into this empty feeling without paying attention to anything at all. Then she's pulled out of her mind when Hugh Grant and Haley Bennett start singing Way Back Into Love by the end of the movie.

It's the first song she put in a musical. A song she dedicated for Ashley when they just started dating. Since she hadn't come out to the public yet, she used the pseudonym Ashley gave her; Fox. It's shortened from Foxy Master Mister. Listening to that song sure brings back so many memories, and she can't help but smiling sadly.

Suddenly, Chloe sings along in the last part, _"All I wanna do is find a way back into love."_

Then the DJ turns her head slightly downward to find that her fiancé is staring up at her fondly.

" _I can't make it through without a way back into love."_ Chloe's smile grows even wider when she sees the light smile on Beca's face. But she keep on singing, _"And if I open my heart to you, I'm hoping you'll show me what to do. And if you help me to start again, you know that I'll be there for you till the end."_

By the end of the song, the other Bellas are cheering loudly and clasping excitedly for them. Then Chloe kisses Beca's lips chastely and says, "I found my way back into love. You."

Beca feels suffocated, and she simply swallows the lump in her throat.

"You two are too adorable." Flo says in mocked annoyance.

"Certainly. You make us feel envy." Jessica says, and her wife follows, "While all of us are already in this fine flat state of our relationship, you just started all the cute and sweet stuff. And it's adorably sickening."

It earns a loud laughter from the other Bellas while Beca just puts on a tight-lipped smile, and Emily just chuckles dryly.

"Oh come on, Shawshank." Fat Amy says cheerfully. "Don't be shy. We know you want to kiss your fiancé."

When Beca remains still, Chloe presses a hard kiss onto her lips. Then she turns to look at her sisters and smugly says, "There. Happy?"

Half of the Bellas are whistling and cheering loudly. Even Lily is grinning from ear to ear. On the other hand, Stacie seems to be in a deep thought, Aubrey just keep staring at the DJ firmly, Emily looks torn and tired, and surprisingly, CR is staring at their petite former captain questioningly.

"Anyway, how do you want your wedding to be?" Jessica asks. As usual, her wife continues, "You know that we're wedding organizer. Let us arrange your dream wedding. And it will be free of charges. You don't have to pay us. We're family. But we do have some ideas in mind."

Certainly, Chloe wants nothing else but talking about the wedding with the DJ. However, she knows that her fiancé is not in a shape to discuss their wedding yet. Even so, she cautiously asks, "What do you think, Babe?"

With a light smile that doesn't quite reach her eyes, Beca says, "I don't have any dream wedding, Chlo. But you've told me about yours back in college. So, when the time comes, do whatever you want for the wedding. Just tell Donna about it, and she will take care of everything."

"You don't want to be involved in preparing your own wedding?" Flo asks in confusion, leaning forward to look closer at the DJ with narrowed eyes.

Beca scratches the back of the ear, feeling so uncomfortable as she asks, "Should we be talking about it so soon? I mean, it's not like we're getting married in a couple of months anyway." Then she sees the sheepish nervous smile on Chloe's face, and she asks to reassure, "Right?"

Chloe bites her bottom lip nervously, stealing a glance at her blonde best friend before she mutters, "How long do you want to wait, Babe?"

"I don't know." Beca shrugs, pressing her lips tightly with her eyes wide open. "Couple of years maybe?"

Becoming more anxious, the redhead steals another glance at Aubrey, and the blonde says, "We talked about it over lunch. We're thinking that you should have the wedding in six months. We've arranged a date where all of us can be here."

Beca's jaw drops, and she blinks so slowly, stunned by the information. After ten seconds or so, she breaths out, "Six months?"

"Yeah." Aubrey says without hesitation. "CR, Denise, Fat Amy, and Bumper will already move here, Flo is her own boss so she can set her own schedule, Jessica and Ashley certainly will be here because they will organize your wedding, and Lily can appear out of nowhere any second. So, we calculated the preparation and everything, and six months is just right. Not too soon, yet also not too late. But if you want, we can do it in two months."

"It'll be full of artists." Flo says excitedly.

"We should invite Hugh Jackman." Fat Amy says.

"Flashing cameras..." Jessica coos, and then Ashley says, "Blinding spotlights..."

"Or they can say their vows while parachuting in the sky." Lily whispers.

For almost a minute, Beca becomes speechless. She can't even think at all, let alone to talk.

"You planned _her_ wedding without asking _her_ opinion?" Emily asks Aubrey in disbelief, and the youngest Bella is obviously upset.

Aubrey clearly knows that the DJ is far from ready to be engaged to Chloe, let alone to get married. But the incident last night made her realize that she had to take action and do things fast before Beca decides to run back to Ashley. Moreover, she became more anxious since she found out about the picture of Ashley and Shay.

Aubrey put two and two together, and she concluded that Beca had that night terror last night because of that picture, not because of the proposal. She thought about it thoroughly, and she became certain that the faster Beca is tied down to Chloe, the less chance for the DJ to bail, and the better it is for the redhead.

As much as she knew how unfair it was for the DJ, Aubrey just kept convincing herself that she's doing what's best for Chloe. Therefore, she put out the idea when they were having lunch. Other than Stacie, the other Bellas are so enthusiastic to chip in their ideas, especially the soon to be bride.

Then the blonde nonchalantly answers, "Well, _we_ knew how careless Beca could be about this kind of stuff. So, we thought we'd save her some troubles by planning everything. She should be grateful. All she needs to do is showing up at her own wedding."

Still, Beca just keep staring at the blonde with her mouth and eyes wide open.

Meanwhile, CR finally realizes that something is completely wrong with her petite former captain. She can tell that the look on Beca's face isn't just shocked from having her wedding getting planned. There's something more to that.

Then CR looks at Emily and Stacie. Both of the tall brunettes are showing a same look. They are staring at the DJ worriedly. It's subtle, but CR is starting to put every pieces that her other sisters are clearly oblivious about into one big picture.

After the New Year's party, Emily begged her to move to LA without giving her any specific reason but _so Beca can have another person in her corner_. As confused as she was, the youngest Bella offered her a very secured job as a senior producer at Lucifer Records, and it was a very good deal compared to her current job.

She talked to Denise about it, and they decided to take the offer. Then she told Fat Amy about her plan to move to LA, and the hilarious blonde decided to move here too with Bumper.

Now that CR has actually seen the condition since last night, she finally caught a glimpse of why Emily was so worried about her Pop's condition. Upon seeing that Beca is still dumfounded, CR says as casual as she can, "Nah. We don't have it all set, shorty. It was just a casual talk. It's not in our hands to decide. You and Chloe should talk privately about it. It's your wedding anyway."

Chloe hurriedly adds, "Yeah Babe. We're not in a rush on anything. Just gathering some ideas."

"But we've talked about all of the details already." Flo says with disappointed tone.

Then the other Bellas comment with their own reactions, but Beca can't process anything when she can barely breathe at all. Her mind just keep on yelling, _"Get the fuck out of here!"_ Then she shakes her head and mutters, "I uh... I'm so sorry. There's work I have to finish. I'll be in my studio."

Without waiting for any response, the DJ hurriedly stands up and walks away.

"Babe." Chloe calls her worriedly, but Beca doesn't look back. She just paces her way faster to her bedroom to grab her messenger bag, rushes her way into her home studio, and the door automatically locked after her.

When the redhead tries to chase her fiancé, Emily pulls her back and softly says, "Give her some times, Chloe. She needs times and some space to wrap her mind about this wedding plan. Besides, she's still pretty upset about last night."

Chloe sits back down on the couch, leaning forward while massaging her head, looking sad and guilty. "We shouldn't have just sprung this wedding plan to her like this, especially after what happened last night. I should have talked to her first."

Aubrey is quick on her feet, moving so fast to hug her best friend and softly says, "It's okay, Chloe. She is Beca. She's always slow in this kind of stuff. She'll get used to the idea soon. Stacie and I will talk to her."

"Oh I think you've done enough." Emily says sharply toward the blonde. "Both you and your wife."

The only thing Aubrey can do is glaring at the youngest Bella while keep rubbing Chloe's back gently.

To ease the tension, Flo, Jessica, and Ashley join the older captain to comfort the redhead. Meanwhile, CR just looks at how Emily and Stacie change look as if they are warning each other. Lily on the other hand, just keep staring at her sisters with unreadable look.

* * *

Meanwhile in the home studio, Beca is blasting heavy metal loudly. She found her old IPod in the drawer filled with loud music she used to drown her sorrow when Ashley left her around three and a half years ago. It's a good thing that her studio is sound proof so her sisters can't hear anything from the outside.

The bass is banging on her eardrums like crazy, but she just doesn't care. As long as it can quiet her terrified mind even just for a little bit. She's standing by the opened window, leaning her arms onto the frame while holding a cigarette between her fingers in her left hand, and grabbing a lighter tightly in her right hand.

She hasn't lit it up, but she's tempted to. After ten minutes or so struggling with herself, Beca holds up her shaky left hand and puts the cigarette in between her trembling lips. Then she holds up the lighter in front of her eyes, simply staring at it with her face scrunched up.

Still with the cig in between her teeth, she rubs her left hand up from her forehead to the back of her neck and massages it gently with her eyes closed. She really doesn't want to light the cig, but she feels like she needs to.

Suddenly, a slow brokenhearted song comes up, and she huffs harshly, accidentally blowing out the cig on her lips out when Riot by Rascal Flatts hits her chest hard. It's another song she wrote when she was so desperate after Ashley left.

 _I'd be riding in a cab going downtown_  
_Finding faces I know in a big crowd_  
_Trying to drink the pain away_  
_Hmmm..._  
_And I'd be staying out all night, never going home_  
_Girl you know I'd lose all control  
_ _If I lost you_

Beca closes her eyes tightly, clenching her hands so hard as everything about Ashley comes into her mind. Her smile; her dimples that would appear even with the slightest tug by the corner of her lips, her crescent moon eyes when she's laughing, the sound of her laughter.

 _There would be a riot_  
_Breaking of my heart, I'd try to fight it_  
_I could go out every night but I'd be lying_  
_If I said I could live and breathe  
_ _Without you_

" _She has moved on, damnit!"_ Beca slams her fist onto the window's frame.

 _There'd be a lot of lonely_  
_Wishing and praying that you would hold me_  
_I would do most anything baby_  
_If only you would come back to me_  
_Come back to me_  
_There would be a riot  
_ _Oh yeah, oooh_

It's still clear in her head how it felt like to hold Ashley in her arms; to have the blonde's soft and warm lips on her own; to feel Ashley's hands on her back, her neck, her face; to hear her say _I love you_ ; the warmth of her hug, her prankster smirk, her calming voice.

 _I'd be checkin' on my phone every minute_  
_Waitin' 'round for it to start ringin'_  
_And prayin' it would be you  
_ _I don't know what I'd do_

Instead of bringing comfort, the memories suffocate her. It feels like her lungs has shrunk, and she finds it harder to breath. She bends forward, still with her elbows on the window frame, grasping her head tightly with one hand, trying failingly to stop her mind from reminding her about her ex.

 _There would be a riot_  
_Breaking of my heart, I'd try to fight it_  
_I could go out every night but I'd be lying_  
_If I said I could live and breathe  
_ _Without you_

" _She has fucking moved on! Give up! This isn't a fucking dream, and she's not here to wake you up!"_ She screams in her mind.

 _There'd be a lot of lonely_  
_Wishing and praying that you would hold me_  
_I would do most anything baby if only_  
_You would come back to me  
_ _Come back to me_

The pain in her chest is unbearable, and the voice in her head just becomes louder and louder.

 _There would be a riot_  
_If I ever lost you  
_ _If I ever lost you_

"Fuck it!" She curses before walking to the other side of the room, and turns on the smoke stompers.

Then she sits behind her desk, and pulls out a pack of cig from her pocket. For a couple of seconds, she holds it up tightly before her eyes with her elbows resting on the desk, simply staring at the toxic that will certainly ruin her heart.

 _There would be a riot_  
_Breaking of my heart, I'd try to fight it_  
_I could go out every night but I'd be lying  
_ _If I said I could live and breathe_

Her eyes are filled with heavy tears, threatening to burst out of her bottom eyelids. _"She's not coming back, dude. She has moved on. Stop hoping that she'll be here to save you tonight."_ She thought to herself dejectedly as she closes her eyes and tears starts rolling down her cheeks.

 _There'd be a lot of lonely_  
_Wishing and praying that you would hold me_  
_I would do most anything baby if only_  
_You would come back to me_  
_Come back to me_  
_There would be a riot  
_ _If I ever lost you_

Beca wipes the tears away harshly with the back of her hand. Then she puts the cig in between her lip and lights it up with trembling hand. She sucks a long breath smoke into her lungs before taking the cig out of her mouth, nipping it in between her left index and middle fingers. As she blows out the smoke through her slightly parted lips, Beca leans back on the chair, feeling more relaxed in a matter of seconds.

Then she takes another deep whiff and holds it in her mouth for a couple of seconds before opening her mouth to let the smoke out naturally. She inhales half of it back through her nose and simply watches the rest of the smoke swirling in front of her, forming into a beautiful nothing. It certainly calms her to see the smoke whirling and spinnning very slowly right before her eyes.

 _There would be, there would be a riot_  
_Breaking of my heart, I'd try to fight it_  
_There would be a riot  
_ _If I ever lost you_

Another heavy metal comes up, and she turns off the audio set with a voice command. Then she just simply smokes slowly and deeply.

When the first cig is spent, she lights another one without hesitation and smokes more deeply. Nevertheless, the comfort doesn't last long. Eventually, her mind becomes busy again, providing her with every memories of her ex that burns in her mind.

" _Ash... I just want to you be happy with someone who can make you happier and love you better."_ Her own words, said on the night at the beach house comes across her mind.

She scoffs, _"Ashley was right. You are such a terrible liar, Mitchell. You can't even pretend to be okay, or pretend to be happy for her now that she's moved on."_

Then she simply smokes her cig slowly. Smoking makes the pain a bit bearable, that she can actually have an idea about a song. With a cig in between her lips, she pulls a paper closer and starts writing down a lyric.

* * *

**In The Living Room.**

It's been two hours since Beca locked herself in the studio, and it's been as long the other Bellas are comforting Chloe.

However, when the clock hits 11 PM, Stacie says to her wife, "Babe, I think we should go home. The nanny only covers us until midnight."

"But I can't leave Chloe like this." Aubrey says worriedly.

Chloe smiles weakly and says with hoarse voice, "It's okay. You have to go home, Bree. Belle needs you. I'll be fine."

"And I'm staying anyway." Emily says. "Andre is staying in New York for a month. So, I have no one to come home too."

"I'll crash in this living room with legacy." CR hurriedly says, wanting to get some truths from the youngest Bella without her other sisters around.

"Why don't all of us stay?" Jessica suggests, and then Ashley adds, "Except for Stacie and Aubrey of course."

Chloe shakes her head lightly and says, "No. You should go back to Aubrey's place. There's not enough room for all of us here. Beca only has one guest room because she uses the other one as a studio."

"Are you sure you'll be okay without me?" Aubrey asks worriedly while caressing the redhead's head gently.

With an appreciative smile, Chloe reassures, "I'll be fine, Bree."

Then the blonde turns to look at her wife and worriedly pleads, "Babe..."

Stacie sighs and says, "I'll stay. You can go home. Our princess missed you this morning, and you haven't seen her this whole day."

After taking a couple of seconds to consider, Aubrey sighs in defeat. "Okay. I'll go home." She turns to look at Chloe. "But promise me that you'll be fine."

Chloe chuckles weakly and says, "Beca was right to call you _mom_. I'm not a kid, Bree. I can take care of myself."

Aubrey rolls her eyes in mocked annoyance, but she's smiling lightly when she says, "Okay then. Let's go back to my place."

Other than Emily, CR, and Stacie, the rest of the Bellas follow the blonde and go back to Stacie's place.

"I'll go check on Beca." Chloe says, and her friends simply nod. Then the redhead walks to the studio and knocks on the door. "Babe?" She gets nothing in return, and she knocks louder than before. "Baby, may I come in?"

It startles the redhead a bit to hear her fiancé's voice coming through a speaker above the door. _"I'm busy, Babe. Go sleep first. I'll join you later."_

Chloe sighs deeply, feeling downer than before as she says, "Okay. Just don't be too long."

" _Okay."_

The redhead walks back into the living room, looking sad and frowning as she says, "She doesn't want to see me."

While Stacie and CR are staring at Chloe sympathetically, Emily stands up and hugs her. "She just needs time, Chloe."

Chloe simply nods and takes a deep breath before she pulls away. "I'll go get all of you something to change."

"I'll go with you." Emily says while walking with the redhead to the bedroom.

While looking for clothes, Chloe's tears start running down her face again, and Emily hugs her instantly without knowing what to say.

"What should I do, Em?" Chloe sobs on Emily's shoulder. "Since yesterday, she hasn't look at me as usual, and all I could think about is that I've pushed her too far again. Have I?"

Emily sighs heavily and says, "I don't know, Chloe. But... she definitely needs some space. You know that Pop isn't easy to deal with. She always needed time to process everything. And... I don't think pushing the wedding will do any good for you and her right now."

Chloe breaks the hugs and sits down on the edge of the bed, sniffling as she says, "I just... I love her so much. Was it so wrong if I wanted to be with her, to start a family with her? I'm not in my twenties anymore. I'm closer to 40 than to 30, and I can't keep waiting for her to be ready. I just... I thought I could wait... but..." She chokes on her tears. "She was ready to marry Ashley; even to have kids with her. So... why would it be different with me?"

Upon seeing how miserable the redhead is, Emily's chest tighten and her eyes become teary. Then she clears her throat and hugs Chloe from aside. "Chloe, I know that she's all that you wanted. But... but if it's so hard on you to be with her, why don't you just..." She sighs deeply, can't even bring herself to finish her sentence.

Even though the youngest Bella can't finish her sentence, Chloe knows for sure what she wanted to say. Therefore, she pulls herself out of Emily's hug and wipes her tears, looking very determined when she says, "I won't let her go again, Em. You're right. I've always known how hard it is to deal with Beca. I can live with it. I will live with it. What I can't, is to live without her."

"Chloe..." Emily says sympathetically while rubbing the redhead's left arm up and down. "You can live without her. You had lived without her for ten years, remember? And you came out just fine."

"Barely, Em." The redhead says with pleading eyes. "I wasn't living back then. I was just... existing. Without her, I knew that something was missing in my life. And now that I'm with her, I finally realized what it was. It was her. Now that I've lived my life being loved by her, I don't want to go back, Em. I can't. And I don't want to live without her. Because I love her. And I know she loves me too. That's why she chose me. We'll work this out. She promised me that we'd work this out together."

The only thing Emily can do is huffing heavily through her mouth and staring at the redhead sadly as she thinks to herself, _"You don't know what you don't know, Chloe."_

Then the youngest Bella simply comforts and makes sure that Chloe is already asleep before going back into the living room where Stacie and CR are watching a movie in silent.

"She's finally asleep." Emily says as she hands the clothes to her sisters. "I'll go wash up."

After the three of them are already in comfortable clothes and just cozying on the couch, CR turns off the TV and says, "I think you owe us some explanations. Both of you. But just start with me. I was wondering why Legacy asked me, begged me to move to LA. Now I'm starting to get the picture. Something is clearly not right with Beca and Chloe."

Emily and Stacie are taken aback, and their first reaction is changing look with each other.

"You know you can't hide it forever." CR says casually. "Either you tell me now, or I'll tell the others about my suspicions, and all of us will drill you until one of you crack."

After stealing another glance at Stacie, Emily takes a deep breath and says, "I did tell you that Beca needed someone in her corner. On New Year's, right after her speech, I found her standing behind the elevator with a cigarette in between her teeth."

Stacie and CR's eyes widen, and the older tall brunette blurts out, "She smoked?"

"She didn't." Emily shakes her head dejectedly. "She didn't light it up. But she looked so sad, and she told me that..." She bites her bottom lip, feeling torn to tell the truth that will certainly hurt her older sisters. "She told me something about us that... I don't know if I should tell you. As for me, I was sad and hurt when she said that."

"Just tell us, legacy." CR says impatiently. "We're grownups. We can take it."

Emily clasps her hands under her chin, leaning forward with her elbows on her thighs. "She said that as the people who claimed to be her family, we couldn't feel her pain of losing Ashley. She felt like it was okay for us to throw her onto the curb as long as Chloe is happy... She thought that..." She looks at her sisters and mutters weakly, "She thought we were able to take her back because she decided to stay with Chloe; that for her to be considered a sister again, she had to love and be with Chloe."

"She said that?" Stacie asks with her eyebrows furrowed, feeling hurt yet also guilty.

"Not exactly like that." Emily hurriedly says. "But that's what I understood from what she said."

"But we didn't feel like that." Stacie says defensively. "And she was the one who decided to come back and stay with Chloe."

CR rubs her face tiredly and says, "Well, now that you said that, we did put all of the responsibility on Beca's shoulders. We didn't even try talking to Chloe at all. We just... kind of went with it after shorty came back even though we knew her reason to stay. So, I guess I can't blame her for feeling that way about us."

"I agree." Emily sighs sadly. "I mean, it was hard on us to see Chloe tried to kill herself. So hard that somehow we just brushed off what Beca wanted. We were so happy to get her back that we ignored the fact that other than us, there are people who she loves in the last ten years; that she was still broken hearted."

Stacie runs her fingers through her hair in frustration and says, "I know that this is a very hard situation for Beca and Chloe. But this is just the beginning. I believe they will turn out just fine in time. Besides, Beca has fallen back in love with Chloe, and everything has been going so much better for both of them."

"I don't think so, Stace." Emily says with restraint voice and her eyes teary. "Pop was... she's hurting, Stace. You didn't see her yesterday at the office. She was..." She clears the lump in her throat. "You saw the night terror after Chloe proposed. And now your wife is shoving the wedding plan to her face, and I-"

"You need to stop blaming my wife, Em." Stacie says firmly. "You knew about what happened to Chloe after Beca left almost 11 years ago, but no offense, you weren't there with her. Aubrey and I were. Besides, I don't think that Beca had the night terror because of Chloe's proposal. We saw the picture."

"What picture?" CR asks in confusion, but Emily already argues, "It's a solid prove that she's still in love with Ashley. Look at her, Stace. I don't think she is as miserable as she was when we met her at New York."

"You're talking like staying Chloe is such a bad thing for her." Stacie says stubbornly.

Then CR says matter-of-factly, "I don't know about shorty is still in love with Ashley, but it's clear to me, Beca staying with Chloe isn't making both of them happy right now. Even you and your wife can't deny it, Stace."

"They were happy before the picture came out." Stacie argues more.

"Wait." CR says in upset. "Go one step back, please. What picture again?"

Emily sighs heavily and says, "Yesterday afternoon, a picture of Ashley and Shay came out, stating that they are dating. That's the reason Beca was so unsettled yesterday even before going to the party."

"Who's Shay?" CR asks with furrowed eyebrows.

"Ashley's new girlfriend." Emily states impatiently. "But it doesn't matter who Shay is. What matter is, for Beca, finding out about Ashley and Shay is so much harder than breaking up with Ashley. Now it's affecting her relationship with Chloe. And Chloe is hurting because she has no idea why Beca is staying but feeling unhappy."

"Do you think I don't know that?" Stacie retorts in upset. "Do you think I'm happy in this situation, seeing two of my best friends are hurting, seeing my wife is so distressed that she could barely sleep and keep up with work? But it's already happening this far. What can we do except going forward with it?"

When Emily opens her mouth to speak, CR stops her by raising her hand, knowing that this argument is going nowhere because they are standing on different sides. "Okay. Stop arguing about the things we can't change, and maybe start to find a solution. And I kind of have one."

Stacie sighs heavily and asks, "What do you think we should do?"

With her lips pressed tightly, CR shakes her head and cautiously says, "Maybe... we can start with telling the whole truth to Chloe. Then we can let them talk about it, and make a decision for themselves."

"No, we can't." Stacie says in an instant. "It will crush Chloe. And I don't think she can take the truth. She'll try to hurt herself again."

"We don't know that." CR argues. "Besides, we can take care of her. This time, you and Aubrey won't be alone. Fat Amy and I are moving here, Legacy is here, and I will bet on my life that shorty will want to be involved in Chloe's life no matter what."

"We can't, CR." Emily says dejectedly, shaking her head while fixing her eyes on the table.

The two other Bellas are stunned, and Stacie says, "Now I'm confused. I thought you'd be the one standing on the front line for this idea."

Emily sighs heavily and says, "Chloe just told me that after feeling loved by Pop, she doesn't think that she wants to live her life without Beca anymore. She can't lose Beca now. It will kill her. Literally."

Stacie sighs and says, "My wife said the same thing last night after you snapped at her, Em."

* * *

_**Flashback to the night before.** _

After Emily left to the kitchen, Aubrey rushed into her bedroom and cried on her bed. Then her wife came in and hugged her, kissing her forehead before she said, "I know that what Emily said hurt you. But... I think she's right Babe. You have to stop treating Beca and Ashley that way."

"I- I'm so scared Babe." Aubrey said in between sobs. "I... I'm just afraid that... Beca will leave Chloe again. I had to do everything I could to make sure that it wouldn't happen."

Stacie sighed heavily, "But not by despising them every chance you had. What happened to you tonight? You had been nicer to Beca lately."

Then Aubrey broke the hug and took her phone to show her wife a certain picture. "I saw this before we went to sleep. And I believe this is the reason Beca was upset earlier. It wasn't the proposal, Stace. If it wasn't for this picture, they would have been happily engaged by now. That's why I was so angry with Ashley earlier. She ruined everything for Chloe, and she had the audacity to come and lecture Chloe as if she was the only one who could love Beca."

"Babe..." Stacie sighed heavily, staring at her wife sympathetically yet also tiredly. "It isn't Ashley's fault. And certainly not Beca's fault either. They broke up for Chloe, Babe. They did what you asked... The least you could do is be nice to them. You're making it more stressful for all of them."

"You have to be in my corner for this, Babe." Aubrey pleaded with tears running down her face. "Please... I don't want Chloe tries to kill herself again. She might have survived it before, but I don't think we're going to be that lucky if she ever tries again. Especially now after seeing how happy she is with Beca. If Beca breaks up with her, she'll be crushed. And seeing the condition now, I think we should push Beca to have a wedding as soon as possible, or she will leave, Stace. She will. She always did. But if she's married to Chloe, she won't leave again. She won't do what her father did to her and her mother."

"Baby..." Stacie said with the same concerned tone.

"I- I can't lose Chloe, Babe." Aubrey pleaded in between sobs. "I can't... Before you, she was the only one who could love me for whoever I was. If something should ever happen to her, I will go crazy for sure. So please... please understand... you have to stand by me for this. I- I know that this is unfair. Bu- but if my choices are be- between pushing Beca or- or losing Chloe... I won't hesitate to push Beca with all I have... As long as Beca stays with Chloe, and Chloe is happy, I don't care about anything or anyone else. But I need you and the Bellas on my side. Please Babe..."

It was heart wrenching to see her wife crumbling down into a mess. Stacie sighed heavily and hugged her wife even tighter. With her lips on Aubrey's forehead, Stacie mumbled, "I'm always on your side, Babe... always."

Still sobbing hard, Aubrey simply nodded and nuzzled her nose into the crook of Stacie's neck.

_**End of flashback.** _

* * *

"Now I'm afraid that Chloe won't be the only one who will go full blown _girl interrupted_ if Beca leaves _._ My wife will too." Stacie ends her story.

"God." CR shakes her head in disbelief. "This is so messed up." She huffs harshly through her mouth. "Even if we set everything right, it will only crush one of them, and most likely all of them." Then she looks up at her friends. "But I think we should tell the others about all of this."

"No." Stacie says firmly. "It will only make everything worse."

"How can it become worse than it already is?" CR asks in upset. "They deserve to know the truth, Stace. _We,_ deserve to know the truth. You've seen how excited they are about the wedding. If we want to help Beca and Chloe, we should tell them. Maybe they can help talk some senses into your wife and Chloe to postpone this wedding. Or at least, they won't bring up anything about the wedding."

"I don't think it's a good idea either, CR." Emily says.

"Why?"

"Remember how all of you accused Beca at the hospital?" Emily retorts matter-of-factly. "Remember the conflict and feud we had? Do you want us to go down that road again? The others will crush Beca because they'll think she's only pretending to love Chloe. Especially Flo, Jessica, Ashley, and Lily. They only forgave her because she decided to stay with Chloe."

"Fat Amy and I didn't accuse her for anything." CR says defensively.

"And you can't tell Fat Amy either." Stacie says firmly.

CR huffs in annoyance and asks, "For crying out loud, why?"

"Because she can't keep her mouth shut." Emily and Stacie say in unison. Then they both chuckle lightly, and CR scoffs before laughing too.

After the laughter unwind, CR takes a deep breath and says, "You're right. Fat Amy can't keep her mouth shut. It was hard enough for us to keep an eye on her in every reunion for two years before Beca came back, and there's a huge chance that the others will blame Beca again. So, I guess it's just us then. What should we do?"

Stacie sighs deeply and says, "Right now, we'll let Chloe talk to Beca about the wedding plan, and I'll tell our sisters to keep it down until Beca and Chloe are ready to have this wedding. In the meantime, you and Emily will take care of Beca. And don't worry about Chloe. I will take care of her."

"And your wife." Emily says sharply.

Stacie rolls her eyes, "Yeah. Aubrey and I will take care of Chloe."

"I mean, you need to take care of your wife too." Emily says in half-annoyance. "Put her on a tight leash, Stace. I know she's doing everything she's done for Chloe. But really, can you tell her to love Chloe without hurting Beca? It's not like she's not hurting enough without your wife shoving her brilliant wedding plan down into Beca's throat."

With a stern glare, Stacie says, "Emily, I think you need to tune down your anger to my wife. If you want to help Beca at all, stop throwing stones at Aubrey. The more distressed she is, the more she'll push Beca. And I can't have my wife feeling more distressed than she already is. Do you think she enjoyed feeling like this? She's just trying to protect Chloe."

"By hurting Beca." Emily says just as firm. "And by the way, I'm trying to protect Beca too. But you don't see me pushing Chloe to understand Beca's condition. You don't see me pressing Chloe in anything. It's one of the reasons Chloe was so thoughtless about her marriage proposal and this wedding plan. Because none of us ever pushed, or made her think more thoroughly about the decisions she made. You and your wife knew about it, yet you did nothing. I thought I could at least count on you, Stace."

"Okay. I will tell you one thing to set you straight." Stacie says in upset. "This rushed wedding plan might be Aubrey's idea, but the marriage proposal was all Chloe. My wife even asked her repeatedly to reconsider that decision, but Chloe was persistent and stubborn. And in my defense, I didn't know until they came home with the ring. Besides, all of us thought that Beca had already moved on from Ashley."

"Then your wife needs to learn how to be more persistent and stubborn to Chloe." Emily says just as upset. "She could do it to Beca. Why can't she treat Chloe the same way?"

"Alright." CR meddles calmly. "Enough fighting for one night, bitches. We've got our whole life to fight as sisters. So, save some for the future." She looks at Stacie and says, "Legacy is right. Your wife needs to be less overprotective to Chloe, especially when she's doing it by sacrificing Beca." Then she turns to Emily. "And you need to be nicer to Aubrey. We're all doing our parts here. So, no need to feel like we're doing more right than the other."

The two tall brunettes simply sigh and nod.

"Good." CR nods. Then she jokes with straight face, "Now kiss and make up."

Emily and Stacie snort, and then they laugh again. After the laughter unwind, CR asks, "By the way, has Chloe seen the picture yet? It must have been all over the internet, right?"

"She has decided to stop checking the internet since her relationship with Beca went public." Stacie says.

"But she'll find out anyway." Emily states. "Ashley and Shay are going to the premiere of August Rush, and Chloe and Beca will be there too. What should we do?"

"Let's just hope Chloe doesn't connect the dots." Stacie says tiredly.

Emily rolls her eyes in half-annoyance and says, "Are you serious? Of course she'll connect the dots. She's Chloe for God's sake. She could even connect the dots for unrelated things, as unrealistic as it was. What makes you think she won't be able to connect these dots?"

"Let's just ask Aubrey to talk to her about it." CR suggests. "She knows Chloe the best. She'll know how to break it without making Chloe thinking of the worst."

Emily sighs in defeat and says, "Fine."

"Okay then." Stacie says. "It's settled."

With all of the incident and drama, the three of them huff tiredly in the end. Then they simply watch some show until they fall asleep.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, that would be chapter 31. It's as dark as twisty as it can be.
> 
> The next chapter will be more maddening, but there will be a bit of light stuff, even several smuts too. So... another roller coaster. I'll update soon.
> 
> Until then, sit tight, relax, and make good choices. Thank you for reading :)


	32. Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hallo :)
> 
> Hope all of you are well. Thank you for all of the readers, the people who follow and favor, and the reviewers. Like I've promised, this is the second chapter this week. You can expect another one tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now, let's go back to the story. In the last chapter, Beca woke up, and it was kind of an anticlimax that she didn't remember anything. It ended with the talk among Emily, Stacie, and CR. This chapter will start with Beca smoking in her studio. The pain goes on to this chapter, and a little bit more in the next chapter.
> 
> As I've stated in the previous chapter, there will be several smuts in this chapter. I've put a warning if you're not comfortable reading them because I myself am not comfortable writing them.
> 
> There's a song in this chapter, and I think all of you might be familiar with it. It's I'll Be There For You by The Rembrandts. But for this chapter, I prefer the cover by Caleb and Kelsey. It's an acoustic version, and I think it's more suitable for the situation. Then there's another piece of Bad Things by Machine Gun Kelly ft. Camila Cabello.
> 
> I don't own Pitch Perfect, nor most of the characters, and neither the songs. Hope you enjoy :)

 

**Wednesday, March 11 2026.**

It's already three in the morning, but Beca hasn't fallen asleep yet. In the last six hours or so, she simply smoked while writing down ideas for a song. In between writing, there were some long moments when she just smoked in silent without doing or thinking about anything at all. Though one time or two, her mind would trail its way back to Ashley, but she would brush it away instantly.

One of her favorite things to do when she's smoking is watching the smoke coming out of her mouth, swirling slowly before her eyes. She also loves the cracking sound of burning tobacco when she sucks the cig deeply. She doesn't know why, but somehow it calms her.

Eventually, she's down to her last cigarette. She sighs deeply and lights it before writing down some addition to the lyric. After the lyric is done and she's out of cigarette, Beca decides to take a shower in her studio.

The mini studio in her apartment was built with a full conscience to hide her smoking and drinking habit from Donna back then. Therefore, she had intercom to talk without coming out of the room, she installed several blowers and a smoke stomper to deal with the smoke and odors, she also had a shower cubicle and a dresser filled with clothes, knowing that she couldn't come out of that room smelling like a cigarette when her PA was around. To seal all of that, the door can be set to lock automatically, and only the DJ has the code.

When she's done showering and changing into some of her old clothes, the DJ walks out of that room and the door locked automatically behind her. Then she heads to the laundry room to wash the smoke-scented clothes with a washing machine.

While waiting for her clothes, she simply stands quietly, leaning her back onto the counter and drinks a bottle of water, sipping it slowly while staring at nothing at all. She also takes a quarter of her sleeping pill, knowing that if she had taken a whole pill, she wouldn't be able to wake up in the morning.

After the laundry is done, she goes to her bedroom, walking pass the living room where Stacie, Emily, and CR are sleeping soundly.

Very gently, Beca opens her bedroom's door and walks in quietly. Then she climbs up onto the bed very carefully, trying not to wake her fiancé. She simply lies on her back with her hands clasped on her stomach. Not long after, she falls asleep from the exhaustion and the effect of the sleeping pill.

* * *

**_Smut._ **

It's already quiet late, and Beca just came back from the studio. Not as usual, she didn't go home with her girlfriend because her girlfriend had something else to do. When she was already in the house, the DJ went straight to the bedroom, hoping to find her girlfriend in there. But there was nobody in the room.

Then she called her maid from the landline to ask, "Nina, where's Ashley? I called her but she didn't pick up."

" _She's in her studio."_

"Thanks."

Beca headed to the second floor immediately, but when she was close to Ashley's studio, she heard a faint sound of music coming from the room. Quietly, she opened the door and peeked inside.

Apparently, the blonde was dancing to Bang Bang by Jessie J. Ashley was only in her sport bra and shortpants, her hair was tied up in a messy ponytail, and the sweat made her skin looked glowing.

Beca simply leaned her side on the doorframe with her arms crossed on her chest, smiling upon watching her girlfriend dancing vigorously from behind, and it certainly evoked the beast in her.

From the reflection on the mirror, Ashley caught the presence of her girlfriend, but she simply smiled without stopping. When the song was over, the blonde turned off the audio set and walked to the DJ.

"You're home, creep." Ashley said while wrapping her arms around Beca's neck.

"I am." Beca rested her hands on Ashley's hips and kissed the blonde chastely on the lips.

"Me too."

In all seriousness, Beca asked, "How could you look so hot even with this messy ponytail and sweat all over your body?"

"Because I'm naturally hot." Ashley said smugly.

Beca barked out a laughter. Then she brushed a strain of Ashley's hair to the back of her ear and said, "It's been a while since you danced."

"It's for an episode in PLL." Ashley explained. "In that episode, I'll be applying to a beauty pageant for a scholarship, and dancing will be my talent."

"Huh." Beca nodded with her lips pressed tightly. "Well, from what I just saw, you are indeed talented."

Ashley brushed her cold nose onto Beca's playfully and said, "Hmmm... you're not saying that just because you're trying to get into my pants, right Mitchell?"

"Of course I'm trying to get into your pants. Why would I say such thing if I didn't want to get into your pants? I mean, look at you." Beca said with a manner that said _duh_ , and the blonde laughed lightly.

"Are you gonna dance alone, or all of the girl casts will join you?" The brunette asked.

"In that scene, Shay will be my dance trainer."

The DJ groaned loudly and whined, "Shay is gonna be there. She's gonna look at you... and... _tsk_."

"Are you jealous of Shay?"

The DJ could see that her girlfriend was trying to hold back a laughter. Then she said with offended manner, "Jealous? Of Shay?" She scoffed. "No way. Other than the fact that you just told me a week ago that she's in love with you, and she's indeed so hot, and I'm tinier than she is, why should I be jealous at all? She is not a competition for me."

Ashley sucked her teeth, but she couldn't hide the grin. Then she cleared her throat and mocked an innocent look as she asked, "So, why are you concerned?"

Beca rolled her eyes and muttered, "I'm not jealous of her. Even though she's tall, and certainly not pale, her skin color is like sweet caramel, with hair as soft as silk, not whiny, with legs that go for days, smells like summer all the time, and those boobs-"

"You might want to stop there, mister." The blonde looked at her with a playful warning glare. "I hope you're just trying to make me join you in the jealous-ville. Or are you trying to tell me that you have a secret crush on my certainly-hotter-than-me best friend?"

"I didn't say that she's hotter than you." Beca said with a high pitch tone. Then, without looking at the blonde, she grumbled like a child, "But she's attractive, and you spend most of your days with her, and she loves you, and I'm just this awkward snarky pale little dude, and you can do better than me, and-"

"I'm just gonna kiss you now." Ashley teased, grinning from ear to ear as she leaned closer for a kiss, and Beca chuckled before meeting her halfway.

After they broke the kiss breathlessly, Beca said with labored breath, "One more thing." She diverted her eyes from her girlfriend's, feeling a bit shy and nervous. "Is there any chance that you can film that scene by yourself? I don't want the crew to see you... you know, moving like that. The set will be drowned with drools."

"I don't think it's an option, Babe." Ashley mocked a serious look, though a light tug of sly smile was playing by the corner of her lips. "But you can be there on the set to glare at anybody who dares to look at me in a way you were looking at me when I was dancing."

"I'll be there." Beca said hurriedly, and Ashley laughed lightly.

Then the blonde trailed her index finger down the DJ's jawline and huskily said, "I'm thinking about taking a long hot bath with you right now."

"Hmmm..." Beca smirked. "Funny. I was just thinking about the same thing."

Ashley smiled seductively and said, "I guess we just have to do it then." She laced their fingers and pulled her girlfriend to their bedroom.

While waiting for the tub to be filled, Beca was already kissing her girlfriend gently on the lips. Slowly, she brushed her hands down the curve of Ashley's side and rubbed the small of Ashley's back gently with her thumb.

The blonde herself was unbuttoning Beca's shirt. Then she swept her palms from the DJ's stomach to the back just to unhook the bra before cupping the brunette's breasts.

Meanwhile, Beca was already nipping her lips on Ashley's shoulder that tasted a bit salty, making the blonde moaning lightly.

Then Ashley pulled herself away, biting her bottom lip as she took off her clothes and got into the tub.

"Hmh..." Beca's breath hitched, and she hissed through her teeth. Without saying anything, she undressed herself and got into the tub too; positioning herself behind her girlfriend. Then she started massaging Ashley's shoulders gently.

"Hmmm..." Ashley closed her eyed and tilted her head slightly. "It feels good, Babe."

Beca kissed the back of her shoulder and asked, "How about now?"

" _Ngh..."_ Ashley moaned, tilting her head more to the side to give the brunette more access to her neck. "Better."

Beca nipped her neck gently while keep massaging her back. "And now?"

With a soft smile and her eyes closed, Ashley turned aside and grasped Beca's hair on the back of her head with one hand to pull her closer for a kiss.

Automatically, the DJ's hands found their way to brush her girlfriend's breasts and massaged them gently.

Ashley bit Beca's bottom lip gently and leaned backward, pressing her back onto the DJ's front even harder. Slowly, she used her other hand to guide Beca's left hand to her core, and certainly, the brunette let her.

Gently, Beca thrusted one finger into Ashley and moved it slowly, making the blonde moaning and grasping her hair even tighter. _"More babe..."_

" _Turn around."_ Beca whispered before biting her girlfriend's earlobe gently.

Ashley pulled out Beca's finger out of her core and turned around, sitting on the brunette's laps and straddling her waist. Then she rested her arms on the DJ's shoulders and kissed her deeply.

The brunette just broke the kiss to land her lips on the blonde's neck when she heard a familiar voice that was definitely not Ashley's said, "It always worked to wake you up with a kiss."

**_End of smut._ **

* * *

Beca opens her eyes abruptly, grasping for air with her heart pacing so fast. A person who has a pair of similar blue eyes but a different hair color greets her.

Apparently, Chloe kissed her in her sleep, and now she's smiling ever so fondly in front of her.

"Huh?" Beca furrows her eyebrows in confusion.

"I said, it always worked to wake you up with a kiss." Chloe says softly.

There's nothing coming out from Beca's slightly parted lips but a sound of ragged air passing in and out harshly.

Now Chloe is staring at her fiancé with a matching puzzled look. "Are you okay, Babe?"

As her tongue brushes her own lips, Beca shakes her head to clear her mind. The dream did happen in actual life a couple years ago, without Chloe's voice certainly.

"Babe?"

With her eyebrows still furrowed, Beca shakes her head again and stutters, "I uh... I... I'm okay. I guess."

"Baby, what's wrong?" Chloe caresses the brunette's head gently, looking worried and concerned.

With wide eyes that shows that she's at loss, Beca mutters, "I was... dreaming?"

"What dream? Was it a nightmare?" Chloe asks worriedly.

The question takes the DJ by surprise, and she becomes speechless that she even stops breathing for a couple of seconds with her lips slightly parted. Then she swallows hard and breathes out, "I... I'm not sure."

The redhead pulls her into a hug, resting her chin onto Beca's crown gently as she says, "You're okay, Babe. I'm here. It was just a dream."

Still seems confused, the DJ hugs her fiancé back and mutters, "Yea. You're here." Then Beca simply tries to steady her breath and tune down the flaring desire to make love with her ex fiancé. It's been months since she felt this way, and it certainly makes her tense.

After she becomes more relaxed, Beca pulls away slightly and asks, "What time is it?"

"Around eight." Chloe says. "When did you come to bed?"

"I don't know." Beca lies. "I don't remember."

Then Chloe rests her palm on Beca's cheek and softly says, "Babe, if you don't mind, can we talk about the night terror?"

"Why?"

As casual as she can, Chloe says, "I'd like to know about your night terror. What was it exactly that you dreamed about when you were having a night terror?"

Beca huffs out a long breath through her mouth and says, "It's uh... it's always the same since I was a kid. But I didn't find out until I had a hypnotherapy session with Harley around three years ago."

It certainly surprises the redhead, and she blurts out, "You've had it since you were only a kid?"

"After Warren left." Beca nods. "But back then, my mom couldn't afford a therapist. So, she learnt how to calm me herself. Eventually, it stopped after we moved in with my grandparents. Being loved by mom and grandpa, and then starting to learn about music did ease my anxiety. I didn't have another one for a very long time, but it started again after I left college."

With a sympathetic smile, Chloe says, "I'm so sorry to hear that."

Beca smiles lightly yet her eyebrows are still furrowed. "It's okay. When I was having a night terror..." She takes a deep breath. "There was some kind of... dark liquid, crawling its way up from my feet to my head, and it made me numb. Eventually, when it reached my neck, I couldn't breathe."

While caressing the DJ's head gently, Chloe asks, "When it happened after you left, was it because you were..." She seems hesitant to ask, feeling afraid if it will upset her fiancé. But apparently, the brunette understands.

Beca turns to lie on her back, staring blankly at the ceiling as she says, "It was a month after I left, and I was still working for Residual Heat's branch in LA. I was too distressed for spending my birthday alone. Then one day, Donna found me sleeping on my desk in the morning. I woke up very confused in my office, still wearing my pajamas and a pair of flip-flops. Donna flipped out, well, talking about me driving to the studio without knowing that I drove there on my own, and she took me to the ER immediately. After explaining that I didn't have any recollection of going out or driving, and that I hadn't slept for a few days, the doctor concluded that I sleepwalked."

Chloe's eyes go wide, but she tries to remain calm and not to interrupt the story.

"The doctor suggested me to see a psychiatrist." Beca continues casually. "But I refused stubbornly. And back then, the force wasn't quite strong without Harvey. So, Donna cleaned out my apartment from anything that could make me hurt myself unknowingly, and she had 24/7 security staying at the lobby every night for a few weeks. She also put a motion sensor near the elevator to alarm my bodyguards if I went out in the middle of the night. Thankfully, I've already started making more money by then. So, I could afford those kind of security."

"Did it ever happen again?"

"It was a onetime thing. As far as I know, I've never sleepwalked again. The doctor gave me sleeping pills to help me sleep, but after I ran out of sleeping pills, I started to have horrifying nightmares. So... I started drinking."

That story makes the redhead sad. She knew how hard it was after the DJ left for both of them, but she just found out that Beca had it way harder than she had ever imagined before, even after finding out about the heart attack. "Baby..." She says with her eyes teary. "Why would you do that to yourself? You became... addicted."

Beca scoffs lightly, "It didn't happen overnight, Chlo. It started only with a couple sips of vodka or tequila, and I would sleep like a baby. Over times, my body tolerated the alcohol, and I needed more. I didn't know when it started, but two years later, I needed at least half a bottle of vodka to pass out. And it just got worse until..." She was going to say Ashley, but she decided against it. "Until I had a heart attack."

Chloe doesn't say anything but keep caressing Beca's head gently.

"I was a mess, Chlo." Beca says dejectedly. "If it wasn't for Donna and Harvey who kept me on my toes for work and took care of me, I would have died or lived on the street at the very least. It was a good thing that I found peace by working and writing songs. DJ-ing helped too. But it was... well, the high of performing was great. But uhm... it also raised my anxiety to be around so many people. So, I started smoking too. And just like drinking, I needed more as the time went by."

"You went through so much trouble just to hide from the people who loved you, Babe." The redhead comments sadly.

Beca turns to look at her fiancé, smiling sadly as she says, "I did. And I'm sorry."

Chloe leans forward to kiss the brunette gently on the lips, and then she says, "It doesn't matter anymore. But about this nightmare... what you actually dreamed about?"

After huffing out a long steady breath, Beca looks at the ceiling again and says, "I was being chased by a dark shadow, but I never outran it. It always caught and tried to choke me in the end of the dream, and then I woke up."

"It wasn't the same with your night terror."

"No." Beca says. "But it was the same manifestation."

"What do you mean?"

Beca sighs deeply and explains, "At first, I thought that the dark shadow was the people from my past. But it wasn't true. After a couple sessions of hypnotherapy, I found out that the dark shadow and dark liquid were actually myself; my own fear and guilty feeling, chasing me and eating me up. Every time I had a night terror, there was always something that terrified me. I was scared of being found by you and the Bellas, I was scared of being alone, I was scared of loving Ashley, I was scared of coming out to the public, then I was scared of Ashley leaving, and the other day I was scared of..." She sighs. "I have a lot of things that I'm scared of."

With her eyebrows furrowed, Chloe asks, "But you're with me now. With us, your sisters, the people who love you to the moon and back. We'll never let you go again, Becs. _I_ , will never let you be alone again. How could you still have a night terror?" She starts pulling her own fingers anxiously. "Was it because of the proposal?" She asks in barely a whisper.

Even though she has an idea of why she had the night terror, Beca knows better than to tell the redhead about it. How could she tell her fiancé that she was so upset for finding out about Ashley and Shay, and the proposal just made it even worse? Therefore, the DJ says, "I don't know. It might be. But I won't know for sure until I see Harley."

Chloe hugs her fiancé tightly from aside and says with restraint voice, "I'm so sorry, Babe. I didn't know that you weren't ready. I thought... I mean, seeing how happy we were... I just... If I had known..."

Upon hearing and seeing how regretful the redhead is, Beca sighs and says, "It wasn't your fault, Babe. I was..." She swallows hard. "I am..." She can't bring herself to tell the truth. Therefore, she lies, "There's a problem at work."

The redhead pulls herself up to lie on her stomach and stares at Beca with worried look. "Donna said there was some trouble at the studio that upset you before you came to the party. What problem at work, Babe?"

"Nothing you should be worried about." Beca says with a light smile.

"Are you sure that it was about that problem at work?"

"I think so." Beca nods with her eyebrows furrowed while her eyes are still fixed at the ceiling, feeling so sad and bad for lying to her fiancé. "I don't think it has anything to do with the marriage proposal. It was... me unable to deal with... other things in my life right now. At work."

When Chloe doesn't say anything in return, Beca dares herself to look at her. Upon seeing the redhead biting her bottom lip nervously, the DJ asks, "What is it that's bothering you?"

Looking worried and nervous, Chloe mutters, "Now that you said the night terror wasn't caused by the proposal, is it okay if we talk about our wedding?"

So suddenly, Beca's heart is racing and she feels hot and cold under her skin. She takes a very deep breath and blows it out slowly before she says, "I... I don't think I'm ready, Chlo."

The redhead is taken aback for a second. But she recovers rather quickly to ask, "For having the wedding, or talking about the wedding?"

"Both?" Beca says apologetically. Upon seeing how disappointed the redhead is, she hurriedly adds, "Just give me a couple of days to wrap my head around the idea. I promise we'll talk about it, Chloe. Just not now."

Feeling so relieved, a faint smile appears on Chloe's face, and she says, "Okay." Then she leans downward to kiss the brunette deeply, and Beca returns the kiss without paying any attention to it as her mind is turning in a full speed, thinking about marrying Chloe while she herself is also in love with someone else.

Suddenly, there's a knocking on the door. "Pop, Donna just called. She wants to have breakfast with you. She'll come and pick us up in 10 minutes."

Beca pulls herself away from the redhead and walks to the door. She opens it and asks, "Why so suddenly she wants to have breakfast with me? We had breakfast together yesterday."

With a light shrug, Emily says, "She just missed having breakfast with you maybe."

Although she doesn't believe it, the DJ do have a suspicion that it has something to do with her breakdown the other day. She sighs in half-annoyance and says, "Just let me change first."

"Okay." Emily says before turning around and walking away.

"Sorry Babe. Duty calls." Beca says as she walks to her closet to get some clothes. Then she gets into the bathroom, and changes into a t-shirt and dark skinny jeans, completed with her favorite jacket. After putting on a light make up, she walks back into the bedroom and says, "I have to go to work."

"It's unlike you at all to go to work without showering." Chloe says with puzzled look as she stands up and walks toward her fiancé.

"I've showered around three this morning." Beca says casually while putting on her watch.

"You did?" The redhead sounds shocked. "Why?"

Realizing that she just confided a supposedly a secret, Beca pretends to fix her watch and mutters, "I needed to clear my head. So, I took a shower."

"Baby..." Chloe cups her cheeks, looking at her with concern yet softly. "The next time you can't sleep, please wake me up. Whatever it is in your mind, we can talk about it. Or we can just lie on the bed without doing anything at all. Okay? I'm here for you. With you. I will always be."

Feeling guiltier, Beca's chest tightens and her eyes become teary. _"How could you love her with half a heart? She loves you with everything she is. Yet here you are, lying to her face again, and again, and again. God, you're such a fucking jerk, Mitchell."_

"What's wrong?" Chloe asks worriedly upon seeing tears in her fiancé's eyes.

Beca smiles weakly and says, "Nothing. I just..." She swallows hard. "I love you."

This is the first time in more than 24 hours Beca says the L word again. It certainly eases more than half of the redhead's anxiety. Chloe's smile becomes wider, and her eyes are so bright when she replies, "I love you too."

"I know." Beca says before hugging the redhead tightly and kisses the side of her head.

Chloe is certainly confused from the way Beca is acting, but she's happily confused. Therefore, she hugs the brunette back as tightly and repeats, "I love you so much, Becs."

To hold herself from choking on her tears, Beca has to bite her bottom lip tightly. Then she sniffles and says with restraint voice, "I know..." She swallows the lump in her throat. "I know..."

On the other hand, Chloe simply rubs her fiancé's back gently. "It's okay. You're okay, Babe. I got you."

This time, Beca can't bring herself to give the same response like before because she doesn't feel like she'll ever be okay. Nevertheless, she takes a deep breath and puts on the best smile she can muster before breaking the hug. Then she wipes the tears on the corner of her eyes and clears her throat. "I have to go now. Donna is waiting for me."

Chloe smiles fondly and says, "I didn't prepare any lunch for you. So, make sure Donna remembers to feed you."

Beca chuckles weakly and says, "I will."

Then the redhead kisses her again on the lips before letting her going to work.

* * *

The whole day, Beca is trying hard to distract her mind from her dream. She's exhausted, sleepy, and definitely in need of nicotine. During lunch, Patrick calls her office to ask about her condition. Other than telling her best friend that she and Chloe are engaged, Beca doesn't say anything else. She's upset enough without having to retell the whole situation.

Fortunately, she has another acupuncture session so she gets to have a dreamless sleep for two hours. It certainly eases her tension at the moment. When the clock hits 6 PM, she goes to Donna's office to tell her that she's heading home.

"Wait a second, monkey." Donna says as she walks toward her boss.

"Hm?" The DJ turns back around.

"Your new phone." Donna hands out a very same type phone. "All of your data has been recovered. So, it'll be like your old phone. And I already told Emily and Chloe that you already have a phone now."

When the DJ is about to take the phone, Donna pulls her hand back and says, "Just one thing though."

"I won't call Ashley." Beca says certainly with a hint of annoyance.

"Good." Donna responds while putting the phone onto the brunette's hand.

"Thanks." Beca turns around.

Donna holds her back on her elbow and asks, "How are you feeling today, monkey?"

The DJ sighs deeply and retorts, "Honestly? I don't know. I just..." She shakes her head and presses her lips tightly. "I don't know, Donna."

Donna rubs her arms up and down as she sympathetically asks, "Do you need a getaway? I can arrange a trip to Atlanta, or just anywhere you want to be to clear your head."

It's certainly a much needed thing to do. Nevertheless, Beca knows that if she finds comfort from going away before she sets her mind right, she probably won't come back. Therefore, she says, "I'll think about it. And Donna, please let me drive on my own. I don't need a babysitter."

"But you promise that you can be reached all the time." The redhead warns softly. "No more going out for a jog or anywhere without any notification."

"Promise."

"Okay." Donna smiles softly. "And remember that you have an appointment with Harley on Friday."

Beca simply nods and walks out of Donna's office.

Just as yesterday, she goes to a florist shop to get her fiancé a bouquet of flowers, and then she goes to the store next door to buy Chloe's favorite chocolate milk and two packs of cigarette.

The DJ is eager to go home and have alone time in her studio. She's relieved to find that the place is empty because the redhead is obviously at Stacie's place with their sisters. She hurriedly walks into the kitchen to put the flowers on the table, and then she rushes into her studio.

However, her phone rings just as she's going to light up her cig. She huffs in annoyance, rolling her eyes and puts the cig down before picking up the phone.

" _Baby..."_

"Hey."

" _Donna just called. She said you're going back to your place."_

"I'm already home."

" _Can you come to Stacie's place? Our sisters are heading back tomorrow, and they haven't spent a decent time with you yet. Besides, I'm a bit tipsy, and I won't be able to drive back to your place."_

Beca sighs deeply and says, "Okay. Be there in twenty."

" _See you, Baby boo. I love you."_

"I love you too."

Then Beca walks out of the studio and goes to the kitchen to grab the stuff she bought for her fiancé before heading out of her apartment. When she arrives at Stacie's place, Emily is already there with her other sisters.

"Woi! Captain's here!" CR exclaims.

"Shawshank!" Fat Amy, who seems so drunk, is quick on her feet, rushing to the petite brunette and hugs her tightly; even lifts her up from the floor a bit.

"Put me down, Fat Amy!" Beca scolds, but the hilarious blonde simply laughs. Fat Amy is indeed drunk.

After wiggling her way out of Fat Amy's arms, the DJ walks to her fiancé, and hands the flowers and chocolate milk. "For you."

Chloe takes the stuff and then kisses Beca chastely on the lips. "Thanks, Baby."

"Aw..." The other Bellas coo.

"Two days in a row." Flo says cheerfully. "Beca is definitely up to something."

"So sweet..." Jessica coos, and her wife follows with, "And so adorable."

"Savor it ginger. It won't last forever." Fat Amy says playfully.

Chloe laughs lightly and wraps the DJ's waist from aside. "No. My Beca will do this forever. I can count on her to be the most romantic lover for the rest of our lives." She turns to look at her fiancé fondly. "Right, Babe?"

Beca simply smiles in return. Then Chloe kisses her cheek and says, "I'll go get you something to drink. Iced tea?"

"Sure." The DJ replies. Then she sits on the couch next to Emily and whispers, "Are you drunk?"

"Nope." The youngest Bella raises her lemon tea. "I've got a meeting early in the morning tomorrow. Can't risk to have the presentation while having a hangover. Besides, the only one who's drunk is Fat Amy. The rest of us are sane enough to keep it light."

Beca simply nods absentmindedly.

"You okay, Pop?" Emily asks as casual as she can.

With a stern look, the DJ warns, "Okay. You and Donna need to stop asking me that question."

Emily shrugs nonchalantly, "Just concerned."

"I'm fine." Beca rolls her eyes.

"Okay."

The DJ turns to look at CR and says, "CR, Donna just told me that you're going to work with us in a month or so. Is that true?"

"Yeah capt." CR grins. "Told you last night that Denise and I are moving here."

With a light smile, Beca says, "Welcome to LA then."

"Can't wait to spend more time with you, shorty." CR says casually. "In the last couple of days, we couldn't seem to get a hold on you. You are a very busy person."

"Here, Babe." Chloe hands her fiancé a glass of iced tea.

"Thanks." Beca takes the glass and turns back to CR. "Can't afford to lose the only job I have. Besides, I have a couple of projects coming up. So... I guess I'm sorry for neglecting you guys."

"We understand." Flo says. "You've got a busy job. But so are we. If we could make time to come here, we hoped that you could make time for us too. We're sisters nevertheless."

With a tight-lipped smile, Beca says, "Sure. The next time all of you are here, I'll make sure to clear my schedule."

"That's our capt!" Fat Amy exclaims while raising her glass of wine. "She'd do anything for us! For captain!"

"For captain!" Everybody cheer all together.

Beca raises her iced tea, smiling tightly before she says, "For Bella."

Then they have dinner together, simply talking about casual stuff and joking around. After dinner, they don't watch movie as usual. Since most of them are not coming back to LA for supposedly another six months, they spend their time mostly talking about the new generation Bella.

Nobody brings up about the wedding plan because Stacie has warned them to let Chloe talks to the DJ first before flooring their ideas.

Even so, Beca seems to be anxious. She keeps on glancing at the clock and fidgeting her fingers on her thigh.

"You seem tense, Shorty." Stacie says casually. "Penny for your thought?"

"Just thinking about work stuff." The DJ shrugs, trying to act nonchalant.

"You need to relax, Shawshank." Fat Amy slurs. "Your life... isn't only about work. Lighten up a bit! You make the room darker just by being gloooooomy."

It erupts a bark of laughter, and Beca simply smiles lightly. As much as she misses her sisters, Beca just can't help but feeling impatient. She wants to go back to her place just so she can have her nicotine fix. 10 PM is when Beca just can't help herself anymore, and she whispers to Chloe, "Babe, can we go back to my place now?"

Chloe looks at her in confusion. "Why?"

Truth to be told, the DJ doesn't really have an excuse, and she certainly can't tell the redhead that she wants to go home to smoke. "I uh..." She sighs deeply. "Nevermind."

It's not that Chloe hasn't noticed how tense her fiancé has been the whole time. She's confused why Beca seems to be uncomfortable around the Bellas, which is supposedly unlikely because they are sisters.

Therefore, the redhead grabs Beca's fidgeting hand and pulls her to the backyard. Once they are already alone, Chloe cups Beca's cheeks and softly says, "Baby, please tell me what's bothering you."

Beca taps her foot impatiently and turns her head slightly aside, can't even bring herself to look at her fiancé when she says with her eyebrows furrowed, "Nothing. I'm just... I just want to go home."

"Baby, look at me." The redhead says still as soft, and Beca looks at her with scowled face. "I've been watching you squirming on your seat the whole night. Are you not comfortable being around our sisters?"

Without any doubt, Beca can't tell that she's not sure either why being around the Bellas upset her. Therefore, she shakes her heads and mutters, "I'm just... I don't know."

"Babe..." Chloe says with a slightly firmer tone.

"Maybe?" Beca says apologetically.

It certainly strikes the redhead right in the chest, and she automatically pulls her hands back. Nevertheless, she asks, "Why?"

After huffing out a long frustrated breath through her mouth, the DJ says tiredly, "I just... I've got work to do."

Getting that answer is just making the redhead upset. She takes a deep breath to hold herself from blowing up in anger and says, "Babe, I know you love working, you love your job, and you're having a problem at work now. But you can't put your work above the people who love you; who want to spend time with you."

Beca just crosses her arms on her chest, biting her bottom lip nervously without any courage to look at her fiancé while keep tapping her foot impatiently. It certainly upset her fiancé even more.

"Oh, for God's sake." Chloe rolls her eyes, and then she says firmly, "Look. I'm not gonna stand between you and your work. If you want to go back to your place now, then you'll have to go back alone. Our sisters are here for us, and they're going back tomorrow. So, I'm staying whether you're staying or not. But if you choose to go back to your place without me, just so you know, I'm not gonna be happy about it."

Automatically, Beca closes her eyes and sighs heavily while slumping her shoulders.

"Choose." The redhead says firmly even though she's afraid that her fiancé will choose to go.

With both of her hands, the DJ scratches the back of her head harshly and says in frustration, "Fine. I'll stay."

Chloe sighs in relief and rests her hands on Beca's arms. Then she softly says, "Baby... just one more night, and we'll get to spend more nights with just the two of us. Promise."

"Yea yea yea." Beca says in annoyance while gently pulling herself away from the redhead.

Just as the brunette is turning around, Chloe pulls her back by her elbow and caresses her cheek gently. "Babe, I'm sorry for pushing you. But-"

"But they're my sisters; my family." Beca says in half-bored yet also half-annoyed manner. "So I have to be nice. Or at least pretend to be."

Surprisingly, instead of being snapped at, the brunette is being hugged by her fiancé. "What are you doing?" Beca tries to wiggle out of the hug. She's confused and upset at the same time, and skin to skin contact irritates her when she's upset.

Chloe wraps her arms tightly around the DJ's back and softly says, "Just let me hug you. I know that it can calm you whenever you're upset."

Beca scoffs lightly, but the gesture eases her anger. Cautiously, she hugs the redhead back and mutters, "Thanks."

"I love you, Becs." The redhead says softly. "I want you to know that you can feel as upset as you want, and you can try pushing me away as hard as you might, but I'm here for you. I will always be."

Beca is hit with heavy guilty feeling all over again. Her chest tightens, and her eyes become heated from the tears. She coughs lightly and says with restraint voice, "I know." Then she sighs deeply and snaps at herself in her mind, _"Love her better, damnit!"_

After a couple of minutes, the redhead breaks the hug, only pulling herself away slightly and looks at her fiancé fondly. "Feeling better?"

Still with her eyes teary and her eyebrows furrowed from holding the pang in her chest, Beca smiles weakly and says, "Yea."

"It's just a hug, Baby." Chloe smiles lovingly. "Don't cry on me for a hug."

Beca let out a damp chuckle, and wipes the tears on the corner of her eyes. "I'm not crying."

Chloe giggles lightly and leans a bit forward, leaving a little gap in between the DJ's lips and her own, and then Beca meets her halfway for a kiss. It's a gentle kiss, a couple of light nipping between two pair of soft lips.

After they break the kiss, the DJ rests her forehead on Chloe's and says, "I love you too, Chlo." She has no doubt that she's telling the truth. She loves Chloe. But she also knows it's not the kind of love that Chloe deserves, and it certainly makes her feel bad. "And I'm sorry for acting like a jerk."

Chloe presses another chaste kiss on the brunette's lips and says, "Don't worry about it. Nothing you do could make me love you less."

Unknowingly for the redhead, the kinder and the more loving she is, the guiltier Beca feels. As painful as it is, Beca puts on a smile and says, "I know."

With a light smile and both of Beca's hands in hers, Chloe asks, "Ready to go back inside?"

Beca simply nods and let herself being pulled into the house.

Just as she sits down, Fat Amy winks and playfully asks her petite former captain, "Done giving ginger a favor?"

Since Beca is still rather distracted and easily irritated, Chloe rolls her eyes playfully and shots back, "Get your head out of the gutter, Fat Amy. Is there anything else but sex in your head? Judging from the size of it, I'd expect that you have more that sex in your mind."

"Sure she does. She has a tight space for food section." CR chips in playfully.

It certainly erupts a loud laughter from her sisters while Chloe also holds her fiancé's hand tighter.

"Don't blame me." Fat Amy says in mocked upset. "I haven't got my Bumper's special for three days, and all I could think about is his-"

"Stop!" The rest of the Bellas but Beca exclaim at the same time.

Meanwhile, Emily is subtly staring at her Pop while sipping her lemon tea without saying anything.

While the other Bellas are chatting and giggling, Emily and Beca are preoccupied. The youngest Bella is certainly looking out for her former captain, and the DJ doesn't pay any attention to anything at all.

The Bellas are laughing for something that Beca doesn't pay any attention to. It's like she's in a bubble, watching them in autopilot. When they laugh, she just simply smiles as if she knows what they're talking about while in fact, she's busy with her own thoughts.

She can't help but wondering when did everything change for her. There were times she could find comfort being around the Bellas. Even at the reunion, with Jesse's and Kristen's incidents, moreover with the fact that she hadn't seen all of them at the same time for ten years, she had a great time with them.

Her sisters are definitely still the same. They're still the Bellas that she's known from college. Yet somehow she doesn't feel the same anymore. She sighs deeply and looks dejectedly at the table.

The look on Beca's face doesn't go unnoticed by Emily. Her former captain is spacing out, and detaching herself from her surroundings. In her effort to pull Beca back, the youngest Bella casually asks, "Pop, when is the premiere for August Rush again?"

However, Beca is still in her haze, and it certainly confuses the rest of the Bellas who thought that their captain was involved in the conversation.

Then Chloe nudges the tiny brunette gently. "Babe."

"Hm?" The DJ turns to look at her fiancé.

"Emily just asked you when the premiere for August Rush would be." Chloe says softly.

"Oh." Beca turns to look at her aca-child. "It's on Monday. Why?"

"Nothing." The youngest Bella shrugs. "Just wanted to know."

"Monday." Beca nods absentmindedly. "It's on Monday."

"You've said that three times, shawshank." Fat Amy teases. "Are you sleepy already?"

The other Bellas laugh lightly, and then Flo chips in playfully, "Geez. It's only almost eleven, and Beca already needs her beauty sleep."

Upon seeing that the DJ simply smiles, Chloe apologetically says, "She didn't have much sleep last night."

"Oh."

The rest of the Bellas become silent, and the situation becomes awkward, thinking back to last night when their former captain ran out of the living room after they talked about the wedding.

For the next half a minute, nobody says anything but stealing uncomfortable glances at each other. Then Chloe says, "I think we'll just excuse ourselves. It's already late anyway, and Beca is still not feeling well."

"Aw..." The others seem disappointed.

"But we're leaving tomorrow." Jessica says, and then Ashley adds, "And we might not see each other again in months."

"It's okay. We can stay longer." Beca says.

With a worried look, Chloe asks, "Are you sure?"

"Yea." Beca forces a smile. She knows how emotional she's been lately, and the least she can do for her fiancé is giving her a chance to say a proper goodbye to their sisters.

"Hey." Stacie tries to distract her sisters. "Why don't we talk about our reunion this year? When will it be, and where will we have it?"

"Since half of us are already in LA, I don't see why we can't have it here." Aubrey says.

"Agreed." Fat Amy says before she burps loudly, and it makes Aubrey cringing and feeling disgusted.

"So when?" Jessica asks excitedly, and then her wife adds, "Perhaps in the same time with..." She clearly wants to say something about Beca and Chloe's wedding, but upon seeing that Stacie is eyeing her, she decides against it. "Some other occasion so we don't have to take another trip for... the other occasion."

"What do you think, capt?" CR asks.

Beca shakes her head and says, "I'll go with whatever you plan."

"But you're the one with the tight schedule." Aubrey says matter-of-factly.

It's not a big deal actually, but since the DJ is easily triggered, it certainly causes some tension. Nevertheless, she takes a deep breath and puts on a smile. "I'm not sure yet. But in May, I'll have MTV Awards, and starting from then, I'll be busy with wedding preparation. So, I'll be in LA until the end of the year."

All of her sisters, including her fiancé are stunned.

Chloe's heart is thumping, and she's cautiously yet excitedly thinking, hoping that Beca has given a thought about their wedding. "What wedding preparation?"

"My best friends' wedding." Beca says obliviously. "Troian and Patrick's. They're getting married in December. Emily and I are gonna help them with the preparation."

"Oh." And again, everybody seem to be disappointed, especially Chloe. The redhead closes her eyes and takes a deep breath to hold a pang of disappointment in her chest.

Aubrey on the other hand, isn't the one who can hold her tongue when she sees her best friend is hurting. Therefore, with her arms crossed on her chest, she says, "Well, if you can spare your time preparing other people's wedding, we expect that you also can spare some for your own wedding."

Beca raises an eyebrow and coldly asks, "Whose wedding?"

"Yours with Chloe of course." Aubrey says firmly.

"There isn't any wedding yet." The DJ says flatly, but the stern glaring do tell that she's upset.

"Babe..." Stacie warns her wife.

Nevertheless, Aubrey doesn't back down, and she says, "Of course there's a wedding. You are engaged. It's only right to talk, _and_ have a wedding after an engagement."

As nonchalantly as possible, the DJ responds, "Chloe and I haven't discussed it yet between the two of us. You know, the two people who will _actually_ get married in that _said_ wedding. So, there isn't any wedding to be prepared yet. And I do hope that you don't take this the wrong way, Posen." She leans forward, staring at the blonde sternly. "Back, the fuck, off."

"Baby..." Chloe warns softly while squeezing her fiancé's hand gently, yet the DJ just keep staring at her former captain boldly.

"Okay." CR cuts off awkwardly, acting as a buffer to ease the tension. "We were talking about the reunion. Where were we?"

Emily takes the bait and hurriedly says, "We were thinking about having our reunion here in LA."

"Yeah. Sure. Maybe this time, instead of having it in my house, we can do it in some hotel in Malibu." Stacie hurriedly chips in while her wife and Beca are still in some kind of glaring war.

The other Bellas can't seem to be bothered with the talk about reunion. They are too busy looking back and forth between the two former captains.

"Why don't you want to talk about your own wedding?" Aubrey asks coldly toward the DJ.

"Oh, let me think?" Beca mocked as if she's in a deep thought; tilting her head slightly aside, pressing her lips tightly, furrowing her eyebrows. After a couple of seconds, she mocked as if she just got an insight with wide eyes and a forced grin, " _Maybe_ , because Chloe and I haven't talked about it yet. Since you know, the person who will marry Chloe in this hypothetical wedding, is, me; not, you. Is it clear enough? Or should I just repeat the same answer again, Posen?"

The split second when Aubrey is most likely taken aback, Beca continues with the same sarcastic manner, "Geez... must have been hard for you to understand that sentence. Let me re-phrase it to you." She motions her hand between herself and Chloe. "We," She holds up two fingers. "The two people," She moves both of her index fingers to meet in front of her chest. "Who will actually get married in that said wedding," She opens and closes both of her hands repeatedly as if they are talking to each other, and then forms an X by crossing her index fingers. "Haven't talk about it yet." Then she smirks sarcastically. "Got it? Or should I write it down?"

Most of them become so quiet, knowing that when the DJ starts rambling out her snarky remarks, it means she's trying to hold herself back from blowing up her anger. However, there's one or two that remain oblivious; like Flo and Lily who seem to be trying to decipher a hard code.

Aubrey on the other hand, her face is so red, and it seems like she's going to erupt any second.

To ease the tension, Chloe hurriedly says, "Beca and I will talk about it privately, Bree. We'll tell all of you when we already know what we want for the wedding."

For a couple of seconds, Aubrey simply stares at her best friend with a certain look that says _Is it okay with you?_ And Chloe simply nods while smiling softly. Then the blonde casually says, "Okay then. We can't wait to hear about it. Oh by the way, if you're going to talk about the wedding, it means you'll need to find a place to live together. I mean, there's no way you can start a family in that penthouse, as huge as it is. And fortunately, our neighbor just moved out. I think it's the best that you two live next to us."

With a forced smile, Beca says overexcitedly, "Oh, just, my lucky, star. What a great idea, Posen. Here is a thought. Why don't we just buy the house, and break the wall and the fence at the backyard so we can have a joined house? Wouldn't that be perfect?"

"Are you serious?" Flo exclaims excitedly yet also obliviously. "This is so exciting!"

"Dear lord." Beca drops her face onto her palms.

Chloe rubs her fiancé's back while looking at Aubrey to say, "I'd be so happy to live next to you, Bree. But Beca and I still have so many things to talk about. But sure, we'll think about it." Then she wraps one arm around Beca's shoulder from aside, squeezing it gently as she says, "Babe, look at me please." When the DJ doesn't comply, she softly calls, "Baby..."

Beca sighs in defeat and looks aside at her fiancé tiredly.

With a soft smile and her signature puppy eyes, the redhead asks, "May I get a smile from my scowl faced fiancé?" When Beca just keep staring at her with an eyebrow raised and bored look, she intensifies her puppy eyes. "Just a little tug by the corner of the lips will do."

Upon seeing the full power of puppy eyes, Beca scoffs but she can't help herself from smiling lightly.

Chloe's face light up, and she says, "A little bit more please."

The tension is still there, but it's far less for the DJ. Then she fakes a wide grin from ear to ear playfully, making her fiancé laughs lightly. "There she is. My adorable DJ is back." Chloe says cheerfully.

Beca simply shakes her head lightly, smiling while sighing in defeat. There's no way she could keep being upset when her fiancé is showing those puppy eyes. Since forever, it was rare for the DJ to resist the power of pouting and puppy eyes from the women she loves. Either it was with Chloe, or Ashley, or even Emily as the aca-child.

Certainly, the rest of the Bellas feel relieved in an instant. Chloe always brought that effect upon them back in college. She has always been great at easing the tension within the group. Now that she's feeling better with the help of therapy and having Beca, they have seen that the redhead has returned to her old bubbly self almost completely. However, they're a bit confused to see how fine Chloe is because in the last two nights, things weren't fine between the newly engaged couple.

Unknowingly to them, the redhead felt so relieved after the talk she had with Beca in the morning. Finding out that the night terror wasn't caused by the marriage proposal and the DJ just needed time to think about the wedding did lifted the burden off her shoulders. Her only concern now is helping her fiancé dealing with this upset feeling after having the night terror and the problem at work.

"You're cute." Chloe says before kissing the tiny brunette's cheek. "Especially when you're smiling."

With a mocked annoyed look, Beca rolls her eyes and says, "Not cute. Badass."

"There she is!" Jessica exclaims excitedly, and then Ashley continues, "The Beca whisperer is back!"

While the rest of the Bellas are cheering, Beca asks with her eyes narrowed, "The Beca whisperer?"

Stacie nonchalantly says, "Oh, you know. Back in college, you were moody, and gloomy, and whiny, with your dark eyeliner too much and ear monstrosities too many, and we couldn't deal with you when you were staring at us with an eyebrow raised. But Chloe could."

"We didn't even know how to deal with you in daily basis." Flo says casually. "But Chloe did."

"And you didn't make it any easier for us to deal with you." Fat Amy says. "But ginger could."

"Moreover, we couldn't even tell when you were upset." Jessica chips in, and her wife says, "You were always with that scowled face. But Chloe could tell."

"I even made a scientific formula of how to deal with you. Took me two years to finish it." Lily comments in barely a whisper. "But it didn't work. Chloe did."

"Yea yea yea." The DJ rolls her eyes in mocked annoyance. "I was a pain in the ass. Thank you very much for pointing that out."

"Chloe achieved the impossible." CR says casually. "So, we gave her a nick name."

"The Beca whisperer." Emily smirks.

"Huh." Beca rolls her eyes again with bored look this time. Then she turns to look at her fiancé who's grinning from ear to ear.

"I am The Beca whisperer." The redhead says smugly.

Beca simply scoffs lightly though she can't help it when her smile becomes slightly wider.

"Of course Chloe is The Beca whisperer." Aubrey says matter-of-factly toward the DJ with her arms crossed on her chest. "She is your best friend, who happens to be the only one who knows you better than anyone else, has loved you more than anything in this world, also accepted you so unconditionally despite of your annoying attitude, dealing with your shit longer than anyone else, and so far, she's the only one who could deal with you the best."

Every words that Aubrey said cut deep into Beca's chest. Still leaning forward on her seat, Beca clasps her hands, pressing her knuckles onto her lips, simply staring unfocused at the table in front of her while those statements sink into her mind.

Upon seeing that Beca is at loss of words and seems to be cornerned, Emily comments, "No offense to all of you," She turns to look at Chloe. "Especially you, Chloe. But I think the people who have loved Beca so unconditionally, dealt with all of her shit, and accepted her annoying attitude for the longest time would be Donna and Harvey. They've been in Pop's life for almost 11 years now, while we were only with her for four years in college, and some of us are merely back in her life now. So, what Aubrey said would be an over-claim and an overstatement."

As true as it is, Chloe still feels a light tug of hurt in her chest. However, she says nothing but forcing a light smile.

Aubrey glares at the youngest Bella and says, "Doesn't matter, Em. The point is, Beca is lucky for having Chloe. Some people would kill to have someone like her; to be loved by someone like her.

"Agreed." Flo adds.

"Certainly. No one is better for you than Chloe, Beca. It's definite." Jessica chips in, and her wife adds, "We've seen it. For nearly 15 years now."

Then the redhead hugs the DJ from aside and nuzzles her nose onto her fiance's cheek. "It's because I love you, Baby boo. So much."

None of those things makes Beca feel relieved. If anything, it suffocates her with guilty feeling. The lump in her throat is clearly trying to choke her to death, and the heat in her eyes can possibly blind her. Nevertheless, she coughs lightly and says with restraint voice, "I know."

"Aw..." Flo coos. "Look. You made her cry, Chloe."

"The superpower of the Beca whisperer." Jessica says, and Ashley adds, "It could even break the stone hard heart of our captain."

"The power of love!" Fat Amy exclaims.

"I think we should bottle up Chloe." Lily whispers. "Essence of the best lover in the whole universe. We'll make a great amount of money from it."

Beca simply closes her eyes and takes a deep breath to compose herself.

Just like her sisters, Chloe thinks that her fiancé is moved and emotional from being loved. While still hugging the DJ from aside, the redhead softly says, "God, I love you. You are way too adorable."

Meanwhile, Emily just sighs heavily, Stacie doesn't even have the heart to look at her petite former captain, and CR can only shake her head upon seeing how oblivious most of her sisters are. Aubrey is staring at the tiny brunette with a doubtful look though, because she isn't convinced that Beca is nearly crying from being moved by their encouragement.

Then Emily tries to change the subject, hoping that it can ease the tension for her Pop. "So, the reunion. What should we do this year?"

"I've got an idea." CR hurriedly comments.

"Shoot." Stacie says.

CR says, "Since I will be working as a senior producer at Lucifer Records, I'm thinking that The Bella can sing a song, and I will produce it as my pilot project."

Upon hearing the word _song, produce,_ and _project_ , Beca's face light up, and it completely distracts her from the heavy feeling in her chest. "Now that's a great idea, CR."

"Agreed." Flo says.

"We can even make a video where I will do the mermaid dancing." Fat Amy says excitedly before sipping her wine.

"Urgh." Emily takes the glass away from the hilarious blonde. "I think it's enough drinking for you tonight, Fat Amy."

"What song do you think?" Jessica asks, and her wife adds, "I'm thinking that we can sing a song about friendship, the one that reminds us about our college life."

"I'm listening." Aubrey grins. As upset as she is, she just can't help but feeling excited with the prospect of singing with her sisters again for public.

"I have an idea." Lily raises her right hand, and her sisters can actually hear her this time.

"Whoaa..." Stacie laughs. "Shoot, Lily. And be quiet girls. Lily is talking."

With a wide grin that her sisters deem a bit creepy, the Asian says, "How about we do a cover of I'll Be There For You from FRIENDS?"

"Sold." Aubrey comments immediately.

"I'm in!" Emily exclaims.

"Me too!"

"Me three!"

"What do you think, capt?" CR asks the DJ.

Beca nods absentmindedly and says, "It's a good song. I think we can try doing it in acoustic version."

"That's what I thought." CR says excitedly.

"Let's do this, bitches!" Chloe exclaims.

Then Aubrey says, "All in favor, sing aaa in three."

"One."

"Two."

"Wait." Stacie cuts in, looking very serious. " _On_ three, or _after_ three?"

It certainly erupts a bark of loud laughter among them. Even Beca chuckles lightly. Just as always, no matter how high the tension between them, talking about songs or singing could always bring them back together. Well, they're the Bella for a reason; their love to singing.

Upon seeing how bright the DJ's face is, Chloe can't help but sighing in relief while staring fondly from aside. Then she laces her fingers with Beca's and grabs it tightly, and the tiny brunette simply smiles back at her.

Feeling that the tension is out of the windows, Stacie comes up with a better idea to end the visit before her wife tries to ruin the good vibe by bringing up something about the wedding again. Therefore, she starts singing softly, _"So no one told you life was gonna be this way..."_

Her sisters smile instantly, and Emily continues, _"Your job's a joke, you're broke, your love life's DOA..."_

" _It's like you're always stuck in second gear."_ CR joins them while the others start humming lightly and Lily gives them a light beat.

" _When it hasn't been your day, your week, your month,"_ Jessica looks at her wife fondly, and Ashley joins her, _"Or even your year but..."_

With a smile so fond, Chloe stares at her fiancé and sings, _"I'll be there for you..."_

" _When the rain starts to pour."_ Beca smiles back at the redhead.

" _I'll be there for you..."_ Fat Amy takes her turn, and Aubrey sings with her, _"Like I've been there before."_

" _I'll be there for you..."_ Flo sings, and then they all harmonize together, _"Cause you're there for me too..."_

Everybody is staring at Beca with bored look when Emily sings, _"You're still in bed at ten,"_ And Stacie continues while keeping her bored yet accusing look at the DJ, _"And class began at eight."_

"Why are you all looking at me?" Beca retorts in half-annoyance. But her sisters just keep humming lightly while staring at her knowingly. It's not a secret that the DJ did skip a lot of classes back in college.

Then Chloe cups her fiancé's cheeks and brushes her nose onto the DJ's playfully, grinning from ear to ear as she sings, _"You burned your breakfast so far,"_ Beca rolls her eyes in half-annoyance, shaking her head lightly and sings with bored tone, _"Things are going great..."_

While the others are chuckling lightly upon seeing the stubborn childlike look on Beca's face, Flo points her index finger at her sisters one by one while singing, _"Your mother warned you there'd be days like these..."_

" _But she didn't tell you when the world has brought you down onto your knees that..."_ Fat Amy and CR harmonize.

" _I'll be there for you..."_ Stacie is staring fondly at her wife, and the blonde continues with the same fond look, _"When the rain starts to pour."_

" _I'll be there for you..."_ Emily smiles softly at her Pop, and Beca smiles back at her while joining in, _"Like I've been there before..."_

" _I'll be there for you..."_ Jessica and Ashley sing together.

" _Cause you're there for me too..."_ All of them harmonize. _"Hmmm..."_

After that, they simply smile at each other softly, feeling so warm upon feeling the love in their sisterhood. It feels just like when they were sitting around the campfire.

It just feels right, and Beca can't help but asking the very same question, "Did we just find our sound?"

Chloe's face lights up, and she replies, "I think we did."

The rest of the Bellas are still smiling and grinning. Then Aubrey softly says, "One."

"Two."

All of them sing in harmony, _"Aaaa..."_

Then they clap their hands and cheer excitedly. What a way to end their unofficial reunion for the night.

"Aw... I'm gonna miss you guys." Emily says with her eyes teary and her voice restraint.

"We're gonna miss you too." Jessica and Ashley say in unison.

Then almost all of them automatically stand up and wrap each other in a big group hug.

Feeling like they are missing something, Emily turns around and finds her petite former captain is still sitting on the couch and looking at them with narrowed eyes. Then she pouts, "Come and give us a hug, Pop."

"Why?" Beca whines.

"Because we're leaving tomorrow, Shorty." CR says matter-of-factly.

"And you won't see us until our reunion." Flo says.

"This is a goodbye hug." Jessica says, and then her wife adds, "Until we meet again."

"I hate goodbyes." The DJ grumbles.

"Baby..." Chloe calls softly.

"Fine." Beca bites while rolling her eyes. Then she joins her sisters in the group hug for a couple of seconds before pulling herself away and says in all seriousness, "I think that's enough human contact for me for the rest of the year."

Her sisters know this manner so closely, and they simply laugh lightly while Aubrey scolds the DJ half-heartily, "Why is it so hard for you to show that you love us and this hug?"

"Nu uh." Beca shakes her head in all seriousness. "You're deluding yourself, Posen, if you think that I love you and that hug."

Emily rolls her eyes and says, "Ignore her. She loves us. She's just too shy to admit it. And she wouldn't be Beca Mitchell if she didn't at least pretend that she doesn't love us."

Chloe kiss the DJ's cheek and cheerfully says, "My fiancé, ladies. My adorably awkward fiancé."

With her cheeks flushing red, Beca mutters, "Whatever."

It only makes her sisters laugh even louder.

Upon seeing that they are in a good term, Stacie sighs in relief and smiles lightly. Certainly, she, Emily, and CR can breathe in relief at least for a while until they have to talk about the wedding again. _"Hopefully, when they come again, Beca and Chloe are already in a better situation."_ The tall brunette thought to herself.

"Maybe we can make an album." Emily says casually. "You know, an album for all of the songs we've sung back in college. Including Flashlight."

"Ace of Base!" Aubrey exclaims excitedly.

"I Saw The Sign!" The redhead exclaims at the same time.

"Not that stupid boring song again." Beca whines overdramatically like a child. Then she forms an invisible box with her hands while mocking with a high pitch voice, _"I saw the sign..."_

"Baby!" Chloe pouts.

Other than Aubrey who is glaring at the DJ, the rest of the Bellas are laughing whole-heartily. After the laughter unwind, they simply talk about the project for the first Bella's album.

At 1 AM, Fat Amy is already snoring, and Emily seems to be almost falling asleep. Therefore, they decide to call it a night. They send Chloe, Beca, and Emily off on the front porch.

"Until I see you again." The DJ says to her sisters.

"Come here, capt." CR says while pulling the tiny brunette into a hug. Then she says, "You know we always have your back, shorty. Just tell us what you feel, and we'll be there for you."

"Yea yea." Beca replies while patting CR's back gently.

Then CR breaks the hug and squeezes her former captain's arms tightly. "I'll be here sooner than you think. Hang on."

Beca simply nods, even though she's a bit confused of why CR seems to be concerned about her all of the sudden.

"I'm sorry I can't take you to the airport." Emily says apologetically. "I have an important meeting tomorrow."

"It's okay, legacy." Jessica comments casually while hugging the youngest Bella along with her wife. Then Ashley adds, "We're gonna miss you. You take a good care of your Pop and Mom, okay?"

"Absolutely." The youngest Bella says.

Then Chloe says, "We're still going to see each other tomorrow because I'll take you to the airport. So, let's save the hug for another day."

"Me too." Aubrey says.

"Me three." Stacie chips in.

After a couple of pats on the back, and a bit of tears coming from all of them but Beca, they wave goodbye to each other. Beca drives Emily back to her place first before going back to her own place.

* * *

**Thursday, March 12 2026.**

When they arrive at the DJ's apartment, she says, "I'm gonna shower."

"Babe, this is almost two in the morning." Chloe says softly. "Why don't you take a shower after you wake up?"

"Hmmm..." Beca purses her lips to think, and then she says, "Nah. The last time I showered was almost 24 hours ago. I don't think I can fall asleep without showering first."

"Okay." The redhead kisses her lips gently. "Just don't take too long."

The brunette simply smiles in return before going to the bathroom and takes a shower. When she walks out, Chloe is already lying on the bed and reading a book. Just as she climbs and lies on the bed, the redhead immediately puts down the book and hugs her from aside.

"Have you taken your sleeping pills?" Chloe asks.

"I don't think I need it. I had an acupuncture session this afternoon. It should help me sleeping."

"Okay then." The redhead says through a yawn. "Good night, Babe. Love you."

"Love you too."

Unfortunately, even long after Chloe fell asleep, Beca doesn't seem to feel sleepy at all. Every words Aubrey and her sisters said about Chloe loving her are hanging above her head. It has become a constant reminder of how she's failing in loving the person who has loved her for everything she is. It certainly makes her anxious and nauseated.

She glances at the clock to find that it's already 3.30 in the morning. Knowing that there's no way she can fall asleep, the DJ decides to go to her studio. In there, she sits behind her desk and smokes deeply. It quiets her mind for a while. Unlike last night, she doesn't do anything else but smoking this time; simply watching the smoke swirling before her eyes with nothing in her mind.

* * *

_**Another smut.** _

Beca just came back from the office. As she walked into her apartment, she was stunned to find her girlfriend in the living room only in a bright red silky robe and a pair of matching color's stiletto. For half a minute, she simply looked at the goddess in front of her with slacked jaw.

"Surprise." Ashley smirked devilishly, standing with one hand on her hip, posing a seductive gesture.

Blinking and swallowing hard were the only two things Beca could do at that moment. Then the blonde walked toward her, swaying her hips in a way that made the DJ's mouth watery. It had been a month since she worked in London, and it had been as long she didn't see her girlfriend. Certainly, she had missed the blonde so much.

As she wrapped her arms around the brunette's neck, Ashley said, "I've missed you. Did you miss me?"

Beca swallowed hard again and nodded lightly, making her girlfriend chuckling lightly.

With a seductive smile, the blonde said, "Are we going to spend my visit with you trying to find a word to say?" When the DJ was still stunned, Ashley trailed a finger down her throat and said with a husky voice, "Well, I can think of one activity that doesn't require you to talk at all, Babe." Then she took off her robe slowly while biting her bottom lip before she said, "Perhaps this will help." She dropped the robe onto the floor.

The blonde was wearing nothing under the robe. Just as Ashley was going to take off her heels, Beca breathed out, "Don't take it off."

With rosy cheeks, the blonde complied and simply smirked.

Upon seeing that Ashley was wearing nothing but a pair of heels, Beca instantly pulled her into a searing kiss, and the blonde returned it as hungrily. It was messy; they weren't exactly aware of how or what they were doing.

Without breaking the kiss, Ashley was trying to undress Beca in a speed of light, while the brunette automatically led her girlfriend to some surface where she could have her way more comfortably than on the floor. Then the DJ leaned downward, pushing her girlfriend along with her onto the couch before she kicked off her combat boots.

The DJ was laying half on top of her girlfriend. Their bare skin were sweaty and slippery, and Beca had to hold herself up with one elbow while her other arm was doing wonder; rubbing and pinching Ashley's nipple.

Then she pulled herself downward to brush her swollen lips on Ashley's hardened nipple before taking it in with her tongue, scratching it gently with her teeth, and sucking it deeply.

When Beca was nipping her breasts like there was no tomorrow, Ashley scratched her fingernails onto the brunette's back and said with ragged breath, _"Babe... How I- I've missed having your lips... all over me."_

As her thumb did wonder by teasing the blonde's clit, Beca pulled away slightly, smirking smugly as she said, "Can't get enough, huh? Wonder why."

Ashley rolled her eyes while arching up her hips, asking for more without saying any words.

Then the DJ buried her face into the crook of Ashley's neck and breathed in her natural scent. It smelled like a mixture of coconut and vanilla, and she loved that scent; even addicted to it. Feeling so alive and full of desire, Beca crashed her lips onto Ashley's again, kissing her more deeply, harshly, even roughly.

After a while, Ashley broke the kiss by grasping Beca's hair tightly and pulling her backward slightly. Then she said through ragged breaths, _"Babe... now please..."_

Upon seeing how high her girlfriend was; rosy cheeks, breathing heavily, sweaty, vulnerable and shuddering under her touch, Beca cursed, _"Fuck, you're driving me crazy."_ Then she pushed two fingers into Ashley's core at the same time.

" _Agh!"_ The blonde moaned with her eyes and mouth wide open. Then she closed her eyes, biting her bottom lip so hard while her hands grasped Beca's hair even tighter, pulling her down for another kiss.

Beca kissed her girlfriend fiercely while her thumb kept on rubbing the blonde's clit and her fingers were twirling, curling, thrusting in a way that took Ashley's breath away.

" _Babe, I'm almost there..."_ Ashley slid her hands down the curve of Beca's sides then up to the back, and trailed her fingernails, scratching them down the brunette's back deeply.

Beca changed her pace, thrusting faster, and then Ashley screamed out her name loudly, dipping her fingernails so hard on Beca's back before biting the brunette's shoulder.

Upon feeling Ashley's teeth and fingernails deep in her skin, right on the flower tattoo on the back of her right shoulder, Beca growled deep in her throat and dropped her forehead onto the blonde's shoulder blade.

There wasn't time for Beca to even her breath, and Ashley had already flipped their positions. Then she pinned both of Beca's hands above her head and said with husky voice, "You're not allowed to touch me, Mitchell."

"What?!" Beca protested.

With a devilish smirk, Ashley hovered her lips on the DJ's and said, "Just lie back and enjoy."

"That is fucking mean!" The brunette exclaimed in upset. "I can't do that. You can't do that to me."

Still with that ridiculously hot devilish smirk, the blonde pressed her middle finger onto her girlfriend's clit and said, "So, you don't want my wet warm tongue on this?"

Beca's eyes rolled back. "The hell with it." She said in barely a whisper, and Ashley smirked triumphantly.

Then Ashley leaned forward near the brunette's ear and whispered with damp husky voice, "Remember. Hands off, Mitchell... At all time..." She gave the last touch by biting Beca's earlobe gently

" _Oh fuck."_

With her bottom lip in between her teeth and her thumb rubbing her girlfriend's clit, Ashley stared into the brunette's dilated steely blue eyes and smugly said, "Not God. But close."

Beca rolled her eyes in half-annoyance, feeling so impatient when she firmly said, "Hon, don't try me."

Then the blonde pulled herself downward, positioning her head in between Beca's thighs and glanced up to look at the brunette. Her smirk was so maddening when she teased, "Now I get it why you loved teasing me when we were making love."

"Damnit woman! Just do it already!" Beca was overwhelmed in every senses, and she couldn't help herself but grasping her own hair tightly. Her core was throbbing, and she was overheated under her skin.

When Ashley brushed the tip of her tongue gently on the clit, the DJ cursed under her breath, _"No fucking shit."_

"I like it when you curse." The blonde teased.

A loud growl came from the brunette's throat before she said with labored breath, _"You are so... fucking mean."_

Gently, Ashley brushed her tongue onto Beca's core, licking the wet sweet nectar off the brunette's inner labia.

" _Oh fuck!"_ Beca hissed while grasping the blonde's hair so hard on the scalp.

Then Ashley pulled back her tongue and teased, "If you touch me, then I'll stop."

"God damnit, Hon!"The DJ cursed loudly. "Are you trying to kill me?!"

"Nope." The blonde replied nonchalantly while brushing the tip of her nose onto her girlfriend's clit. "Just having a little fun."

Beca swallowed hard and pulled her hands back before clenching them tightly on the side of her own head. Then Ashley thrusted her tongue into the DJ's core, playing the tip of her tongue inside while using her thumb to tease the clit.

When Ashley sunk her mouth onto the core and started sucking it, Beca just couldn't help herself but arching her back up so high and biting her bottom lip so hard. It didn't take long until she came. She was breathless, and also wordless.

Even so, Beca could feel Ashley pouring out her essence on her thigh before crawling up and laid herself half on top of her. Automatically, the brunette wrapped her left arm around the blonde's back even though she was still grasping for air.

_**End of smut.** _

While staring at the DJ, Ashley smirked and said, "I should do this more often. You know, come to surprise you, and make you come with a little bit of teasing."

"You're mean." Beca muttered through labored breaths.

"Yet you love me." The blonde teased. "And you love it."

"You bet." Beca rolled her eyes in mocked annoyance. Then she kissed her girlfriend chastely and said, "And you're still the most beautiful weirdo even with sweat all over your cocky face."

Ashley simply chuckled lightly and laid her temple on Beca's left chest. While rubbing the brunette's bare chest gently, she said, "I always love listening to your heartbeat slowing down after we made love. It calms me."

The warmth in the DJ's chest was spreading so fast to the tip of her fingers. She smiles contentedly without saying anything.

Then Ashley pulled herself up a little bit and stared at the tattoo on Beca's left chest. "Sometimes, I still can't believe that you carved my initial on your left chest."

"Seeing is believing." The DJ says nonchalantly.

While brushing her nose under Beca's jaw, the blonde said, "I don't know, but somehow it still feels... too good to be true. I'd never thought you'd done something so permanent."

The brunette pulled herself away slightly to lie on her side and looked at her girlfriend. Ashley automatically fixed her position so she could face her girlfriend.

While staring fondly into Ashley's eyes, Beca tucked a strain of her blonde hair behind her ear and softly said, "Well, like I said in the song, you know, _Tattoo_ , your name will be a good tattoo. I want to put it in all my rhyme. And there's one other thing. On the day you went to San Francisco, you know, a week before our third anniversary, I heard a song that reminded me so much of us. And if you listen to it, I bet you'll be reminded about us too. Especially the way we make love."

"What song?" Ashley smiled fondly with her cheeks flushed, and she rested her arm on the side of Beca's stomach.

"It's Bad Things by Machine Gun Kelly featuring Camila Cabello. I have it in my phone."

"Hmmm..." The blonde smirked seductively. "A song that reminded you of the way we make love, huh? Go get your phone, please. I want to listen to it."

Beca groaned, "I'm so comfy, and I don't want to get up to grab my phone and risk not having your bare skin on mine even for one second.

"Please..."

"How about I sing a part of it for you?"

When Ashley was rolling her eyes playfully, Beca starts singing, _"I want you forever even when we're not together. Scars on my body so I can take you wherever like, I want you forever even when we're not together. Scars on my body I can look at you whenever."_

"Hm." The blonde grinned. "Catchy song. So convenient that just a couple of months after our third anniversary, you have to work across the continent. Now you sure have a piece of me wherever and whenever you are."

Then Beca caressed her cheek gently and said "Well, I also thought that if one day..." She paused for a split second, glancing her eyes away from the blonde's mesmerizing blue eyes, trying to look casual though her cheeks were flushed. "I don't ever want to let you go, Hon. But if one day you feel like... you've had enough of me, then I hope you remember that I've got your name engraved on my left chest; that my heart belongs to you. And I wish you'll come back to me. But if you don't, then I'll still have a piece of you with me."

With a smile so fond, Ashley brushed her cold nose onto her girlfriend's and said, "That day will never come, Babe. I promise. Cross my heart."

Beca sighed contentedly and said, "I'm so in love with you."

Ashley smirked smugly and said, "You're lucky then, Mitchell."

"Why?" The DJ raised an eyebrow, yet she was also smiling at the same time.

Ashley's smirk turned back into a fond smile when she caressed the brunette's cheek and said, "Because I feel the same."

The fond smile and the glimmering eyes coming from her girlfriend surely warmed the DJ's chest even more. It felt like she could float up in the air. Then Beca leaned forward to kiss her girlfriend so tenderly.

"Babe?! Are you in there?!" A loud worried voice that is definitely not Ashley's combined with a hard banging on the door comes into her mind.

* * *

Beca is startled; her breath hitches and she jumps slightly on her seat. Then she blinks hard several times to gather her senses. Apparently, she fell asleep with her cheek pressing onto the desk.

"Becs?!" Chloe shouts worriedly from the other side of the door. "Babe, are you in there?!"

Beca sits up, wiping the drool off her cheeks and chin, and then she shakes her head, trying to keep her eyes open while her mind is still hooked to her dream. "Aw!" She yelps when she flexes her aching neck. It must be from the wrong sleeping position, and she massages it gently.

"Becs, please tell me you're in there!" Chloe's shaky voice do tell that she's nearly crying. "I swear to God, I'll break this door if you don't answer in a minute!"

Hurriedly, the DJ presses the intercom button and clears her throat before she says with hoarse voice, "I'm in here, Babe. I... I fell asleep."

"Did you sleepwalk?" The redhead asks worriedly.

"No no... I didn't..." The brunette swallows hard because her throat is so dry. "I couldn't sleep last night. So I came in here. What time is this?"

"Almost nine. Open the door please. I need to make sure that you're okay."

"I'm okay, Chlo." Beca rubs her eyes with her palms, pressing it so hard to gather her mind back to reality. "I'll come out. Just let me shower first."

"Can you open the door first please? I need to see you." Chloe pleads.

Beca becomes panic. The room is smoke free and has no odor - _thanks to the smoke stomper_ , but she still has several cigarette butts and ashes in the electric ashtray on her desk and even on the floor. Not to mention that she reeks of cigarette; her fingers, her breath, her clothes, and even her sweat.

"Just let me shower first. I'll come out as soon as possible. Promise. I have to get ready to work." The DJ says hurriedly.

There's a couple of seconds where the redhead doesn't reply, and it's nerve wracking for the brunette. But then Beca hears she says, "Don't be too long."

"Okay." The DJ hurriedly jumps into the shower cubicle to have a very cold shower to tune down the heat in her core. The image of her making love with Ashley is still embedded in her brain vividly. Then she brushes her teeth twice as fast as possible as she's putting on some clothes. She doesn't even bother to dry her hair but frantically cleaning the room from ashes and cigarette butts.

After making sure that she leaves no evidence of her smoking activity, Beca cautiously opens the door and peeks out. When she sees that Chloe is sitting on the couch in the living room with the back facing her, she hurriedly walks out of her studio. As usual, the door locked automatically behind her.

When Chloe hears the door closed, she's quick on her feet, rushing toward her fiancé from the living room and asks, "Are you okay?"

Beca smiles awkwardly and says, "I'm fine. I just... fell asleep."

Chloe sighs in relief but her eyebrows are still furrowed when she says, "You've got me worried. I woke up, and you weren't in our bedroom. Since I couldn't find you anywhere else, I figured you must be in the studio."

"I'm fine, Babe." The DJ says apologetically. "I'm sorry to worry you. I couldn't sleep last night, so I came to work on some stuff."

While shaking her head in defeat, the redhead says, "Come on. I'll make you some breakfast."

"Just let me grab my phone in the bedroom, and then I'll be with you in the kitchen."

"Okay."

Then the brunette walks into her bedroom absentmindedly. Her mind is flooded with so many thoughts and images of having Ashley in every possible ways. Therefore, she needs to do something to distract it. Since she can't smoke in front of her fiancé, the other idea that comes into her mind is playing game.

As the brunette walks into the kitchen, Chloe asks, "Is pancake okay?"

"Yea." Beca says while taking a seat, and then she starts downloading a war game into her new phone.

Meanwhile, Chloe is leaning her butt against the counter while absentmindedly whisking the pancake mix in her hands. Her eyes are narrowed, fixed on her fiancé who seems to be busy doing something with her phone. Then she sighs heavily and proceed making the breakfast. When the pancakes is ready, the redhead pours a glass of cold milk, and then serves the breakfast for her fiancé.

"Thanks." Beca mutters without looking up from her phone.

When the DJ hasn't started eating after ten minutes, Chloe softly says, "Babe, put down your phone and start eating."

Without saying anything, Beca hurriedly shoves a piece of pancake into her mouth and continues playing with her phone.

For a while, nobody talks at all. While the DJ is having breakfast along with playing game, Chloe is staring at her worriedly. The brunette seems distraught, and the circles under her eyes are so dark that she won't need any eyeliner or eyeshadow. When she can't hold her tongue anymore, the redhead cautiously asks, "Babe, what are you doing?"

"Just playing some game." Beca muffles with her mouth full of pancake, but still, her eyes are fixed on her phone's screen.

Chloe sighs worriedly and asks, "Did you have a proper sleep?"

"Nope." The DJ shoves another huge piece of pancake into her mouth hurriedly. "Sleep is overrated." Then she shouts with her mouth full while pressing her phone's screen vigorously. "Die bitch! Die!"

Trying to be patient, the redhead softly says, "Babe, put down your phone please. I'm talking to you."

"In a minute."

Gently, Chloe puts her hand on the phone and pushes it down as she softly calls, "Baby."

Feeling upset from the interruption, Beca looks up at the redhead, and she's ready to spit out her anger. However, when she finds that her fiancé is staring at her with pleading and worried look, she sighs in defeat and says, "Sorry."

Chloe smiles softly and takes the phone away as she says, "It's okay. Now let's have our breakfast."

"Hm." The DJ nods and takes a sip of her milk.

"Babe, I told you to wake me up if you couldn't sleep. Why didn't you?" Chloe asks cautiously.

Beca sighs, "I was just... I didn't want to bother you."

"Baby..." Chloe says worriedly. "I've told you. I don't mind. I want to be there for you at any time. Besides, we haven't slept on the same bed for two nights. I've missed you."

With a frustrated look, the DJ says, "I don't feel safe sleeping on the same bed with you, Chlo." When she sees the hurt in her fiancé's eyes, she hurriedly says apologetically, "It came out wrong. I mean, I'm afraid to hurt you if I have another night terror."

Chloe sighs in relief, smiling as she softly says, "I'm not afraid. And you won't hurt me. So, can you please sleep on our bed again?"

While shaking her head lightly, the brunette unsurely mutters, "Okay." Then she shoves another piece of pancake into her mouth and asks, "At what time you will be taking our sisters to the airport?"

The redhead takes her time to make up her mind by chewing and swallowing slowly before she says, "I don't think I will take them to the airport."

Beca is confused. It's so unlikely for the redhead to pass a chance to say goodbye to their sisters. Therefore, she asks, "Why?"

Still with the same worried look, Chloe says, "I think I'm gonna stay with you today. I'll call Donna to tell her that you're taking a day off."

"What for?" The DJ becomes more confused. "Why should I stay at home?"

Chloe grabs her hand, and softly yet worriedly says, "Baby, the circles under your eyes are as dark as panda's. I think you need to rest today."

While flexing her tensed neck, the brunette says, "I'm fine, Chlo. I don't need a day off. If anything, I need to go to work. And I have an acupuncture session with Doctor Edgar this afternoon. Besides, you haven't said a proper goodbye to our sisters. And I know you don't want to miss it."

"You're more important to me." Chloe says without hesitation. "They'll understand. Aubrey and Stacie can take them to the airport without me. And please don't fight me on this. You clearly need to sleep. You haven't had any good night sleep three nights in a row, and you're too stubborn to admit that you're not okay. And about your appointment with Doctor Edgar, it can be easily rearranged. We can ask him to come here instead of the office."

Upon being told to do something she clearly doesn't want to, anger flares up in the DJ's so vastly. "Don't tell me what to do, Chlo." Beca says in upset while gripping her fork tightly. "You have no right to tell me what to do."

The way Beca talk certainly hurts Chloe. Nevertheless, the redhead clears her throat from the suffocating lump and asks, "Isn't being a concerned fiancé enough to tell you what to do?"

Beca rolls her eyes in annoyance and says, "Oh sure. Now that you're my fiancé, you get to give me an order, and I have to obey. What a great arrangement. I wonder why we didn't get engaged earlier."

Chloe sighs heavily and tiredly says, "Baby... it's obvious that you're so tired. You're easily agitated, your temper is off the roof, and you became..." She's hesitant to tell the truth, but she thinks she should. Therefore, she takes a deep breath and mutters, "You became mean. Listen to yourself."

"I have been all of those things since the first time we met." The DJ says with an annoyed smile. "It's fascinating that you're still surprised. Sure you still want to have that wedding?"

The redhead massages her own forehead tiredly with her eyes closed tightly. _"Just one more day until she sees her therapist, Chloe. Hang on."_ She thought to herself. She's indeed tired and becoming impatient. Nevertheless, she takes another deep breath and pleads, "Baby, please... I'm doing this for your sake. If I didn't care about you, I would've chosen to send our sisters off at the airport. So please, I'm begging you. Take a day off."

Upon seeing how defeated and dejected her fiancé is, Beca huffs in defeat and says, "Fine."

Chloe looks up at her and smiles in relief. "I'll call Donna after breakfast."

Beca simply nods in return.

After making sure that the brunette has taken her meds including the sleeping pill, Chloe calls Donna and Aubrey to tell them about Beca's condition. Then she pulls her fiancé into the bedroom and hugs her on the bed. They are lying on their side, facing each other.

Feeling suffocated, Beca takes a deep breath and says as nicely as possible, "You don't have to do this, Babe. I took the pill. I'll sleep like a baby in a couple of minutes. You can go and take our sisters to the airport, and I'll probably still be sleeping when you come back."

"I'm staying." Chloe says softly while caressing the brunette's head gently. "I'm not leaving you. Not when I know you need me. And I've told you last night. You can try pushing me away as hard as you might, but I'm not going anywhere. I'm here to stay, Babe. Because I love you."

When the magic L word comes out, Beca knows that nothing she says can change the redhead's mind. Therefore, she relents and simply closes her eyes. After a couple of seconds, she mutters, "I love you too."

Chloe smiles softly and kisses the DJ's lips chastely.

It doesn't take long until the sleeping pill kicks in, and Beca falls into her slumber peacefully.

Meanwhile, Chloe just keep staring at her fiancé's seems-like-angry sleeping face. She has been familiar with that look since college because they spent many nights on the same bed.

The last three days have been tiring for her because Beca has been stubborn and upset all the time. It's like she's dealing with the freshman Beca all over again, but multiplied by ten.

Even so, seeing the brunette sleeping soundly makes her feel relief. "I wonder how I fall to you this deep." She mutters softly while caressing Beca's head gently. "You must have a super power behind that scowled face and snarky remarks."

After half an hour or so watching her fiancé sleeping, Chloe falls asleep too. She wakes up around 12 PM, and Beca is still sleeping in the same position. She's reluctant to get off the bed, but her bladder is having an emergency. Therefore, Chloe goes to the bathroom, and when she gets back, she decides to read a book while lying on the bed.

Around 2 PM, the apartment's security calls and tells her that Doctor Edgar has arrived. She let him in before waking her fiancé up.

"Babe." Chloe shakes the DJ's shoulder gently. "Babe, Doctor Edgar is here."

When the brunette doesn't even stir, she doesn't have the heart to wake her up. Therefore, she tells the doctor to skip today's therapy. Then she has lunch before going back to the bedroom and continues to read.

It's already 5 PM when Beca finally wakes up. She rubs her eyes and grumbles, "Chloe, I'm hungry."

While putting down her book, Chloe chuckles lightly and says, "I had some chicken salad for lunch. I've saved some for you. Let's go to the kitchen."

"Hm." Beca responds while still gathering her senses. Then she stands up and drags her feet out of the bedroom while her eyes are still fighting the sleepiness. "Can we eat in the living room? I think I might be falling asleep again during eating."

The redhead takes her fiancé's hand in hers, can't help herself from chuckling lightly upon seeing Beca's childlike manner. Then she coos, "Sure, baby boo. Anything you want."

"Hm." The DJ let herself being pulled to the living room.

"Wait here." Chloe says as Beca sits down on the couch. "I'll go get your lunch slash dinner."

"Mmkay." The brunette responds while trying to open her eyes completely. She's indeed still half asleep. The sleeping pill must have been so strong, or she must have been so tired that she's still feeling so drowsy after taking a nap for six hours.

True to her words, Beca falls asleep halfway through eating. She wakes up abruptly when she feels like falling down and her head nods down.

With a soft smile, Chloe says, "Babe, let's go back to the bedroom."

"Mmkay." The DJ puts down her plate on the coffee table and stands up before dragging her feet back into her bedroom. Just as she lies on the bed, she yawns and holds her pillow along with her Bali sarong tightly.

"Babe." Chloe shakes her shoulders gently. "You need to take your meds and brush your teeth."

Doesn't have the energy to argue, Beca simply gets off the bed and goes to the bathroom. When she's done, the redhead hands the brunette her meds. "Here."

"I don't want to take the sleeping pill again." The DJ grumbles while rubbing her eyes. "If I take it again, I'm afraid I won't be able to wake up in the morning."

"Okay." The redhead takes away the sleeping pill.

After taking her meds, Beca drops herself onto the bed, lying on her stomach while holding her pillow and Bali sarong tightly. She falls asleep in a matter of seconds.

On the other hand, it's still too early for Chloe to sleep. Therefore, she decides to do meditation for half an hour on the bed. Then she simply watches some show in mute while caressing Beca's head absentmindedly.

Around 10 PM, the redhead wakes her fiancé up to have her heart meds again. Beca doesn't even open her eyes when Chloe puts the meds into her mouth and helps her to take a drink with a straw.

Then the redhead decides to end the day too. She lies on her side and stares at Beca's sleeping face, smiling ever so fondly when she tucks a strain of the DJ's hair to the back of her ear. "Good night, Becs. I love you." She kisses the brunette's lips gently and closes her eyes.

* * *

The couple was cuddling up on the bed and watching a movie together. As usual, Ashley rested her temple on Beca's left chest while absentmindedly rubbing the brunette's chest gently.

"That was quiet a movie." Ashley said after the movie ended. "It was... tragic yet beautiful."

"If you like an obvious movie where the guy always gets the girl, then yeah. That was quiet a _boring_ movie, dude." The DJ said with bored tone.

The blonde gasped overdramatically, pulling herself up to look at her girlfriend and protested, "It was a great movie, movie hater. It's Rachel McAdams in The Vow. And she's with Channing Tatum, playing a movie that is based on a true story. They are so meant to be together that even an amnesia can't break them apart. Besides, look at his abs and her boobs. How could you be bored at all?"

In all seriousness, the DJ mocked, "Oh, I'm sorry to offend you, miss movie lover. They can put as much abs and boobs, and I'll still refuse to say that I'm delighted with any romance movie. Because I'm not. Too cheesy, and I'm kind of having an itch only by watching it. You know, allergy. Yikes."

While laughing lightly, Ashley lay herself half on top of her and said, "You are so unbelievably stubborn. You're lucky you're cute when you are acting like that. And I kind of love stubborn you."

"I'm lovable that way." The brunette said smugly.

Ashley rolled her eyes playfully and said, "And you're lucky I love cocky you."

"Oh honey..." Beca smiled, mocking a sympathetic look. "I hate to break it to you, but I think you love me in every single way I am." When Ashley said nothing but staring at her with wide eyes, she asked, "What?"

"You called me honey."

"So?" Beca raised an eyebrow.

Ashley chuckled, "You'd never called me with a cutesy nickname before. It was either Ash, or Ashley, or Benson, or dude, or bee. Mostly dude."

Beca's cheeks became reddish. She cleared her throat, scratching her own nose as she muttered, "Well, you're my girlfriend. I've been working on the name I'm gonna call you lately. And I think it just suits you, you know. I called you Bee, bees collect honey, so there's a phrase _honey bee_. Besides, bees worship their queen. And you know," Her cheeks couldn't be more red, and her voice came out unclear as she muttered under her breath, "You're my queen now. Everything just add up. So... honey it is... Hon."

From the look of it, the brunette could tell that the blonde was swoon; her eyes were a bit teary yet the grin on her face was so bright.

Ashley cleared her throat and teased, "It sure took you five months to add it all up."

"Shut up." Beca muttered while trying to play it cool even though her reddish cheeks were showing how shy she was.

With the same wide grin, Ashley teased again, "So, since you're in love, starting to call me honey, having your own personal queen now, have you changed your mind about happy ending yet?"

Beca rolled her eyes and said matter-of-factly, "I'll just quote Penny from The Big Bang Theory to answer that. You know, since you forced me to watch that show with you, I better make it count."

"Penny? Really?" Ashley looked at her girlfriend in disbelief. "I thought if you were ever gonna identify yourself with any characters in TBBT, it would've been Sheldon. You know, oblivious, have quirks about social interaction, and you're just as awkward as he is when it comes to affection. Or at least Leonard, because of his rich sarcasm."

"Do you want to hear it or not?" The DJ scolded in mocked upset.

Ashley rolled her eyes playfully, chuckling before she said, "Fine. What is it?"

"I had an epiphany. Not a stroke." Beca deadpanned.

Ashley barked out a loud laughter, and the DJ simply looked at her fondly. Laughing Ashley was one of the things she favored the most; her bright blue eyes formed into a perfect crescent, her cheeks became reddish, her dimples were so deep; punctuating her beauty perfectly, and the sound of it could flutter the brunette's heart.

As the laugher subsided, Beca just couldn't help herself but brushed a strain of hair to the back of Ashley's ear and rested her palm on Ashley's cheek before she softly sang, _"I couldn't have imagined, how good my life would get... from the moment, that I met you..."_ The smile on Ashley's face couldn't get any fonder. Then the DJ smirked as she finished the song, _"Bernadette..."_

"Bernadette?" Ashley pouted. "Really? You couldn't be bothered to change it into Ashley?"

Beca barked out a loud laughter and said, "Hon... It was an original song. Howard sings the song for Bernadette on the anniversary of their first date."

Still with that endearing pout, Ashley rolled her eyes in mocked annoyance and asked, "How could you remember? You didn't even pay attention to the show."

"It's a cute song." The DJ said nonchalantly. "I like it."

"And I like it when you sing to me." Ashley said before kissing the brunette's lips chastely.

"Only like?" Beca raised an eyebrow, yet a light smug tug was playing on the corner of her lips.

With a teasing smile, the blonde said, "Keep singing cheesy love songs to me, and I might change my mind."

Beca simply chuckled lightly.

Then Ashley looked up at the clock to find that it was already 11 PM, and she poked Beca's nose playfully as she said, "Well my Casanova, I think I should go back to my place. It's already late."

Beca hugged her even tighter and said, "Stay the night."

With wide eyes, the blonde said, "You are on a roll tonight, aren't you, Mister?"

"How so?"

Ashley smiled teasingly and said, "This is another new thing. You'd never asked me to stay the night. The last time I stayed at your place was when I insisted to take care of you after you got back from the hospital. A month later after you were allowed to drive and do heavy lifting again, you said it was better if we stayed at our own places because it would give us a chance to miss each other."

"No biggie." The DJ muttered.

"How about tomorrow night? I don't have any clothes to sleep in." Ashley said casually.

Didn't have the courage to look at the blonde, Beca glanced her eyes away and muttered, "I think you won't need any clothes tonight."

"Huh?" Ashley looked at the brunette in confusion.

Beca cleared her throat and scratched her own nose as she shyly muttered, "I- I said you won't need any clothes tonight."

Seeming to finally understand what her girlfriend was saying, Ashley simply responded, "Oh."

Upon seeing the blonde's struck look, the brunette cleared her throat again and said, "I think I'm ready to... you know."

"Oh." Ashley seemed dumbfounded.

Thinking that Ashley wasn't ready yet, Beca blurted out, "But if you're not ready, or... it's still weird for you to uh... do it with a woman, then uh... we don't have to do anything at all. I mean, I-"

"Babe." The blonde cut Beca's rambling softly. "I want to do it. We've known each other for almost a year now. I've wanted to do it even before we started dating. But since you told me that I'm your first girlfriend, I've been waiting for you to make the first move. I'm just... surprised."

"So you were waiting for me to make the first move." Beca huffed out one of a heck relieved breath, but then she rambled again, "I thought... well, you're far more experienced than I am, and I'm afraid that uh... maybe you didn't want to uh... you know. And I was afraid that you think I can't... satisfy you in the way you wanted; the way you've had it before. So..." When Ashley just kept staring at her while pressing her lips tightly to hold a laughter, Beca sighed and said, "I'll just stop talking now."

With a smile so fond, the blonde said, "Babe, it's okay. You're nervous. I'm nervous too. In a way, this is my first time too. So, I think we should just... go with our instinct."

Beca grimaced awkwardly and cautiously asked, "But what if I do something that you don't like?"

"Then I'll tell you." Ashley said nonchalantly. "And if you don't like what I do, then you should tell me."

After blowing out a long nerve-wracking breath through her mouth, the brunette said, "Okay." She remained silent for a couple of seconds, simply staring at her girlfriend while trying to steady her pacing heart. Then she muttered, "So... where do we start?"

Ashley smiled softly and leaned downward to kiss the DJ chastely before she asked, "Do you mind if I go to the bathroom first? And can I borrow some of your clothes?"

"Sure."

After the blonde left to the bathroom, Beca was fidgeting, biting her bottom lip nervously. She knew she was ready, but the pressure was high because Ashley had been with several guys before.

Then she sat up cross-legged on the bed, simply looking at her trembling hands on her laps. After ten minutes or so, she heard the bathroom door opened, and she looked up at Ashley.

_**The last smut.** _

The blonde had changed her clothes. She was only wearing Beca's oversized faded black shirt over the underwear. She also had let her hair down, bouncing around her chest, and she was staring at the DJ fondly.

The way Ashley was looking at her wasn't unusual, but her appearance was. Beca's breath hitched, and she could feel how hard her heart was trying to bang its way out of her chest upon seeing the blonde half-naked. Her blood was rushing into her head, and she felt a bit lightheaded.

Slowly, Ashley walked toward the bed and climbed on it to sit cross-legged in front of her. Nobody said or did anything for a while other than stealing nervous glances at each other.

At some point, their gazes met, and Beca caught Ashley's eyes flickering down to her lips. Knowing that she should make the first move, cautiously, she leaned forward to rest her forehead on the blonde's. Even that simplest touch made her shivering on the back of her neck, and her breaths became shortened.

The DJ's eyes were closed, but her other senses were overwhelmed. She could feel Ashley's warm and damp breaths on her lips. The tension was high, and she could do nothing else but clenching her hands tightly on her laps.

As she felt the blonde's warm palms on her neck, Beca stirred lightly from the unbearable electrical sensation under her skin that spread so fast down her spine. Cautiously, she rested her hands on the curve of Ashley's sides and leaned forward to kiss her lips.

Even though it wasn't their first kiss, knowing that this kiss would lead to something more made it feel different somehow. It started slow and gentle. She took her time to nip Ashley's lips lightly before brushing the tip of her tongue on the blonde's bottom lip.

When Ashley parted her lips, the DJ could feel it clearly how their warm damp breaths melted into one. It gave her a strange yet welcomed sensation down in her stomach. It was like something was trying to crawl its way out up from her stomach through her lungs into her throat.

Then she slid her tongue into the blonde's mouth gently. She was relieved that Ashley didn't rush into anything, and simply let her lead.

After a while, air became urgent, and Beca broke the kiss. Still with their foreheads rested on each other's, she just parted their lips slightly to grasp some air. She tugged the edge of Ashley's shirt, and asked in barely a whisper, "Do you mind if I..."

"I don't mind." Ashley said softly through labored breaths.

After swallowing hard, the DJ pulled herself backward a little bit, making a small space between them so she could pull out Ashley's shirt. Then she leaned forward for another kiss while slithering her hands up to the blonde's back to unhook the red lacy bra.

She slipped her thumbs under the bra straps, and started pulling them slowly down Ashley's arms, brushing her knuckles along on the blonde's soft skin.

" _Ngh..."_ Ashley whimpered softly.

Now that the bra was out of the way, Beca took her time to look at her girlfriend's bare chest and toned stomach with adoration written all over her face. When she looked up at Ashley, the blonde was glancing her eyes away, seeming shy with her cheeks flushed.

Beca couldn't help but smiling fondly. Then she said, "You are so... I don't think I have any word to describe how beautiful you are."

The only thing Ashley could do was biting her bottom lip.

It certainly drove the brunette over the edge. Even so, she didn't rush it. She kissed Ashley's forehead gently, and then she kissed the blonde all over her face; her eyelids, the tip of her nose, her cheekbones, and the last was her lips.

They broke the kiss just for a split second when Ashley pulled out the DJ's shirt and bra.

Now Beca knew why her girlfriend was blushing when she was staring. The way Ashley was looking at her now; the longing in her bright and blue dilated glimmering eyes, did its job wonderfully in heating the brunette up. She glanced her eyes away and wrapped her arms on her chest, suddenly feeling too exposed.

However, Ashley cupped her cheeks and softly said, "You're beautiful, Babe. There's nothing to be shy about."

Cautiously, the DJ loosened her arms and looked at her girlfriend in the eyes. There was nothing else but adoration in them, and she couldn't help herself but smiling in relief. Then she trailed her fingers slowly, brushing them down Ashley's chest, making the blonde biting her bottom lip tightly as if she was trying hard to hold herself back.

Beca was trying to imprint every expressions the blonde showed by her touch; the hiss coming through the blonde's lips when she was ghosting the back of her hand under the curve of Ashley's breasts, the way Ashley's stomach shrunk when she was rubbing her palm on it, the heavy moaning when she stroke her thumbs on Ashley's nipple. All of those things built up her nerve, and she felt bolder.

Then she captured Ashley's lips, kissing them so tenderly while leaning forward, backing the blonde to lie on the bed gently. While kissing Ashley, Beca wasn't aware that her left hand went down to rub Ashley's core over the wet underwear. It was when the blonde moaned loudly that she became aware of what she was doing, and she pulled her hand back abruptly.

With a puzzled look, Ashley asked, "Why did you stop?"

"I..." She swallowed hard. "Did I hurt you?"

Ashley smiled and said, "No, Babe. It feels so good. Don't overthink it. Just let your instinct guide you."

Beca sighed in relief. Then Ashley cupped her cheek with one hand and softly said, "You're so sweet. I love you."

The way Ashley was looking at her, it made the brunette shivering down her spine, and she kissed Ashley again, deeper yet also tenderly. Slowly, she trailed the kisses down to the blonde's neck, and further to her chest. She stopped to press her nose onto the crook of Ashley's neck, breathing in the coconut vanilla scent she had grown to love. Then she hovered her lips, ghosting her warm breath on the blonde's nipple.

She took her time to brush Ashley's hardened and warm nipple with the tip of her nose before nibbling it gently with her lips. The she licked it with the tip of her tongue before taking it into her mouth and started sucking it gently.

" _Oh..."_ Ashley moaned while grasping the brunette's brown locks.

Then the DJ moved her lips to the other nipple and did the same thing, making the blonde arching her back up asking for more. After that, she trailed her lips down to Ashley's stomach, pressing several kisses here and there before going further down.

Beca positioned her head in between Ashley's thighs and kissed the blonde's inner thigh gently. Then she breathed in her girlfriend's scent, closing her eyes as the intoxicating natural sweet aroma hit her senses. When she blew her warm damp breath onto the blonde's core, Ashley moaned, _"Ngh..."_

Beca looked up and asked, "May I?"

The only response she got was a light nod, and the brunette slowly pulled down Ashley's lacy red underwear, brushing the back of her hands down the blonde's legs when she did so, pulling herself backward into a sitting position.

When the underwear was already out of the way, Beca raked the view of her very naked girlfriend before her eyes. Her breath hitched, and she swallowed hard. Ashley was grasping the sheet beside her head tightly with her hands, writhing under the touch, and it made the brunette's desire jumped over the roof, stinging on the top of her head. Even her own core was throbbing, and she could feel warm liquid flooding out of it.

Then she leaned downward to the prior position in between Ashley's thighs. At first, she simply looked at the blonde's pinkish labia, imprinting every inch of it into her mind before touching it with her thumb.

It was a gentle nudge, yet Ashley moaned louder than before. Then the brunette slid her thumb down, splitting the wet labia in the middle and pushed a bit harder on the core.

" _Babe..."_ Ashley breathed out. The sound of her gasping for air was heavy and deafening. _"Please..."_

Beca pressed her lips onto the labia and gently brushed the tip of her tongue on it, making her girlfriend moaned, begging for more. Then she rubbed Ashley's clit with her thumb while her tongue did wonder, thrusting into the blonde's core.

" _Oh Babe... Just like that..."_ Ashley breathed out, arching her back up, grasping Beca's hair tightly. _"Just like that... Oh keep going please..."_

It certainly encouraged the brunette to go even deeper, even bold enough to suck Ashley's clit.

" _Yes... right there..."_ The blonde said loudly with hoarse voice. _"I'm almost there..."_

When her girlfriend fell onto the bed breathlessly after screaming out her name, Beca pulled herself back and poured the sweet essence out of her mouth on the blonde's thigh before wiping her lips clean with the back of her hand.

Then Beca lay on her side next to her girlfriend, holding her head with an elbow. Her nose was puffing, and her lips were pressed tightly to hold her grin. She felt so proud of herself that she could make Ashley came that way on their first time.

Meanwhile, Ashley was still trying to steady her breaths; her chest was raising up and down heavily; her blonde hair was messy, plastered on her sweaty neck and forehead; even her skin was glowing.

Upon seeing the blonde's satisfied look, Beca couldn't help but smiling fondly and said, "You're so beautiful."

"Okay..." Ashley said through ragged breath. "There's no way this is your first time."

"Nu uh." The brunette smirked smugly. "This is my first time doing someone. I'm a natural."

Ashley turned to lie on her side and looked at her girlfriend with narrowed eyes, mocking an accusing look.

With her cheeks flushed, Beca instantly diverted her pupils to the corner of her eyes.

"You googled it, didn't you?" Ashley asked, still with that mocked accusing narrowed eyes.

"No." Beca grumbled and pressed her lips tightly like a stubborn child, looking at anywhere but her girlfriend.

"I think you did." The blonde intensified her narrowed eyes, yet the grin on her face was also getting wider.

"No..." The DJ mumbled, still with that childlike stubborn look while pinching the bridge of her own nose, and she still couldn't bring herself to look at the blonde.

"Babe..."

"Yea, I googled it." Beca said in defeat. Then she grumbled like a child who got caught doing something wrong, "Well, you've had your fair share of sex. And I didn't want to disappoint you. So... I looked for it."

While chuckling lightly, Ashley pushed the DJ to lie on her back, and laid herself half on top of her. She cupped Beca's cheek with one hand as she softly said, "You're such a dork. And I'm not disappointed at all. I didn't even think I would."

With a goofy grin, the DJ said, "Okay." Then she said matter-of-factly, "And by the way, _you_ , are loud."

"U huh." Ashley responded nonchalantly. "That way, you'd know what I like, and how I like it."

"Huh." Beca nodded absentmindedly, and then she asked in all seriousness, "Should I be loud too?"

"Just do whatever you feel comfortable." The blonde said casually. "I didn't do it in purpose, Babe. It just came out automatically."

"Hmmm..." The brunette pursed her lips while nodding lightly. "Okay then."

"Your turn." Ashley said while trailing her hand down to undo the brunette's shortpants.

Suddenly, the DJ felt self-conscious again, and it seemed like the blonde saw through her because she softly asked, "Babe, do you trust me?"

After taking a deep breath, Beca nodded and let Ashley pushed down her pants including her underwear. She helped by kicking them off her feet.

As the blonde's finger touched her core, Beca's eyes rolled back and she stirred her neck from the overwhelming electrical sensation that struck straight down her spine.

"You are so wet, Babe." Ashley said with husky voice.

The only thing Beca could do was swallowing hard. When the blonde rubbed her clit gently, the DJ cursed under her breath, _"Fuck."_ She slapped her own mouth, shocked by her own reaction.

Yet Ashley simply said, "It's hot." When Beca just kept covering her mouth with her eyes wide, still embarrassed of what she did, the blonde softly said, "Babe, it's okay. It's normal. And honestly, I like it. It's kind of a turn-on for me."

Hesitantly, the DJ pulled down her hand, grimacing awkwardly as she asked, "Really?"

"Really." The blonde replied with a fond smile.

Knowing that her girlfriend was being sincere, Beca sighed in relief and smiled. Then Ashley leaned downward to kiss her deeply. Just like that, the DJ forgot about everything else but the blonde's lips on hers.

When Ashley was exploring her breasts with tongue and lips, Beca grasped her own hair with one hand tightly on her crown while her other hand was grasping the sheet next to her hip just as tightly.

The DJ had never felt so overwhelmed before. She was nervous, and scared, and curious yet also wanted more all at the same time. To prevent another curse coming out through her mouth, she bit her bottom lip so hard .

Then Ashley pulled up to crash her lips onto the brunette. It was a deep, rough, and messy kiss. Yet Beca returned it hungrily. When air came between them, Ashley pulled away slightly. Their slightly parted lips were so closed to each other's, and their warm labored breaths melted into one.

Their eyes locked, and Beca automatically slid her hands up from Ashley's neck to the back of her head, running her fingers through the blonde's damp hair, hinting that she was ready.

"Tell me if it hurts." Ashley whispered.

Beca simply nodded. But when the blonde pressed her clit with a thumb, the DJ cursed louder than before, _"Oh fuck."_

"So... you like it, huh?" Ashley teased, grinning from ear to ear.

"The hell I don't!" The DJ scolded with rough voice. Her head was pounding, and she held it tightly with both hands as if she was trying to prevent it from blowing up.

Then gently, Ashley thrusted one finger into Beca's core, and the brunette couldn't help herself but cursing under her breath, _"Damnit!"_

It certainly hurt, but it wasn't as much as the pleasure she felt. When Ashley was building a pace with her finger in and out, Beca just couldn't help it but grasping her own hair, even pulling it harshly. Her blood was rushing, and she felt like she was going to have a cardiac arrest judging from how fast and hard her heart was thumping under her ribs.

Just as Ashley added another finger, a loud growling came out from Beca's throat before she hissed through her teeth. She forgot about everything but Ashley's lips on her breast and the fingers that were twirling, stroking, and curling inside her.

There was no regular pace, and she was thrown in between waves. When the highest wave hit her, Beca just let go and surrendered, arching her back up automatically to reach the final strike before crumbling down onto the bed breathlessly.

It was relieving that Ashley slowed down her fingers before pulling them out. It gave the brunette a chance to catch a breath. But the DJ didn't give her girlfriend a break after her breaths even out. She flipped their positions, positioning her hips in between the blonde's thighs and pushed herself up with her hands beside Ashley's head while aligning their clits.

Then the DJ started grinding her hips onto her girlfriend's. It started slow and gentle. Ashley automatically slid her hands on Beca's sweaty back, straddling the brunette's waist with her legs and breathed out, _"Harder, Babe..."_

Beca responded by going faster and harder, making the blonde moaned loudly and repeatedly. Their hips were moving in a harmony, fitting and synchronizing in a rhythm. Then she sucked the blonde's pulse point, and Ashley automatically lifted her chin up to give her girlfriend more space while slithering her hands to the DJ's back.

When Ashley scratched her back, the brunette cursed under her breath, _"Damnit! It's fucking good!"_

It seemed like, the way Beca cursed made the blonde became bolder in doing wonder with her teeth and fingernails. She bit Beca's shoulders and lips, and scratched the back of her shoulders just as the friction got harder.

**_End of smut._ **

In the end, they came together, and the brunette rolled to lie herself next to her girlfriend. With labored breath and heaving chest, Beca breathed out, "That was..."

"Earth shattering..." Ashley finished her sentence through ragged breaths.

Beca smiled with her lips slightly parted, still trying to grasp some air into her lungs while her heart was thumping so hard. Ashley on the other hand, had already lying herself half on top of the brunette and rubbed her left chest as she said breathed out, "Please don't stop beating."

It certainly made the DJ laughed lightly though she still couldn't produce any word yet. When her breaths became even, Beca trailed her fingers on Ashley's back gently and said, "If I had known that having sex was this great, I would've done it a long time ago. We should do it all the time, like ten times a day."

With her chin resting on the brunette's chest, Ashley chuckled and said, "I'm glad you didn't find out until now. Until me."

The DJ pulled herself away slightly to lie on her side and look at her girlfriend. Then Ashley automatically mirrored the position, scooting closer and hugged her.

Now that they were facing each other, Beca tucked a strain of Ashley's blonde hair to the back of her ear and said, "I'm glad too."

Ashley smiled fondly and said, "I love you."

"I love you too." Beca replied just as fondly.

They remain silent for a while, simply staring into each other's eyes while smiling softly. It was comfortable, and Beca felt her chest was full yet also light at the same time. She had never felt like that before, and she finally understood the word content.

After ten minutes or so, Ashley softly said, "Babe."

"Hm?"

The blonde seemed nervous when she said, "Not that I mind, but I couldn't help but notice that... you cursed louder when I bit or scratched your back?"

"Did I?" Beca asked with her cheeks flushed, grimacing awkwardly at her girlfriend.

"U huh." Ashley bit her bottom lip. "Did you uh... enjoy it?"

Beca glanced her eyes away from the blonde and cleared her throat. Suddenly, she felt hot, but not from the prior activity.

"It's okay, Babe." Ashley sounded sincere. "You don't need to be shy. I'm just learning about what you like and what you don't like when we're making love."

"Maybe?" The DJ muttered shyly. "I don't know. It felt... good? And like you said, it uh... just came out naturally. I think."

Ashley caressed her cheek gently and said, "It's okay. We have more time to learn about each other's preferences."

Beca simply nodded lightly, and then a thought came into her mind. She looked at her girlfriend with her eyebrows furrowed and asked, "If I could feel your fingernails scratching on my back, how could I don't feel hurt when they were... in me?"

Ashley held her hands up and showed them to the brunette. "I trimmed only the index and middle fingernails in my right hand when I was in the bathroom. I didn't trim all ten because... I wouldn't use all of them."

"Oh." The DJ responded casually. "Good call."

Ashley rolled her eyes playfully and teased, "You loved it when I planted my fingernails onto your skin."

Beca blushed awfully red and simply muttered, "Shut up."

"God, I love you, my toughie goofy." The blonde said with a wide grin before kissing her girlfriend chastely on the lips.

With a light smile, the brunette said, "You know what's weird?"

"From our first love making?" Ashley asked.

Upon seeing the worried look on the blonde's face, Beca hurriedly said, "No, God no."

The blonde sighed in relief and asked, "Then what?"

"I was alone for a very long time. I even started this relationship with nothing else but awkwardness and fear. But doing this, having sex with you, I thought it was supposed to be weird for me. But... the weird thing is, it didn't feel weird at all. Weird, right?" Beca said as casual as possible even though she could feel her neck became warm, and the heat was spreading to the tip of her ears.

"What did you feel?" The blonde asked softly.

"It felt..." Beca smiled fondly. "It felt right."

While chuckling lightly, Ashley nuzzled her nose into the crook of her girlfriend's neck and said, "I know what you're feeling. I thought it was gonna be weird having sex with a woman for the first time. But the weird thing is, it didn't feel weird at all. And I think I know why it's not weird."

"Why?"

"Because it wasn't just sex, Babe." Ashley said softly. "We made love."

It was certainly too hard for the DJ to hold back her grin. Her chest was so full, and she felt like she was going to blow up. Therefore, she could comfortably said, "We did."

Then Ashley pulled back a little bit to look at Beca with narrowed eyes and asked, "Do you think it's too soon for me to say that I feel like I could spend the rest of my life just lying with you on this bed?"

It certainly fluttered Beca's heart. Nevertheless, the DJ being her pragmatic self, she casually said, "Definitely too soon. You haven't found out how hard it is to deal with me. So, if I were you, I wouldn't be so sure yet. We haven't even known each other far enough to feel that way. So, let's see if you haven't changed your mind in a couple of months."

"A couple of months, huh?" Ashley nodded lightly while pressing her lips tightly as if she was impressed. "Your reaction is beyond my expectation. I thought you would've been running out of your own apartment by now." Then she said with a teasing smile, "Way to go, Mitchell."

In all seriousness, the DJ said, "Oh, I was gonna run. But my knees are still weak from the amazing orgasm you just gave me. So, give me a minute."

Ashley's jaw dropped, and Beca laughed whole heartily upon seeing the dumbfounded look her girlfriend showed. Even so, the brunette managed to say through her laughter, "Kidding, Hon. Y- you should have seen the look on your face."

"Babe!" Ashley pouted while slapping the brunette's arm, but still, the DJ just held the side of her stomach that was hurting from the hard laughter, and then the blonde chuckled lightly.

After the laughter unwound, Beca caressed the blonde's cheek gently and said, "Honestly, I am so not sure about the _the rest of my life's_ part yet, but right now, lying with you on my bed feels so right. So, it might be not the worst thing to do if you want to do it for the rest of your life. Might be."

Ashley nuzzled her nose back into the crook of Beca's neck and softly said, "Then I'll just keep it to myself until it's not a _might be_ anymore. And in return, you have to tell me when that time comes."

Beca knew it was a subtle promise that the blonde wasn't in this relationship just for an experiment or for fun. With her chest so warm, she simply chuckled and hugged Ashley even tighter, pressing her lips onto the blonde's crown as she sighed contentedly.

The odd thing is, after a while, she feels numb on her left arm.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That would be chapter 32. Beca had several wet dreams about her ex, and she was indeed frustrated when she woke up. It's one of the reasons why she was easily angry.
> 
> In the next chapter, Beca will see her therapist, and Chloe will find out about the picture of Ashley and Shay. Also, they will meet Ashley and Shay at the premiere. With that combination, what will happen? 
> 
> Just a bit of guessing, I think I might surprise you in the next chapter. Might be. Possibly. But until then, just sit tight, relax, and make good choices.
> 
> Thank you for reading :)
> 
> Ps. About the song Howard sang for Bernadette, it's in season 7 episode 6 of TBBT.


	33. How To Be Happy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hallo :)
> 
> First, sorry for the delay, and thank you for the readers, the people who follow and favor, and for the reviewers. You're always appreciated.
> 
> Okay. Now let's go back to the story. In the last chapter, Beca had several wet dreams about Ashley, half of the Bellas were oblivious about Beca's condition and kept pushing the wedding, and Chloe was having a hard time dealing with angry Beca. Like I said in the last chapter, the pain will go on to this chapter but just a little bit. We'll start this chapter with Beca waking up from another dream.
> 
> There's a couple of songs in this chapter; a brief part of Only You by Alison Moyet, Little House by Amanda Seyfried, and Tattoo by Hunter Hayes. I hope you enjoy :)

 

**Friday, March 13 2026.**

Beca wakes up as she feels a weight pressing on her left arm. She shakes her head and opens one eye slightly. Apparently, Chloe accidentally lies on her arm. Gently, she pulls herself away and flexes her arm as she looks at the clock with narrowed eyes to find that it's only 2 AM in the morning.

Then she lies on her back and replays the dream in her mind. It was her first time with Ashley, and even it only came back in her dream, Beca can feel that her underwear is definitely soaked. Therefore, she goes to the bathroom and changes her underpants.

She's sure that she won't be able to fall back asleep, and she'll need either a cold shower or nicotine to brush the image of vivid sex montage she had with Ashley off her mind. In the end, she decides that she needs both. Knowing that she'll smoke anyway, she decides to take the cold shower after smoking. She huffs out a long tired breath and walks out of her bedroom, going straight into her studio.

Beca sits behind her desk and smokes deeply without doing anything else but relishing the smoke swirling before her eyes. Sometimes, she looks out through the windows in front of her. It's dark indeed. In the dead of night, it's so quiet, and the only thing she can hear is the cracking sound of the burning cigarette. Somehow, it brings her comfort.

Cigarette after cigarette goes down, and suddenly, the dawn starts breaking, making the dark sky became slightly pale blue. Knowing that the redhead will wake up soon, she cleans the studio from any ashes and cigarette butts before taking a shower.

After making sure that the room and herself are smoke free, she goes back to her bedroom and gently lays herself next to her fiancé. Certainly, she can't sleep. Without any cigarette, her mind is flooded with so many thoughts again; the wedding plan and the neighboring arrangement with Aubrey; her engagement with Chloe; and the picture of Ashley and Shay sleeping on the same bed.

She can feel how anger rises up so vastly in her. Her heart is pacing, she feels hot and cold flashing under her skin repeatedly, and her breaths become shortened. It's indeed hard for her to lie still. After trashing back and forth on the bed for 5 minutes, Beca decides to play a game in her phone. She tries to keep it down, afraid to wake the redhead up.

At 06.30, Chloe's alarm rings, and she wakes up. She's surprised to see that the brunette is already up, and she rubs the sleep off her eyes before she asks with hoarse voice, "Babe, why are you up so early?"

Without diverting her attention from playing the game, Beca answers, "Had too much sleep yesterday."

After she's more alert, Chloe looks closer at her fiancé and asks, "Did you change your clothes?"

"I showered earlier because I only had one yesterday morning."

"How was your sleep?" Chloe asks worriedly.

"Fine." Still, Beca doesn't give her fiancé much attention.

Then the redhead sits up and leans her back onto the headboards before softly saying, "Baby, can you put your phone down for a minute?"

"Give me five minutes." Beca says with her eyebrows furrowed, tensed from playing the game. "I'm in the middle of war."

Although she's a bit annoyed, the redhead waits for five minutes. When Beca hasn't stopped playing, she says, "Babe..."

"Five more minutes."

Chloe is getting impatient, but she waits again for five minutes before softly saying, "Becs, your five minutes is up."

"Just a little bit more."

Feeling upset, Chloe grabs the phone and takes it away.

"What the fuck, Chloe?!"

"You gave me no other choice." The redhead says as calm as possible. "I was talking to you, but you didn't pay any attention."

"Give me my phone back." Beca says firmly.

"No." Chloe says just as firmly.

"Chloe, Elizabeth, Beale..." The brunette is clenching her hands, and her voice has tuned down dangerously. "Give, me, my, phone, back."

"No." The redhead says more firmly.

"Oh the hell with it." Beca says angrily as she stands up and walks to her closet to get some clothes before rushing into the bathroom.

Chloe is indeed confused, but before she can say anything, her fiancé already slams the bathroom door harshly. The redhead takes a deep deep breath before sighing heavily. When the brunette walks out of the bathroom wearing a button up shirt and skinny jeans, she asks, "Where are you going?"

"Some place where nobody gets to tell me what to do." Beca says coldly while putting on her watch, and then she walks out of the bedroom.

Hurriedly, the redhead chases and pulls her back by her shoulder before pleading, "Okay. I'm sorry. I was out of line. Don't leave, please."

As much as she knows how unreasonable she's acting, Beca just can't tune down the roaring anger in her chest. She shrugs Chloe off harshly and sarcastically says while throwing her hands up angrily, "Oh you weren't out of line! You're my **_fiancé_**. You get to tell me whatever you want me to do. In fact, everybody gets to tell me what to do with my life, how I should be feeling, and what I should be doing." Then she mocks with high pitch voice. _"Hey Beca, take a day off to spend time with us. Hey Beca, be nice. Hey Beca, have the wedding in six months. Hey Beca, buy the house next to us. Hey Beca, you should be happy. Hey Beca, you should feel lucky. Hey Beca, don't go to work; you need to sleep. Hey Beca, you need to eat. Hey Beca, stop playing games._ " She's out of breath and panting hard, but she keeps going, "I wonder why I hated to have anybody in my life. You people _certainly_ made my life easier because I don't need to make any fucking decisions. I just have to listen and do every fucking things all of you wanted me to do."

It hurts the redhead. She can't help but jumping into a conclusion that having her has made Beca's life more miserable. Nevertheless, she shakes off the pang in her chest and says, "You're upset. You didn't mean it."

"Hoo..." The brunette laughs sarcastically. "I'm upset? What fucking gives, Sherlock? But just so you know, I did mean it. With, all, of, my, heart. Tell you what. I'll offer you a deal. You can tell me whatever fucking things you want me to do on how to live my fucking life, and you get to live with this little meanie me. How about that? Fair enough? All you fucking need is me, right? So, it doesn't fucking matter what I do, or how I act, let alone how I feel. As long as you have me, gets to tell me what to do, then you'll be, just, fucking, fine!"

Chloe hugs her tightly and softly says, "Babe, I'm sorry. It was my fault. I will never interrupt you again when you're playing games."

"Would you fucking let me go?!" Beca tries to wiggles her way out of the hug, but the redhead just holds her even tighter.

"I won't." Chloe says softly. "I promised you. I'm not letting you go, Babe. Like I said, there's nothing you do could make me love you less. Nothing."

"Get off me, Chloe!" The DJ pushes even harder, but still, Chloe stands her ground.

"Baby..." The redhead pleads with restraint voice. "Please... just give it a minute."

Upon realizing that her fiancé is nearly crying, Beca clenches her jaw and hands tightly. The heat of anger is crawling its way out up her neck, and her head is throbbing heavily. She's certain that she's going to blow up in any second, and it's going to be far from pretty.

However, as furious as she is, making the woman she loves cry isn't something that Beca can take lightly. The heavy guilty feeling after the adrenaline wears off will eat her up. Therefore, she swallows hard and takes several short breaths while still clenching her jaw, trying to hold back whatever it is her anger is ready to spit out again.

After a couple of minutes, Chloe deems that her fiancé has calmed down. She breaks the hug but still holding the brunette's arms. "Feeling better?" She softly yet also cautiously asks.

Beca simply glances her eyes away sharply. Her face is still tensed, and she's still upset. However, she doesn't say anything but nodding lightly.

With a light worried smile, the redhead softly says, "I'll make us some breakfast. You must be hungry. And I know when you're hungry, you become easily upset."

Knowing that nothing she says or do will make any changes, the brunette simply huffs.

Nevertheless, Chloe laces their fingers and pulls her into the kitchen. "How about scrambled eggs and toast?"

"Whatever." Beca mutters in annoyance as she sits down on the chair.

"Baby..." The redhead pleads tiredly while caressing her girlfriend's cheek gently. "I'm sorry. I really am."

Beca clearly knows that it's not her fiancé's fault, and Chloe keep apologizing doesn't help easing her anger. She huffs out a long ragged breath to calm her anger without saying anything.

"Give me a smile please." The redhead asks with her puppy pleading eyes.

Beca shakes her head lightly and sighs in defeat before she gives her fiancé a weak tensed smile.

Just with that simplest gesture, Chloe smiles in relief and kisses the brunette chastely on the lips before she asks, "So, toast and scrambled eggs?"

The DJ simply nods.

"Just give me a minute." Chloe says before walking to the fridge to get the ingredients.

While the redhead is preparing the breakfast, Beca sits quietly with her hands and jaw clenched tightly. It's been so long since she felt this kind of anger, and she can't tune it down. She can't even takes a solid deep breath without choking.

Even when they start eating, the brunette hasn't said a word. Halfway through breakfast, Chloe sighs and grabs her fiancé's hand gently, but Beca pulls it back instantly.

As hard as she can, Chloe holds the pang in her chest. She takes a deep breath and asks, "Babe, what is it that bothers you so much? Is it still the work stuff?"

"What do you think?" Beca retorts in annoyance.

"Then let me come with you to the studio." The redhead softly suggests. "I can take another day off. Maybe with me being there, you'll feel more relaxed. Just like you did to me before I went into therapy. And you have an appointment with Harley today. Let me come with you."

Beca stares at the redhead half-angrily yet also confused. "What kind of school you're working at? How could you take any day off as much as you wanted? You've skipped school since Monday. And today is Friday."

"The kind of school where they have enough teachers to cover each other's classes." The redhead patiently says. "I've done it to my colleagues before. So, they returned the favor. And I can take unpaid leave if you want."

"No." Beca says firmly before munching her toast. "Go to work. Don't stop living your life just to take care of me. I can handle myself."

Afraid to make her fiancé flying off the handle again, Chloe stops arguing. Therefore, she sighs and smiles sadly as she says, "Okay then. Just tell me how the therapy goes later."

"Hm."

The way Beca is behaving suffocates the redhead. Chloe needs a break to compose herself from breaking down in tears. Therefore, she decides to get ready for work without finishing her breakfast. "Here's your meds." She puts a little container in front of her fiancé. "I'll go get ready for work."

"Hm."

Doesn't want to push her fiancé even more, Chloe gets up and simply kisses the brunette on the top of her head before going to the bedroom.

Meanwhile, the brunette just keep shoving food into her mouth angrily. When she's done, she takes her meds and goes to her bedroom to get her messenger bag.

"Here's your phone." Chloe says while handing her fiancé the said item.

"Hm." The DJ shoves the phone into her pocket. Without saying any word, she walks out of the room.

Chloe grabs her hand and pleads, "Don't leave angry, Babe."

Beca rolls her eyes and pulls her hand back while huffing harshly. "There it is again. Another demand. I'm angry. And this is how I am when I'm angry. Deal with it."

After sighing tiredly, the redhead dejectedly pleads, "Then tell me what to do. I want to help you, Becs. But it seems to me everything I've done so far only made you angrier."

"Just leave me alone!"

Chloe's eyes are filled with tears, and her lips are trembling. The pang in her chest is unbearably painful. She opens her mouth to say something, but she's nearly choked by the lump in her throat. Therefore, she takes a deep breath and clears her throat before she asks with shaky voice, "Is that what you really want?"

Upon seeing that her fiancé is nearly crying again, Beca closes her eyes tightly, clenching her hands and jaw to hold herself from blowing up. As furious as she is, as much as she wants to say _yes_ and storm out of the room, she just can't bring herself to do that.

Nevertheless, it isn't hard to tell. Chloe takes the silence as a confirmation. She wipes the tears on her cheeks and says with a restraint voice, "I understand. I'll leave you alone."

Just as the redhead turns around, Beca rolls her eyes and grabs Chloe's hand. "Wait." She takes a deep breath and mutters, "I'm sorry. I'm not supposed to treat you this way."

Without saying anything, Chloe hugs her tightly and sobs on her shoulder.

Beca blows out a long tired breath as the heat in her chest eases down. Cautiously, she wraps her arms around Chloe's back and mutters, "Thank you... for being so patient. And I'm sorry... for snapping at you."

Since she's still sobbing, the only thing Chloe can do is nodding. It takes a while until the tears subside, and then the redhead pulls away. With hoarse voice, she says, "I'm sorry, Becs. I know I'm not doing a very good job at loving you. But I'll do better."

It only makes Beca feel even guiltier. She takes a deep breath, smiling sadly and says, "You are wonderful, Chlo. You've been nothing else but kind, and patient, and loving. And I'm such a jerk for making you feeling the otherwise."

With a worried yet hopeful look, the redhead asks, "Really? I've been kind, and patient, and loving?"

"Of course you are." Beca sighs in defeat, smiling sadly while wiping the tears on Chloe's face. "Now you're ruining your make up, and you're gonna be late to work."

Chloe chuckles lightly and leans forward to kiss her fiancé gently on the lips.

Still not feeling up to intimate body contact, the DJ returns the kiss half-heartily and hurriedly ends it.

Certainly, the redhead can feel how reluctant her fiancé is. Nevertheless, she smiles lightly and says, "Let's go to work. I'll call you at lunch."

"Okay." Beca says while holding the bedroom's door open for Chloe.

When she walks pass the brunette, Chloe looks at her and smiles. "I love you, Babe."

Instead of feeling loved, the DJ feels suffocated. The only response she can manage is a light nod, done with clenched jaw and hardened face.

Upon not getting any replies, tears start welling up in Chloe's eyes again, and Beca takes a deep breath before she says, "I love you too."

With a sad smile, the redhead caresses Beca's cheek and says, "I know."

Then they go to work separately.

* * *

Beca has been upset the whole day. Nothing seems to be going in the way she wants it. She yells at Donna's assistant for making a tiny bit typo in the report, and she almost wrecks her computer again just because it freezes for a couple of seconds.

Nobody dares to bother her when she's hulking around the office, especially without Donna. If Donna were there, she would have snapped back at the DJ for acting like a child. Unfortunately, the redhead is at Harvey's office today, and the responsibility to take care of the boss falls onto her assistants laps.

Fun fact; even though Beca is the boss, Donna got more assistants than she does. Obviously, dealing with Beca needs so much energy and power, and so far in the office, Donna is the only one who can assist the DJ the best. Hence, Donna needs other people to help her taking care of everything else.

Around 12.00 PM, one of Donna's assistant named Debbie walks in to bring her boss lunch. She's scared the hell out of her mind after being snapped at for a tiny bit typo earlier.

"Here's your lunch, Miss Mitchell." Debbie squeaks while putting down the chicken salad on the desk cautiously. She's waiting for the DJ to say something, maybe ask for anything else. However, she gets a third degree instead.

"What the fuck are you waiting for?!" Beca snaps. "Get the fuck out!"

"Ye- yes." Debbie squirms her way out of the office in the speed of light.

Ten minutes later, Emily walks into Beca's office and asks, "Why did I got a report that you've made Debbie cry twice in less than 6 hours?"

"Not now, Em." Beca says without even looking at her aca-child.

"Pop-"

"I said, not now." The DJ says firmly. "Get out before I yell at you too."

"Beca, you're be-"

"Now!"

Emily is taken aback. Never in her life had Beca yelled at her before. In addition, she had never seen Beca this angry. Afraid to cause her Pop another heart attack, the youngest Bella simply sighs heavily and walks out of the office. 

After the youngest Bella left, Beca tries to steady her labored breath, and when she fails, she grabs a cup on the desk and throws it across the room. Though, it doesn't make her feel any better.

* * *

At 4 PM, Beca goes to Doctor Quinzel's practice. She walks into the office and immediately plops herself onto the comfortable chair across the desk from the doctor.

The last time she came was a week after Valentine's day when she felt so much better in having a relationship with Chloe. She's known Harley for more than three years now. Other than Ashley, she is the only one who knows everything about Beca's mental health and her past.

Harley wasn't the first psychiatrist Beca saw. She was the seventh. After the last doctor before Harley gave up on her, he referred the DJ to Harleen Quinzel.

Actually, Harley usually dealt with children, not with adults. But Beca found the doctor's unorthodox method worked on her. Ashley teased her that it was because Beca is a child trapped in an adult's body. That statement earned the blonde a deathly glare on their session with Harley.

Harley is almost 40 years old now, but she doesn't seem that old. She's a blonde, and she wears glasses. As for today, she's wearing a white blouse with a skirt, and her hair is tied up in a slick ponytail.

"Hey, Beca. How's life?" The blonde doctor greets warmly.

"Just terrific." The DJ says with a mocked cheerful attitude. "Everything is delightful, life is wonderful, the sun is still shining, and the earth is certainly still spinning."

Knowing that Beca only becomes sarcastic when she's angry, Harley chuckles and says, "Well, aren't you a ball of sunshine? With a scale from one to ten where one is being completely cool and ten is you nearly turn into a hulk, I can tell that you're definitely 15 now."

The DJ scoffs, "No, I'm not angry. What should I be angry about?"

"Enlighten me then." The doctor says calmly.

"Huh." Beca stands up and walks back and forth while talking, "Where do I start? Oh, let me start with how I have the most loving amazing fiancé. Chloe proposed on her birthday. Wonderful. And the Bellas have been _very_ , _very_ understanding. They have planned _my_ wedding, without asking _my_ permission, let alone _my_ opinion. Life just can't get any easier."

Harley simply smiles, and then the DJ continues sarcastically, "What else? Oh, and hey, my ex is doing just fine. She has moved on, and I bet she's happier than ever. Now tell me that my life isn't perfect. I have nothing to complain about, Harley. The universe has been too kind to me, and I'm starting to think that other people might get jealous of how awesome my life is. It should've paid more attention to the people who are still in hunger and war."

As she's talking, Beca isn't aware that she's raising her voice along with her boiling blood. She takes one of the trophies on the desk and throws it in between her hands gently while keep going, "So, Chloe is happy, Aubrey is so fucking delightful, my friends are happy, Ashley is definitely happy," She throws the trophy onto the wall. "and I feel like shit!

While Beca is panting hard and her face is so red from anger, Harley throws a staple to her way, and Beca catches the item, raising an eyebrow questioningly.

"Go on." Harley says calmly.

"I fucking hate Aubrey!" Beca shrugs and smashes the staple onto the wall. 

Harley throws another ceramic trophy to her client, and the DJ catches it. "I fucking hate my friends for pushing me to have a stupid wedding!" She slams onto the wall.

A mug comes to her way, and Beca takes it fast. "I fucking hate Chloe for trying to kill herself!" She swings her arm as hard as she might, smashing the item onto the wall. "

Harley throws a stationary case, and the DJ catches it before smashing it onto the wall again as she yells, "I fucking hate Ashley for making me doing the right thing!"

The brunette is breathing heavily, but the doctors knows she isn't done yet. Therefore, Harley grabs a plastic rubric cube and throws it to the DJ, to which Beca instantly smashes onto the wall. "I fucking hate Chloe for loving me too much!"

Then Harley sends her a ceramic cup.

"I fucking hate Ashley for moving on, and leaving me miserable in this fucking shithole all by myself!" The DJ smashes the cup onto the wall.

The last smash-able item on the desk is a framed picture of Harley's family. Without any hesitation, the doctor throws it to the brunette. Beca of course, catches and smashes it as hard as she might onto the wall. "I fucking hate my life!"

"Sorry, Champ. I'm out of stuff you can break." Harley says calmly.

After that, Beca just grabs the edge of the desk tightly while breathing heavily. She's sweating, and over heated under her skin. Every fiber of her being is thumping hard; her head, her heart, and even her blood veins. All the screaming and smashing do take a lot of energy. Nevertheless, she feels a bit relieved.

While waiting for the DJ to compose herself, Harley simply walks across the room and makes two cups of tea for both of them. When she walks back to her desk, she puts down the cups and asks, "Feeling better?"

Beca sighs heavily and sits back down on the chair. "A little bit, yeah." She wipes the sweat on her face with her handkerchief.

After the brunette shoves her handkerchief back into her back pocket, the doctor offers, "Tea?"

"Thanks." The DJ takes a sip of her tea. "Sorry about your stuff."

"It's okay." Harley says nonchalantly. "It's replaceable. But I'm going to need your help to clean it up."

"Fair enough." Beca responds casually.

Harley indeed has an assistant to do it, but she just wants to give Beca something to do while her brain have a break from her outburst. It will help calming the brunette's nerves and cool her down. For around 15 minutes, the two of them clean what's left of Harley's stuff and put it in a trash can.

Then they sit back on the chairs across from each other, and Harley calmly says, "So, let me get this straight. You're engaged, Aubrey is still unpleasant, your other friends are either oblivious or hand tied about your situation, and I've seen Ashley's picture with Shay. Now you're regretting your decision to stay with Chloe because you think you haven't moved on from Ashley yet."

"Aubrey being unpleasant?" Beca retorts in annoyance. "I fucking hate her! It's not enough that she kept on pushing the wedding plan to my face, now she's given the idea for me and Chloe to buy the house next to hers. Can you believe it?! Having her back into my life for less than a year have cut off my life span by 10 years. Imagine living next to her for the rest of my life! I'll be dead before I turn 40!"

"But you're thinking about spending the rest of your life with Chloe then." Harley points out nonchalantly. "Just not in the house next to Aubrey's."

Didn't think that the doctor could make such a conclusion, Beca is taken aback for a second, and then she mutters, "I didn't say that."

Harley chuckles lightly and says, "We'll get back to that later. Before we jump into the hot issue, I'd like to ask you something. Have you tried telling all of them about your feelings?"

Beca scoffs harshly, "For what? So they can yell and snap at me for being so selfish? No, thanks. I've had enough of it."

With an understanding smile, the blonde doctor says, "We'll put a pin on it. But now, let's get down to business. Based on your attitude, I'm guessing that you're not happy with the engagement. So, why did you say yes?"

"I didn't say yes." Beca says with half-bored yet also half-annoyed look. "I nodded. I didn't know how it happened. I looked at Chloe's face, and her eyes were so bright, full of," She rolled her eyes. "Full of fucking rainbow and sunshine. And I just... nodded."

"Oh." Harley nods absentmindedly. "What happened after that?"

"You mean with the combination of seeing Ashley's picture and Chloe's proposal on the same day?"

"Oh, double combo." The blonde doctor responds casually. "No wonder. What happened?"

"Other than the pent up anger?"

"Of course."

Beca huffs and says, "I had a night terror, I've been smoking again, and I've had several weird dreams lately."

"What weird dreams?" Harley asks before sipping her tea.

Beca snorts and retorts, "Really? I just told you that I'm smoking again, and your first question is _what weird_ _dreams?_ "

"You smoke when you're distressed." Harley shrugs nonchalantly. "Not a news. The problem isn't smoking. The problem is the problem itself. After you find out about the main problem and resolve it, you'll stop smoking and having night terrors. So, those two aren't urgent for now. Those weird dreams though, it might lead to something more. Something you've been repressing, or suppressing for too long. So, what dreams?"

After taking a deep breath, the DJ mutters, "It's about me and Ashley."

"Huh." Harley nods lightly with her eyes narrowed. "Interesting. What kind of dreams?"

With her cheeks flushed, Beca takes a sip of her tea, diverting her eyes to the desk and mutters, "The kind of dream that involves me and her naked, well, you know, doing... stuff. But it wasn't just any dreams. It happened in the past. It just replayed in my dreams."

Harley doesn't seem to be shocked, and she calmly says, "I assume it started after you saw the picture of Ashley and Shay presumably having sex?"

Beca flinches but she nods.

"Tell me more about those dreams." The blonde doctor says. "Just a wrap up will do; about how you felt, the main situation, when it took place."

It takes the DJ almost a minute to remember the dreams. She sips her tea slowly while putting the pieces together. As she puts down her cup on the desk, she says, "The first dream was about her preparing a dance for a certain episode in PLL. She mentioned Shay in that dream, and... we did it after that. The second one was a memory of her visiting me in London for the first time. We talked about the tattoo on my left chest, and she promised that she would never leave me. And the third one was..." She sighs deeply. "It was our first time together. It wasn't magical or full of cliché. But I was... It was the moment I understood how content really felt like."

"Why do you think you had those dreams after seeing the picture of Ashley and Shay having sex?"

It certainly makes the brunette flinch again. However, knowing that Harley is saying it casually and repeatedly to desensitize her from the fact that Ashley and Shay had sex, Beca doesn't protest. She simply rolls her eyes and replies, "I wished I knew."

"Then guess."

It's frustrating for the brunette. Thinking about her ex having sex with someone else is maddening enough, and she hasn't talked to anybody about it yet after the night terror. Now she's asked to analyze why she's mad about it. She runs her fingers through her hair and scratches her head harshly before she rambles, "I don't know. Maybe, I'm still in love with her. Maybe, I just can't let her go. Maybe, I'm a selfish jerk who can't be happy for my ex while I myself am already in a relationship with someone else. Maybe, I'm not as sincere as I had thought when I told her that I wanted her to be happy with someone who could love her better than I did. Maybe, I still feel like she belongs to me. Maybe, I don't want anybody to be with her but me. And to think that someone is... touching her, kissing her, loving her the way I did, it's just..." She can feel the heat in her eyes, but she clears her throat and continues with restraint voice, "It hurts..."

She stops on her track for feeling suffocated by sadness. Her chest is rumbling and heavy, the lump is trying to tear up her throat, and her eyes become teary. Beca leans forward, resting her elbows on her thighs and grasps her hair. She closes her eyes, trying not to choke while tears start running down her face slowly.

Harley doesn't say anything but letting the brunette taking all the emotions in.

"We were in love... and we almost made it..." Beca mutters with shaky voice in between light sobs. "It was supposed to be me who held her... who kissed her... who loved her... It's supposed to be me, Harley..." She sniffles and wipes her nose with the back of her hand. "She promised me that she'd never leave me... she promised me forever... Instead, we were pushed to do the fucking right thing... Now she's moved on and I'm stuck... And I don't know what to do with this love I have for her..."

Harley circles around the desk to stand beside the DJ, leaning her butt onto the desk and pats Beca's back gently without saying anything.

"I thought I'd moved on..." Beca continues in between sobs. "But... seeing Ashley with someone else is killing me... And I can't... As much as I love Chloe, I just... I want Ashley back in my life... I should have never let her go... I miss her so fucking much, Harley... I miss her so much that it physically hurts..."

Finally, Beca has admitted and revealed what she's truly feeling. Harley had expected this to happen at some point in the last four months.

Since the brunette started dating Chloe, Harley hadn't seen her crying for once. Beca rarely cried, let alone sobbed uncontrollably in the therapy. But when she did, she usually was in her breaking point. This time is no different.

In the last session before this, Beca had showed how fine she was with the whole situation. Even so, only by looking at how the DJ always rubbed the ring on her left hand by the mention of Ashley's name, Harley knew that she was trying too hard.

As much as the doctor wanted to point that out, she knew better that she needed to let Beca walked on her own pace. It was necessary that the brunette could really understand and admit her feelings so she could reach the next step; acceptance.

Still, the doctor remains silent, simply letting the brunette pouring out her emotions by crying.

After 15 minutes or so, Beca's tears subside, and the doctor offers her a box of tissue. But the brunette takes out her handkerchief from the back pocket instead to wipe her face and blow her nose. Then Harley sits back down on her chair, giving Beca times to compose herself and drink her tea.

"Sorry for that." The DJ says with hoarse voice while shoving her handkerchief back into her pocket.

"No need to." Harley says calmly. "So, now you have admitted; you haven't moved on from Ashley, and you have missed her so badly. Also, you're angry with her because she promised you forever but now she's with someone else, probably giving the same promise, and you're not ready to accept that."

"And..." The brunette sighs heavily, and her eyes become teary again. "And I can't believe that she doesn't care about me anymore."

While keeping her calm look, Harley asks, "Care to elaborate?"

Her eyes are still a bit teary, and Beca shakes her head before she says with shaky voice, "She didn't come, Harley. Emily called her on the night I had a night terror, and she didn't come..." She swallows the lump in her throat, staring at the desk dejectedly. "It's like... I don't mean anything for her anymore... Five years together, and... I'm out of her life only in four months... How could she do that? If something ever happen to her, I will be there no matter what."

"I'm sure she had her reason." Harley says sympathetically.

Beca lifts her chin up to look at the ceiling dejectedly, taking her time to think and clears her throat before she says, "It's my fault. I told her to move on. I thought I would feel better if she was able to move on." She scoffs. "So much for trying to be the bigger person." Then she huffs out a long damp steady breath through her mouth and asks, "What should I do, Harley?"

"What choices do you think you have?" Harley asks softly.

The DJ scoffs and says in annoyance, "According to whom?"

"What do you mean?"

Acting casually, Beca explains, "Well, according to Aubrey and the Bellas, my choices would be staying with Chloe, or leaving Chloe for good. According to Ashley, my choice would be doing the right thing. And since she thought that me choosing Chloe was the right thing, whatever else I do would be the wrong thing. According to Chloe, my choice would be staying with her, or she doesn't want to live anymore. So, according to whom?"

Harley chuckles and asks, "How about we start with according to you?"

"Hmmm..." Beca purses her lips, tapping the desk gently with her index finger, mocking a serious thinking look before she sarcastically says, "Well, option number one would be staying with Chloe, option number two would be staying with Chloe, option number three would be, let me think... hmmm... Aha!" She forces a wide grin. "Staying with Chloe. I can go on if you want."

With a soft smile, the blonde doctor asks, "What makes you think that staying with Chloe is your only option?"

Beca smiles sarcastically and answers, "Oh gee... I don't know. Maybe because she tried to kill herself when she thought I didn't love her enough to choose her."

With an understanding smile, Harley patiently says, "Let me remind you again, Beca. Regardless of the decision you've made and will make, you need to stop beating yourself up for what Chloe did to herself. Chloe didn't try to kill herself because you left, or because you didn't love her enough to stay. She did it because she didn't love herself enough; because she couldn't cope with the reality that didn't go in her favor. It was her decision. Not yours. So, I don't think that staying with Chloe is your only option."

"Well, tell that to all of my friends and Ashley." The DJ says without hesitation, staring at Harley convincingly with a tight-lipped smile. "You don't know Chloe, Harley. The first time she tried, it was because I left. But the second time, I didn't even leave. I just simply chose another person that I love. I was still her best friend, and I still loved her as a friend. But it wasn't enough for her, and she just had to try ending her life. So, gee... I wonder what makes me think that staying with her is my only option."

Knowing how stubborn the brunette can be, Harley simply says, "Let's say let's say."

"Huh?"

Harley shrugs and nonchalantly says, "Humor me. Let's say we're in another dimension where you do have other options; where you get to make your own decision without being pushed by anybody else. Imagine that you're in the same situation, but in this dimension, you have real choices that you're allowed to choose on your own conscience. What would they be?"

Beca sighs heavily, shaking her head as she says apathetically, "Option number one would be the same. Staying with Chloe."

"And?"

It takes half a minute staring at the ring on her left hand to make up her mind before the DJ shrugs and says, "Option number two could be... me going back to Ashley, I guess."

"Is there any other option?"

There is one other option she has thought since she woke up the day after Chloe proposed. Trying to be nonchalant, Beca sticks out her bottom lip and hums, raising her left shoulder before she unsurely says, "I guess I can just leave them, and... run away?"

Casually, Harley nods and asks, "Anything else?"

Beca shakes her head and mutters, "No."

"Okay." The doctor writes it all down on her note. When she's done, she says, "Now, let's consider them one by one. You know, the consequences of choosing one of them. Let's start with option number one. Staying with Chloe. What do you think will happen if you choose to stay with Chloe?"

Taking her time to think, the brunette looks around the room, scratching her head and massaging her forehead from time to time. Then she closes her eyes, sighing deeply before she looks at the doctor and says, "Well, there's a possibility that I can be happy. In fact, I was happy until the picture of Ashley and Shay came up, and Chloe proposed. Besides, me staying with Chloe will make her happy. After everything I put her through, it's the least I could do for her. So, Chloe will definitely be happy, my sisters and her family will be happy, Ashley has moved on and I believe she's happy, and I... probably will be happy. Well, even if I'm not, then the only life that will get screwed is mine."

"Okay." Harley responds nonchalantly while writing. Then she looks at the DJ and asks, "Now, what if you choose to go back to Ashley?"

Beca shakes her head and sighs heavily before she weakly says, "Harvey did say that I shouldn't drag her back after she's moved on. It's not fair for her. More importantly, I will hurt Chloe so badly. And I believe she'll try to harm herself again. Too much baggage to carry that in the end, not only I don't get to be happy, but also everybody else; my friends in the Bella, and Chloe's family especially, they don't get to be happy either. I will practically screw everyone's lives."

"Hmmm..." The doctor purses her lips while nodding lightly. "What about option number three?"

Beca sighs even more heavily and says, "If I choose no one and run away instead, well, that's just plain stupid, I think. It's fucking hard enough living without one of them. So... to live without both of them is a start of my suicidal life. And everybody got screwed. Nobody gets to be happy. Not even myself."

With a light smile and her eyebrows slightly furrowed, Harley says, "This is interesting."

"What is interesting?" Beca looks at the doctor with her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"The dualism that manifested in every options." The blonde doctor explains patiently. "In one hand, you seem to think that everybody's happiness is in your hands. On the other hand, you also think that any choices you take will end up with _you,_ most likely not happy."

"It feels that way." The DJ says with a tight-lipped smile.

With an understanding smile, Harley says, "I think you're thinking too highly of yourself, Beca. What makes you think that you're responsible, _and_ have the power to make everybody happy? And why do you think that there's no way for you to be happy in this situation?"

Beca scoffs, "I don't know. Since I've screwed so many lives before, I think. And the worst is Chloe's. So, I guess it's just right that... I took the fall by doing the so called right thing. Everybody have been happier since I chose to stay with Chloe. But me? I don't get to be happy. Being happy is selfish in my case. The Bellas seem to think the same way. If not, they wouldn't push me so hard to make a decision that I didn't even want. Even Emily, Ashley, and Harvey thought so too. They kept saying that I'm being selfish if I don't stay with Chloe, or if I go back to Ashley."

"Hm." Harley smiles lightly and takes a pack of candies from her drawer before offering it to the DJ. "Candy?"

It's indeed confusing and out of nowhere for Beca. Nevertheless, she takes one and says, "Thanks."

While the brunette is shoving the candy into her mouth, Harley asks, "You see Beca, why do you think I could share you a candy?"

With her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, Beca answers unsurely, "Because you're nice?"

"Of course I'm nice." The blonde doctor says matter-of-factly while fixing her glasses. "Other than the obvious point, if I didn't have candy, could I have offered it to you?"

"Of course not." The DJ says without hesitation even though she's still at loss of where this is going.

"Correct." Harley flicks her fingers. "I can't offer you something I don't have. I can only share what I have."

"So?" Beca intensifies her furrowed eyebrows.

With a knowing smile, the doctor asks, "Are you feeling happy now?"

For a second, Beca is frozen up. "Oh." She finally catches a glimpse of what Harley is trying to say. Then she scoffs, smiling bitterly as she says, "You're saying that I can't make anybody happy when I myself am not happy."

Harley simply smiles, and then the brunette continues, "And since I'm hurting, the only thing I can share with the people around me is pain."

Still, the doctor just smiles understandingly.

With the same bitter smile, Beca sighs heavily and says, "You're right. I've been nothing but mean to Chloe lately." She scoffs again. "What made me think that I could make her happy when I'm still hurting?" She massages her forehead tiredly and runs her fingers through her hair before she asks, "Are you saying that I shouldn't stay with Chloe because I'm unhappy and I will only make her life miserable?"

"No." The blonde doctor says certainly. "You said that. I'm simply saying that I can only share what I have."

"Huh." The DJ nods absentmindedly.

"Now, can you give me some candies?"

"No?" The DJ seems puzzled.

"Why?"

"Because I don't have any candies to give?" Beca says with a manner that says _duh_.

"Oh." Harley responds casually. "So, you can't give me candies because you don't have any."

"Yea...?" Beca becomes more confused.

Then the blonde doctor put some candies on the desk in front of the brunette and says, "Let's say that those are your candies, will you share some with me?"

"Sure." Beca flicks one candy toward the doctor.

However, Harley flicks the candy back at her and says, "No, thanks."

"Why did you ask if I'd share it with you if you rejected it in the end?"

Harley shrugs and says, "I can name so many reasons of why I rejected that candy. I could be diabetic, or there's a possibility that I don't like candies, or maybe I don't like the brand you gave me, or I'm simply not in the mood for a candy."

With an eyebrow raised, Beca asks, "What are you trying to say exactly?"

Harley smiles and says, "You can offer me as much candies as you want. But it doesn't matter if I don't want it, or can't have it. I have a right to say _no, thank you_."

The DJ is having a hard time to understand it, and Harley remains silent to give her a chance to untie the knots. While thinking, Beca just purses her lips and taps her index finger on the desk in a steady slow rhythmic. Eventually, she sighs and says, "You mean to tell me that, I can't make Chloe happy if I myself am not happy. And even if I'm happy, it doesn't mean that I can make Chloe happy because she has a right to choose whether or not she's gonna be happy with me."

"True." Harley points out. "But let's focus on you and your candies. Not Chloe." She takes back all of the candies in front of the DJ. "Now, you don't have any candies anymore. If someone ask you for candies, what will you do?"

"I'll tell them I don't have candies."

With her eyes narrowed, the blonde doctor asks, "So, you won't go the extra miles to find candies? Maybe by stealing it, or running to the closest store to get it?"

"Why would I do that?" Beca responds with her eyebrows furrowed. "I don't have candies. If they want it, they can go to the store on their own."

Harley smiles and says, "Right."

"Oh..." Beca nods absentmindedly, finally on the same page with her therapist. "So you're saying that I don't have an obligation to make everybody else happy, because every one of us is responsible of our own happiness. And since I'm not feeling happy, why should I force myself to feel happy just to make everybody else happy? Right?"

"I didn't say such thing." Harley says calmly. "You did."

"Hmmm..." The DJ purses her lips, seeming in a deep thought with her eyebrows furrowed. After a couple of minutes, she says, "But Harley. This candy I have, or supposedly have, it's not just any candy. It can..." She shrugs. "Cure diseases. It can save someone's life. And I'm the only one who has it, again, supposedly, according to the people around me. So, it's just right to give them the candies."

"But you don't have it now." Harley points out.

"Hm." Beca nods absentmindedly.

"How can you possibly give this candy when you don't have it, no matter how many lives are at stake, and no matter how much you want to give it to them?"

"Hm." The DJ just keep nodding while letting it all sinks into her mind. "So, all of this talk about candies is your way to tell me that... I can try making someone happy, only when I myself am happy. And even though I've tried making them happy, it doesn't mean they will be happy. Because their happiness isn't on me."

"Oh, I'm not trying to tell you anything. I simply told you a metaphor about candies. You just concluded it by yourself. But I agree with your conclusion."

"Hmmm..." Beca purses her lips, still a bit confused with the talk about candy.

Then Harley says, "Now, you did say that before you found out about Ashley having sex with Shay," She pauses for a split second to see Beca flinch just a little less than before, and then she casually continues, "You were happy with Chloe. So, you had the candies. Right?"

"I guess."

"But you're ignoring it now just because you want what you thought is a better tasted candy. A candy that you've tasted before, and it was good, yet for one or two reasons, you lost it."

"I don't follow."

"Okay. Let's take a break." Harley takes out one ball of Ferrero Rocher and one pack of Kit Kat from her desk. She knows that both brands are Beca's favorite chocolates, and she always keeps them around for her children clients, including Beca. Then she puts the Rocher on the desk in front of the DJ. "Here."

With her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, Beca says, "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Harley says before munching a green tea flavored Kit Kat. When the DJ doesn't eat her chocolate, she asks, "Why you don't eat your Rocher?"

"I'll have it later." Beca sips her tea.

"Why?"

"I'm not feeling taking it now because I only have one. I want to savor it."

"I'll give you another one." Harley takes out another Kit Kat and puts it next to the Rocher. "Now, you have two chocolates."

Beca grins and says, "Both are my favorite. Thanks, Harley."

"Don't mention it." Harley smirks.

However, just as the DJ is going to take the Rocher, the blonde doctor snatches it away. "What the...?" The DJ is confused.

"What?" Harley asks nonchalantly.

"What are you doing?"

"Taking the Rocher back." The doctor says still as casually.

Becoming more confused, Beca asks, "Why did you give it to me if you planned to take it back?"

"I don't have any reason." Harley says innocently. "Now that I've taken your Rocher away, what are you going to do about it?"

With a manner that says _duh,_ the DJ says,"Asking you to give it back to me."

Harley smiles teasingly and says, "Nope, I'm not giving it back to you."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to."

"But you gave it to me."

"I did. But I also took it back." Harley rolls the chocolate in between her fingers playfully. "Are you upset? Are you going to throw stuff at me?"

Beca scoffs, "You're weird today, Harley."

Still acting casually, Harley says, "Well, you still have that Kit Kat anyway. Why don't you have it? It's also one of your favorite chocolates. And the green tea flavor is best one."

"But Rocher is my most favorite." The DJ says stubbornly. "Now, I'll trade you my Kit Kat if you give me the Rocher back."

"Do you not like the Kit Kat?"

"I do. But I like Rocher better. Can we trade?"

"Nope."

"Come on..." Beca whines.

Harley instantly unfolds the wrap and shoves the Rocher into her own mouth.

"Whaaa..." The DJ is taken aback, confused, and upset.

After she swallows, Harley grins from ear to ear and says, "Ooops..."

"Why would you do that?" The brunette asks with an eyebrow raised.

"No reason." The blonde doctor says nonchalantly. "Now you can't have it back because I already ate it. What are you going to do now?"

"I know you still have some of them in your drawer." Beca smirks.

"And I won't give it to you either." Harley smirks back.

Beca presses her lips like an upset child and says, "You're mean."

"Five minutes ago you said I was nice." The blonde doctor points out playfully.

"Before you snatched my Rocher." The DJ glares at Harley with stubborn look.

With a sly smile, Harley says, "Nevertheless, I won't give you any Rocher. What are you going to do about it?"

Beca rolls her eyes and grumbles, "Other than smacking your head, I better eat my Kit Kat fast before you snatch it back from me, you chocolate snatcher."

Harley simply smiles when the brunette reaches the Kit Kat in front of her.

Suddenly, Beca stops on her track and responds, "Oh."

"Oh what?" The blonde doctor asks while smiling knowingly.

The DJ scoffs and rolls her eyes in annoyance, though Harley can see a subtle tug of smile by the corner of her lips when she says, "You fucking asshole. You didn't need to snatch my Rocher just to teach me a lesson."

"What lesson?" Harley asks innocently.

While tearing the wrap off her Kit Kat, Beca rolls her eyes again and says, "You're trying to tell me that I'm so focused on losing the Rocher, that I ignored the fact that I still have Kit Kat. Assuming that Rocher is Ashley and Kit Kat is Chloe, then the same conclusion can be applied. You're trying to show me that, I can either keep being upset for losing the Rocher, or I can enjoy my Kit Kat instead. This is the so called _if you can't have what you love, then you love what you have._ "

"I'm still not telling you anything." Harley smirks. "You concluded it all by yourself. But I agree with you."

Still with the same mocked upset look, the DJ bites her Kit Kat and says, "Still, you're a fucking asshole. Snatching a chocolate from a person who's younger than you are."

"You're welcome." Harley says smugly before munching her Kit Kat again.

"How did you know it was gonna work?" Beca asks while chewing her chocolate. "What if I ate the Rocher right after you gave it to me?"

Harley rolls her eyes and smugly and says, "Please... I've known you for more than three years now. You are the only client who always savored the chocolate until the end of the session. Other kids would munch it even before I asked them to. Besides, if it didn't go as planned, I still have a lot of tricks up my sleeves."

Beca laughs lightly and says, "I'm mature."

With a mocked annoyed smile, Harley says, "Compared to my other clients who are sixth graders, you are indeed, more mature."

Beca laughs and chokes on her chocolate. Harley hurriedly gives her a bottle of water to ease her throat."

After the brunette has already eaten her chocolate and drank her water, Harley softly says, "Break's over. Let's get back to business. Now, after your conclusions, do you see what your problem is?"

Even though she knows that the point is right, Beca is still too stubborn to accept it. Therefore, she purses her lips and looks at the desk before she mumbles, "You're saying that I was happy with Chloe. But now I'm chasing Ashley who is certainly out of reach because both of us are in different ways now. And that makes me unhappy. You're saying that I'm blinded by my pain of losing Ashley, so I can't really savor the good thing in my plate that to which, I already have from being with Chloe. It means, I'm not unhappy because I chose to stay with Chloe, or because I don't have Ashley in my life. I'm unhappy because... I made myself unhappy in this situation."

Harley smiles understandingly and says, "Again, I'm not saying anything. You are. So, I guess you already understand this whole situation. What do you think you should do?"

Although Beca has already put the pieces into a big picture, she keeps her childlike stubborn look when she mutters, "Well... In order for me to be happy, instead of going back, or crying over the spilled milk, or hoping with wistful thinking that I can have the already-moved-on Ashley back, I should be focusing on the things in front of me. Chloe, and the love we have."

Harley smiles understandingly and says, "I'm on the same page with you. So, we agree that Chloe and Ashley have nothing to do with your happiness. And it also works the other way around. Nobody's happiness but yours is on your shoulders. Happiness don't come from other people, Beca. It's a way of making the best out of a situation, no matter how hard it is."

"Okay. I know it now that whatever decision I take, it has nothing to do with my happiness; that I can always choose to be happy with my decision, not choose the decision that makes me happy. But it doesn't change the fact that I'm still miserable." The DJ says stubbornly. "There's a huge part of me that's angry for being pushed into this situation. They didn't give me any other choices, Harley. Neither Aubrey, Chloe, the rest of the Bellas, and Ashley."

"Beca..." The doctor softly and patiently explains, "You are an adult. You can make your own decision in any situations. In fact, you should, and you have."

"Why?"

Harley smiles and retorts, "Do you remember why you went to college?"

"Because Warren pushed me."

"But you decided to go anyway. And you blamed him for a long time."

Feeling a bit ashamed, Beca diverts her eyes away from the doctor and purses her lips.

Even so, Harley keeps going, "Now, do you remember why you joined the Bellas?"

Beca rolls here eyes and mutters, "Because Chloe cornered me in the bathroom."

"And when the first conflict arose, when you did that impromptu improvisation that cost your group a huge loss, who did you blame?"

"Chloe." The DJ grumbles. "Because she was the one who made me try in the first place."

Even though the brunette has most likely gotten the picture, Harley doesn't stop, knowing that she needs Beca to admit it. Therefore, she continues, "You left the Bellas without saying anything. Why did you do that?"

Beca seems like a child who got caught doing something wrong now. Nevertheless, she mutters, "Because Warren disowned me."

"Yet the decision to leave, it was all you. And again, you blamed him for a long time. When Ashley-"

"Alright, alright. I get it." Beca cuts her off stubbornly.

Harley chuckles lightly and asks, "Do you see any pattern there?"

Still with that childlike upset look, the DJ mutters, "You're trying to tell me that I always used other people as an excuse when something went south. I let them pushed me and made decisions for me, so when it didn't go well, I blamed them. I shouldn't have done that. I am the one who's responsible, because no matter how hard they pushed me, I was the one who made the decision in the end."

"As you said." Harley smiles softly. "When we're facing difficulties, we have choices. We always do, Beca. We can change the situation, or we can change how we think and feel about it. A few times in your life, you didn't have the option to change the situation. Like when Warren disowned you. You couldn't have pushed him to accept who you are. But when Ashley left you more than three years ago, you did change the situation. You got over your fear and told her the truth. And right now, you do have both options. You can change the situation, or you change the way you feel about it."

"But it's hard, Harley." Beca says stubbornly. "I just... I don't think I want to make another decision that I'll certainly regret. I can't live with it. Look at me now. As much as I love Chloe, I can't help but regretting my decision to let Ashley go. What if I spend the rest of my life regretting it? Wondering if I should've let her go in the first place. If I keep staying with Chloe, I'm stringing her along. And it's not fair for her."

"Then break up with her." Harley says nonchalantly.

"I can't do that." The DJ says. "I love her. And I can't break her heart all over again. Besides, if I left her and something bad happen to her, I am the one to blame."

With an understanding smile, the blonde doctor says, "If you don't love Chloe, then break up with her; change your situation. But you said so yourself. You love her. So, you can change the way you feel about this situation; the situation where you're still halfway in between loving Ashley and Chloe."

"But..." The DJ can't find any other excuse even though she still wants to argue.

Harley smiles knowingly and softly says, "Well, I'll tell you some more secrets in life, but you have to promise me that you'll try to be open minded."

Knowing that it can be another stun the doctor tries to pull on her, Beca narrows her eyes and asks, "What?"

"Well..." The doctor says patiently. "Regardless of any options you will choose, you might or might not regret it. It's also your decision to make. It's the same with your happiness. You get to choose how you feel about the consequences; to regret it, or to be embrace it as it is. And you need to know this. Regret is a huge part of life, Beca. It's rare to find people who don't regret their decisions, even as simple as what they have for dinner or what they wear in a sunny day. That is our greatest weakness as human being; not feeling satisfied with the life we have. We often say _I should have_ , and _I shouldn't have_. You know, the endless questions of _what if_ and c _ould I have done it differently_ that we can't answer anymore, because what's done is done. But it will certainly make us miserable. You know why?"

With a defeated look, Beca sighs heavily and says, "Because whatever I choose, if I only look at the down side of it, there will always be something to regret for; to be unhappy with."

"Hit it right on the nail." Harley says softly. "They call it regret for a reason, Beca. Because it happens _after_ you make a decision. If it had happened _before_ you made a decision, then it would've been called registering."

Beca laughs dryly, and then the doctor continues, "The key is, be grateful. It sounds cliche, but it's the truth. Count your blessings. Find the silver linings. We might not always be able to do that, but we can always try."

After taking a long breath, the DJ says, "You're right. As painful as it is right now, I do have a lot of people who care about me. I have Donna, Harvey, Patrick, Troian, and Emily on my side. And Chloe... she's alive, and she loves me. It's a good thing. As for Ashley, at least I know she's not sulking and miserable anymore." She huffs out along relief breath and asks, "So, what's next, Harley?"

"You make a decision." Harley says without hesitation. "You've had your choices, you've known all of the consequences, and you already know what your core problem is. So, now you choose. But before you make any decision, go home and sleep on it."

"Yea. Sleeping will definitely help with my shitty situation and how shitty I feel about it." The DJ says sarcastically.

Harley chuckles and softly says, "Don't be so pessimistic, Beca. See this as another chance."

"Another chance for what?"

"Remember how it felt like when your mother died, when Warren disowned you, when you left the Bellas, when Ashley left you more than three years ago?"

"Yea?"

"Does it still feel as bad as when it happened?"

"Huh." Beca is taken aback for a second. Then she scoffs with a light smile. "No. It doesn't feel as bad anymore."

Harley smile softly and says, "Because no matter how hard it was, you kept going, and you got over it eventually. The decisions you've made aren't a death sentence. Time changed, people changed, situation changed, you changed. This is another chance for you to prove how strong you've become. You've grown, Beca. You're feeling it so hard because it's happening right now. One day, it'll be just another freckle in your life."

Beca agrees with Harley, yet she rolls her eyes, trying to hold back a relieved smile when she says, "Hopefully." Suddenly, a memory comes across her mind, and she says, "You know what's funny? Ashley told me years ago that... our life isn't about what happen to us, but about our state of mind in dealing with what happen. And Emily said the same thing, well, more or less after Ashley left me for kissing Chloe. She said something about we made our decisions, and about things do happen for many reasons. Some of them are good, some of them are not. It all depends on how we react to it. Now you're telling me that we get to choose to be happy in any kind of situations, and I can't keep blaming everybody around me. It's the same thing, right?"

"They're smart."

With a light smile, the DJ says, "They are."

"But there's one thing though." Harley says. "Even though we shouldn't keep blaming other people for the mistakes we've made, it doesn't mean that it's okay to let them keep pushing you. So, your anger, your disappointments, your sadness, those feelings are relevant judging from your situation. For now, it's okay to feel that way, Beca. But you need to do something about it, and I strongly suggest you to tell them how you feel."

"They'll only blame me, Harley." Beca whines in frustration. "They won't understand. They didn't understand why I didn't choose Chloe. In fact, they didn't want to understand. And if I tell them how I feel, they'll say I'm selfish."

"Regardless." Harley points out. "If you don't tell them, nothing will change. If you tell them, there's a possibility that something will change. And if nothing changes, it's going to be on their consciences. Not yours."

Beca huffs in defeat and mutters, "Fine. I'll think about it."

"Okay then." Harley says, "So, everything that we've talked today, go home and sleep on it. Take this weekend to contemplate. Most of the time, we need more times to let the ideas sink into our mind all over again. Sometimes, we can even come out with other insights. It isn't something that you can make in a two hours session. We'll talk about it again in the next session."

Beca simply nods lightly.

"Now, about the side effect of this problem; smoking and night terror. For the night terror, you only had it once. I think it's safe to say that you won't be having it anytime soon if you keep having the acupuncture session. Eventually, when you've wrapped your mind in this situation, it will stop. And about the smoking, I don't need to lecture you about how bad it is. You've known it with your heart. Literally. And you can do better than smoking to deal with pain."

"Yea... I know..." Beca grumbles with a stubborn look.

With a warning look, the blonde doctor stares at the brunette over her glasses and firmly says, "I hope you're not hurting yourself to make Ashley come back to you."

Trying to mask the pain in her chest, the DJ rolls her eyes. Nevertheless, the doctor sees through her.

Then Beca sighs heavily and stares at the desk, rubbing the ring on her left hand while weakly saying, "Ashley doesn't know, Harley. And even if she did, she wouldn't care. I told you, she didn't come or even asked about my condition after she found out about the night terror... I don't matter to her anymore. So, don't worry. I'm not smoking to get her back. I'm smoking because it's the only thing that could give me comfort now."

Harley sighs deeply and looks at the DJ sympathetically. "I don't have control over you, Beca." She says softly. "You do. So, the decision to smoke, it's all on you. And I think you and I both can agree that this is something you should regret doing. If you keep smoking and end up with another heart attack, you have no one else to blame but yourself. It's not on Aubrey, or Chloe, or Ashley, or anybody else."

"I know."

"Have you been meditating lately?"

"No."

"Then meditate again."

"Fine."

"Okay. When I see you again in a week, I hope you will tell me that you've stopped smoking by then."

With a light sarcastic smile, Beca says, "I'm hoping for the same thing too. But, I'm not gonna hold my breath if I were you."

Knowing that this isn't something that can be resolved in one session, Harley let it go. Then she warmly says, "Okay then. I think our session ends well. You've found out about the core problem. We've reframed your perspective about being happy, and you've found your patterns every time you are faced with hard situations. We'll talk more about how to deal with the emotional aspect in the next session. And we haven't talked about the wedding your friends planned for you, about your anger to Aubrey for keep pushing you, about you missing Ashley, and how to respond to those things."

With a light smile, the DJ nods again.

Then Harley grabs her hand and squeezes it gently before she softly says, "I believe that you can get through this hard patch, Beca. And I know that in a certain degree, you believe that too. That's why you're still here. You could've run away, but you didn't. That is something, coming from someone who used to be a flight risk."

With a light chuckle, the brunette says, "I think so too. Kind of proud of myself about it."

"You should be." Harley says softly. "So, see you again next week, Beca." Then she writes down the conclusion of the session in her notes.

Instead of replying, the DJ sticks out her hand and asks, "Since the session is already over, can I have my Rocher now?"

"Nope." The doctor pops the P loudly, speaking without looking up at her.

"Why?" Beca whines.

Harley looks up at her, smirking as she says, "Because I don't want to give it to you, and I certainly don't have to. Besides, some famous DJ told me a couple of months ago that we can't have everything we want."

"Fine." The DJ says with half-bored yet also half-upset look. "I'll get dozens of them by myself."

"That's the spirit!" Harley says cheerfully. "You don't need me to give you the Rocher, Beca. You can get it on your own. Just because you can. See? You are a fast learner."

Beca scoffs, though she's smiling as she says, "Thank you, Harley. Today's session, it helps a lot."

"Just doing what you paid me for." Harley says teasingly, and it certainly makes the brunette laugh lightly.

"See you next week then." Beca says.

"I certainly will."

* * *

On the way back to her apartment, Beca calls Donna.

" _Monkey, how did the therapy go?"_

"It's great. I'm feeling better. But I need a favor, Donna."

" _Anything."_

"I'm gonna stay at the beach house for two days. I need time for myself. No phone, no interactions, no gaming. Just me, myself, and I."

" _Okay. What can I help?"_

"I can't tell Chloe the truth. She'll freak out, thinking that I want to stay away from her. I'll tell her that I have to take care of that work problem in New York for the weekend. Can you back up my story?"

" _Sure. Anything else?"_

"Please check on her from time to time this weekend. Just a couple of phone calls will do. And send Adrian to fill the fridge at the beach house with food."

" _I will."_

"Also, can you ask doctor Edgar to come to the beach house the next two days? I don't want to take any sleeping pills if I can."

_"Sure. No problem at all."_

"Thanks, Donna."

" _Don't thank me yet, young lady."_

Donna sounds upset, and the DJ knows what it's about. Therefore, she says, "I'll apologize to Emily and Debbie."

_"Good."_ The redhead sounds firm, but then she softly says, _"You know I love you, monkey. I'd do anything for you. Including scolding you when you make a mistake."_

"I know." Beca replies. "And I... you know how I feel about you. Thanks for everything, Donna."

_"Anything for you, monkey."_

After she ends the phone call with Donna, Beca calls Emily to apologize.

_"Hey, Pop."_

"Hey, Kid. I uh... I want to apologize for yelling at you earlier. I was upset. I'm sorry."

_"No problemo. I know you're having a hard time. I shouldn't have stormed into your office to lecture you."_

"I had it coming my way."

_"So, how was therapy?"_

"It was good. I feel so much better."

_"Good to hear that. You know I'm with you, Pop."_

"I know. Thanks, Em."

_"No biggie. Just being a good aca-child."_

Beca chuckles lightly and says, "Hey, Em. I just arrived at my place. But I need to tell you this. I'll be off in the next two days. Ask Donna for the details, and please keep it to yourself."

_"Okay, Pop. Take care."_

"Bye, Em." She turns off the machine and gets out of her car. When she's riding the elevator up to her penthouse, she sends an email to Debbie to apologize.

As she walks out of the elevator, she's greeted with a delicious smell coming most likely from the kitchen. She heads there directly to find that the redhead is cooking.

"Hey." The DJ says while walking toward her fiancé.

Chloe turns around, and her face lights up instantly. "Babe, I'm making dinner. Hope you're in a mood for spaghetti carbonara."

"Smells good." Beca says as she stands next to the redhead, leaning her butt onto the counter, facing her fiancé from aside.

While stirring the spaghetti, the redhead steals a chaste kiss from the DJ and asks, "How was the therapy?"

"It was fine."

"Feeling better?" Chloe asks before tasting the sauce.

"Yea."

Chloe smiles and turns to look at her fiancé before she softly says, "I'm glad to hear that."

With a light smile, Beca says, "Me too. I'll uh... I'll just take a shower, Babe."

"Okay. Love you, Baby boo." The redhead says nonchalantly while adding some spices into the sauce.

How casual Chloe said _I love you_ makes the brunette feel relieved. With a light smile, she looks at Chloe from aside for a couple of seconds, and then she kisses the redhead's cheek before she replies, "I love you too."

Chloe's taken aback for a split second, and she can't even responds to the kiss with anything else but a smile and teary eyes. There's no doubt that she is so relieved to see the brunette initiates intimacy.

Beca simply smiles and goes to the bedroom to take a shower. When she's done showering, she goes back to the kitchen, and Chloe is already waiting for her to have dinner together.

At first, they don't talk at all, but halfway through eating, Chloe clears her throat and asks, "So, how was your day, Babe?"

"Same old." Beca chews her food slowly. "Work, lunch, acupuncture, work, and then therapy. How was yours?"

After swallowing her food, the redhead answers, "It was great. My students and I learnt about old songs today. They were looking at me with wide eyes when I played Only You by Alison Moyet today."

"Great song." The DJ smiles while nodding. Then closes her eyes and sings a part of it while bobbing her head, tapping her fork onto the table. _"All I needed was the love you gave... All I needed for another day... And all I ever knew, only you..."_ She opens her eyes and looks at the redhead, grinning as she says, "I love that song."

"Me too!" Chloe exclaims excitedly. Certainly, seeing the brunette singing again flutters her heart.

Beca simply smiles. She found that song when she watched Once Upon A Time with Ashley. Then she snorts upon remembering the moment Ashley sang that song, holding a hairbrush while bobbing her head and dancing ridiculously.

With her eyebrows furrowed and a comical look, the redhead asks, "What's so funny?"

"Nothing." The DJ says while grinning from ear to ear. "Just remembering something."

"Care to share?" The redhead wiggles her eyebrows playfully.

"Nah..." Beca is still grinning. "It's only for me to know."

Chloe pouts, but Beca simply chuckles lightly. Seeing that her fiancé is in a good mood, the redhead casually asks, "So, did you talk to Harley about your problem at work?"

While nodding absentmindedly, the DJ replies, "I did. And... well, I got a whole new perspective about that problem. I'm still trying to figure it all out, but... now I know where to start."

"Hmmm..." The redhead purses her lips. She's wondering if Beca had found out about Ashley coming when she had a night terror. However, Chloe is afraid to ask. Several times, she steal nervous glances at the brunette who seems to be casual. After making up her mind, Chloe takes a deep breath and asks, "Did you uh... talk about the night terror?"

"Not much." Beca says after swallowing the food in her mouth. "There are other stuff that turns out to be more important."

"What is it?"

With an apologetic smile, the DJ says, "I'm not ready to talk about it, Chlo. But I'm feeling much better now."

Chloe sighs in defeat, putting on a smile and nods lightly. Then she grabs her fiancé's hand and softly says, "I'm really glad that you're feeling better, Babe. Do you have to go to the studio tomorrow?"

While focusing on swirling the spaghetti with a fork, Beca replies, "No. But I do have to take care about that work problem. I'm going to New York early in the morning."

The light on Chloe's face dims. She was planning to spend the weekend with her fiancé; maybe even go out on a date. Now that Beca has to go to New York, she feels disappointed. Then she asks, "How long are you gonna be there?"

After swallowing her food, the DJ says, "I'll be back on Sunday night. We still have to go to the premiere on Monday anyway."

"Can I come with you?" The redhead asks with puppy eyes.

With an apologetic smile, Beca says, "It's just a two days visit, Chlo. I'll be so busy there, and we won't have time to spend together."

"At least we'll be sleeping together." Chloe pleads while intensifying her puppy eyes.

Still with the same apologetic smile, the brunette sighs and says, "I might not be sleeping at my apartment at all. I'll be staying at the office."

Chloe sighs heavily and pouts as she says, "Fine. I'll just stay at Aubrey's in the weekend."

With a relieved smile, the DJ says, "Okay then. Say hi from me to smurfette."

"I'm gonna miss you so much." The redhead says with a sad look.

Beca smiles lightly and says, "I'll come back as soon as I can."

Even though she's still disappointed, Chloe smiles and nods lightly. Then they resume dinner in silent. When they're done having dinner, Chloe washes the dishes, and Beca helps drying them. Then the brunette packs her stuff for her weekend getaway, and Chloe helps her. It doesn't take long, and after she's done, Beca goes to the bathroom to wash up.

After washing up, the DJ drops herself onto the bed stomach first, and reaches her pillow and Bali sarong. She's indeed out of energy after the emotional afternoon with her therapist. All she wants is a good night sleep.

On the other hand, Chloe takes her turn to wash up after her fiancé, and she's putting on a seductive black lingerie. It's been almost a week Beca and her haven't consummated their relationship. They haven't even celebrated their engagement intimately yet. Since her fiancé will be out of the country for two days, she wants to make this night count.

However, when she walks out of the bathroom, the DJ is already in her sleeping position. Chloe sighs heavily and climbs onto the bed. She lies on her side with her hands under her cheek, simply staring at her sleeping fiance. There's a part of her that feels tired. She thought that after the therapy, Beca would have wanted to spend time together. As her mind thinks back to the past several days, out of no where, she starts singing softly.

_I love this place_   
_But it's haunted without you_   
_My tired heart is beating so slow_   
_Our hearts sing less than we wanted_   
_We wanted_

_Our hearts sing cause_   
_We do not know_   
_We do not know_

_To light the night_   
_To help us grow_   
_To help us grow_   
_It is not said I always know_

Tears start running down her face slowly, making the bed sheet under her hands wet. Her voice comes out in barely a whisper.

_You can catch me_   
_Don't you run_   
_Don't you run_   
_If you live another day in this happy little house_   
_The fires here to stay_

_To light the night_   
_To help us grow_   
_To help us grow_   
_It is not said I always know_

Chloe knows that she loves Beca, no matter how badly the brunette has been treating her lately. But recently, she's feeling tired and alone.

_Please don't make a fuss_   
_It won't go away_   
_The wonder of it all the wonder that I made_

_I am here to stay_   
_I am here to stay_   
_Stay_

She sniffles softly and caresses Beca's head gently before clearing her throat and whispers, "You know, Becs? I thought the furthest distance between us was when you were still hiding from me... Turns out... the furthest distance between us is when I'm standing right in front of you, but I don't feel like you can see me... I've never felt so lonely... and I've never missed you so much as I do now... But still... I'm here to stay, Becs. Because I love you..."

Then she sighs heavily and fixes her position so she can sleep closer to the DJ. Since Beca is lying on her stomach with her arms caging her head, the redhead can't find a comfortable position to hug her. Therefore, she curls on her side, scooting closer to the brunette and rests her arms lazily on Beca's back.

Unknowingly to Chloe, Beca wasn't completely asleep yet when she started singing.

The DJ just kept pretending to be asleep. As hard as it was to hear Chloe's restraint voice, she could manage to lie still even though a part of her wanted to hug the redhead. After she deems that Chloe has already fallen asleep, she opens her eyes and looks at her fiancé. She does nothing but staring at Chloe's face for about 10 minutes. Then she sighs deeply and whispers, "I'm sorry."

Can't seem to fall back asleep, and it's getting harder to look at the person she's hurting, Beca decides to go to her studio to smoke. She keeps her focus on smoking to brush off the guilty feeling in her chest. One pack of cigarette later, she takes a shower and goes back to the bedroom.

* * *

**Saturday, March 14 2026.**

Emily is going to meet Troian, Patrick, and Ashley for lunch. They will talk about the wedding.

"Hey, Junk." Troian greets Emily at the door.

"Hey, Troian."

"Come in."

"Hey, Em." Patrick greets when the two women walk into the living room.

"Hey, Patrick." Emily sits down on the couch while Troian goes to the kitchen to get them something to drink.

"Where's Ashley?" The youngest Bella asks.

"She said she's gonna be late." Patrick says. "So... ... Chloe and Beca are engaged."

"Beca told you?" Emily is surprised.

"She did." The blonde man says. "Well, over a phone call. I've got to say, she didn't sound thrilled at all."

"No kidding, Sherlock." The youngest Bella responds in mocked annoyance.

"So, how is she?" Troian asks while putting down a tray of beverages.

"She's at her beach house." Emily says. "Donna said she needed some space, but Chloe doesn't know about it. She thought Pop is in New York."

"No wonder." Troian comments in annoyance. "Seriously. Ashley is holding herself back to make it easier for Beca, and your sisters are making everything worse. Now you tell me who can love Beca better."

Emily sighs and says, "I'm not gonna argue with you about that. But Ashley told me she was gonna see Beca, and you two didn't let her. If you wanted them to get back together, why didn't you let them see each other then?"

"Because our brain cells are still intact." Troian states matter-of-factly, and then Patrick says "We didn't want to cause Beca more trouble than she already has. I told Ashley I would talk to her, but your sisters were here, and she was overwhelmed with too much attention. So, she said she needed some space. Besides, Ashley is barely moving forward. Couldn't let her take three steps back when she just took her very first step of moving on."

With a worried look, Emily asks, "How is Benzo? She's been telling me that she's fine about the engagement, but I think she just doesn't want to burden me since my plate is quiet full already with Beca and Chloe."

Troian sighs heavily and says, "She came straight to our house after taking care of Beca that night, and she cried the whole night. It was hard to see her like that, but... there's nothing she can do to change anything but to accept the reality and let go off her feelings. She's been painting again. So, don't worry, Junk. Ashley is hanging on. She'll be fine."

"Thank God." The youngest Bella says in relief. "I'm glad she finds comfort in painting to deal with pain. I think if I see my other friend is so helpless in this situation, I will probably snap. Especially now that my sisters are pushing Beca to have a wedding in six months."

"What?!" Troian exclaims angrily. "Six months?! Are your sisters crazy or using drugs?!"

Emily rolls her eyes in annoyance. "I kind of wished that they were using drugs. At least they would have an excuse for their behaviors. And they wondered why Pop didn't want to spend time with them. So, Beca's been acting out lately. She made Donna's assistant cried yesterday. Twice. In less then six hours."

"No kidding." Patrick scoffs. "No offense, Em. But it seems to me, Chloe doesn't know Beca at all. And the wedding plan, is it coming from..." He furrows his eyebrows. "Who is it again the Bella's captain before Beca that Beca hated so much?"

"Audrey or something." Troian says.

"Aubrey." Emily states before sipping her orange juice.

"Yeah, whatever her name is." Patrick says in annoyance. "What the fuck is she doing? Is she trying to drive Beca crazy? Was she out of her mind or something?"

While shaking her head, Troian continues, "Now I understand why Ashley was beyond angry when she told us about how Aubrey treated her that night. I thought her judgement was clouded with jealousy and pain. Turns out, this Aubrey is really a bitch. Why didn't any of you talk her down?"

"Or shoves some anti-psychotic medication down her throat." Patrick adds in annoyance.

Emily scoffs and says, "If only we could. We didn't have any option. Aubrey is so distressed because she's trying too hard to protect Chloe, Chloe is so clueless and hurting because she's left out in the dark, and half of my other sisters are just as clueless. I did defend Beca from time to time. But as usual, my opinion didn't matter because I'm the youngest one." She sighs heavily. "The wedding plan hasn't been approved yet, and now Aubrey's forcing Pop and Chloe to buy the house next to hers."

"What the fuck?!" Patrick snaps.

Upon seeing that her fiancé is getting angry, Troian says, "Calm down, Babe."

"I don't want to calm down!" Patrick says angrily. "They're fucking bullying my best friend into doing things that she's not ready to do yet! I'm gonna talk to Chloe at the premiere."

"Babe." Troian warns her fiancé. "We will be adults. It isn't our part to come between them. Besides, Chloe is overly sensitive. If we say something that even a little bit harsh, you know Aubrey and the other Bellas will put all the blame on Beca. We don't want to make her more miserable than she already is."

Knowing that his fiancé is right, Patrick simply rolls his eyes and takes a deep breath.

"Now you know how hard it is to be in my position." Emily says matter-of-factly. "And I'm in the middle of two sides. I basically can't do anything without hurting one of them, or getting burned by my other sisters."

Troian shakes her head in disbelief and says, "But still, Em. I thought Chloe was Beca's best friend. She's supposed to know Beca better than this. It took Beca two years to move in with Ashley, took her another two years to make up her mind about marrying Ashley, and then it still took her another year to finally propose. Now, Chloe proposed only after four months of dating, and she wanted to get married in six months? In what kind of parallel universe Chloe was best friend with Beca? Seriously."

"It's not like that, Troian." Emily explains tiredly. "Chloe has been in love with Beca for more than a decade. And she's 36 now. She's not getting any younger. I couldn't really blame her for wanting something more, especially when she thought that Beca is just as in love as she is. She didn't even know that Beca stayed with her because of Aubrey's crazy demand. All she knows is that... Pop loves her so much that she left Ashley for her."

Patrick firmly says, "Still, she really needs to work on her communication with Beca. She can't just do anything based on what she needs. Not only about their wedding and the house; she also doesn't like it when Beca hanging out with us. And as Beca's best friend, I have to say that I don't like Chloe."

"That is saying a lot since we've only met her once." Troian says matter-of-factly. "And I don't have the _hate on the first sight_ kind of thing like Beca. I believe in getting to know someone before I decide to not liking them. But apparently, there's always the first time for everything. And in this case, the first person."

While holding her glass in front of her mouth, Emily nonchalantly says, "Well, she has a reasonable excuse for that. She thought Beca was ready to marry Ashley and to start a family. It shouldn't have been different with her."

"She's kidding, right?" Patrick scoffs in disbelief. "Do you know how Ashley convinced Beca to have two pets at the same time?"

"How?"

"Tell her, Babe." Patrick tells his fiancé.

Troian sips her juice and says, "A couple of months before their third anniversary, we went to a pet store because Sasha was looking for a cat to pet. In that store, Ashley pointed out some puppies; about how cute they were, how she had wanted to have a dog as pet since she was only a child, how nice it would be to have pets in their huge mansion, and of course, Beca was beyond terrified. For her, it's a huge jump for a commitment."

"So, Beca rejected the idea right away for sure." Patrick continues.

"Even after Ashley pleaded with her magical puppy eyes, Beca stood her ground." Troian says. "Ashley begged for... I think she begged for a month, but no result."

"Huh." Emily nods absentmindedly with her eyebrows furrowed. "I remember Pop did say that Ashley was persistent about having pets. That's the reason they finally adopted Olive and Walter."

"That's what she told you." Patrick says matter-of-factly. "It wasn't exactly like that."

"Huh?" Emily seems puzzled.

"A couple of days after their third anniversary, we went there again because Sasha needed something for her cat. Again, Ashley pointed out two puppies, but Beca being Beca, she was still as terrified as the first time. She kept on complaining about how stink, and loud, and unsanitary the dogs were, etc, etc, etc. You know your Pop." Troian explains.

Patrick chuckles lightly and says, "I remember she was shrinking, and flinching every time the dogs barked in the store. And it means, all the time."

"So, how did they get Olive and Walter in the end?" The youngest Bella asks.

"Well, Shay asked Ashley if she really wanted to have the puppies. Beca was shaking on her feet, standing next to Ashley." Patrick chuckles. "I bet she was cursing Shay in her mind for asking the obvious question."

"And Ashley said yes?" Emily furrowed her eyebrows.

"Nope." Troian pops the P. "Ashley hugged Beca from aside and nonchalantly said, and I quote, _Not anymore. I wanted them a couple of months ago. But now that I'm thinking more about it, Beca and I are already living together for a year. Maybe we'll start our family soon. And having a pet in the house won't be easy if we're gonna have a baby. The dog might scare our baby with their loud bark."_

Then Patrick asks comically with his eyes wide, "Do you know what happened after that?"

"What?"

"The next day, Ashley came home and found those two puppies in the mansion. And they were Olive and Walter." Troian answers casually.

"No way!" Emily exclaims comically.

"Yes way." Troian says comically. "That's how she did it. Ashley knew that Beca was afraid of having pets, but she was more afraid of starting a family. So, Ashley pulled that stun. It was very well done and successful, of course."

Emily laughs whole-heartily until she cries.

"You have to see the look on Beca's face when Ashley told her the truth." Patrick says through a laughter. "I think I've never seen Beca that struck when she found out Ashley tricked her into having Olive and Walter."

"And she didn't get mad?" The youngest Bella asks while wiping the tears on the corner of her eyes.

"Oh, she did." Troian is grinning from ear to ear. "But they already had those puppies for a month by then, and Beca was already in love with them. Besides, you know what a goner she was for Ashley. One kiss, and poof, she simply rolled her eyes while holding back a goofy grin on her face. And look at Beca now. She loves those puppies. They even love her more than they love Ashley."

"Well, that was a smart move." Emily points out while nodding lightly, still smiling comically.

"Indeed." Patrick says matter-of-factly. "But the point is, Beca was already with Ashley for more than three years back then. And even though the idea to marry Ashley was already hanging over her head, she was still scared to start a family. Now, Chloe has only been with her for less than six months, and hoping for a wedding is like... hoping for the sun to come up from the west. Which is impossible."

"If only Chloe knew why Beca chose her, I bet she wouldn't propose so soon." Troian states.

Emily sighs heavily, "I was thinking about the same thing, but... seeing Chloe's condition, it will crush her."

"Poor Beca." Troian says sympathetically.

"Poor all of them." The youngest Bella corrects. "Chloe was so happy on the day she proposed. Pop was also so happy that day, so excited to sing for Chloe. Ashley finally decided to date again after months. Then the picture of Ashley and Shay came up, Chloe proposed, and everything went to hell."

"Beca was going to sing for Chloe?" Troian asks in comic surprise. "In front of the Bellas?"

"Yep."

"She didn't tell me about it." Patrick seems puzzled, but he's smiling. "That was fast. It took us hmmm..." He shakes his head lightly and purses his lips. "More than three years to finally see her singing for Ashley."

"Oh, don't beat yourself up." Emily waves her hand nonchalantly. "She used to sing with us in college."

Patrick sticks out his bottom lip, shaking his head while mocking a thinking look before he says, "You're right."

"By the way, on what occasion you first saw Pop sang for Benzo? The youngest Bella asks.

"When she got that tattoo." Patrick says.

"What tattoo?" Emily asks before sipping her drink.

"Ashley's initials on her left chest." Troian states.

Emily bursts out the liquid in her mouth, and Troian hurriedly hands her a box of tissue. "Thanks." She mutters. After wiping her mouth, the youngest Bella asks, "On her left chest?"

"Yeah." Patrick responds.

"Oh..." Emily finally puts the pieces together. "That's why she hasn't done it with Chloe, and she didn't want to change in front of her either."

"They haven't had sex?!" Troian asks in shock.

"That's what she told me." Patrick comments.

"You knew?!" Troian is completely shocked.

"Duh!" Patrick responds with offended manner. "I'm her best friend."

Troian rolls her eyes and says, "Whatever. But it's been four months, and they haven't had sex?"

"They have." Emily rolls her eyes playfully. "Well, kind of. It's one sided. Beca did the... favor for Chloe, but she's not ready to give herself away. I just didn't know that it was because of the tattoo."

"I was there with her when she got it." Patrick chips in. "And I think it was the moment she started thinking about marrying Ashley, even though she got the courage to buy a ring almost a year later."

"So, Pop sang for Ashley when she got that tattoo." Emily says while nodding absentmindedly. "What's the story?"

Patrick answers, "Well, Beca wanted to do something special for Ashley on their third anniversary. Ashley was in San Francisco for a week before their anniversary night. So, she decided to get a tattoo and write a song about it. And I, suggested her to sing it after our double date dinner. You know, as a moral support."

Troian laughs and says, "You just wanted to see Beca sing to Ashley."

"How dare you?" Patrick mocks an accusing look at his fiance, and Troian simply chuckles lightly.

"How did it go?" Emily asks.

Troian says, "We had dinner at their backyard, and then..." She stops on her track to take out her phone. "Wait a minute. I think I still have the video in my phone."

While Troian is looking for the video, Patrick says, "So, it was their third anniversary, and Troian and Ashley just got back from San Francisco. Beca and I were..."

* * *

**Flashback: Patrick's POV.**

"So, they'll be here in 10 minutes." Patrick said after ending the phone call.

"Great." The DJ responded while picking up her guitar. "Dinner is ready, and now I only need to tune my guitar for after dinner."

"Can we stay?" Patrick asked, grinning from ear to ear.

"Nope."

"Oh, come on dude." Patrick said stubbornly. "Let us hear the song. Swear I won't laugh." He paused for a split second. "Maybe a little."

"Nope." Beca said while tuning her guitar. "We will have dinner together, then you and Troian will go home so I can sing a song for my girlfriend."

"Dude!" Patrick exclaimed with a mocked upset manner. "It's been more than three years since we became friends, and I haven't run away yet. Give me some credits."

"Letting you be my friend is credit enough." The DJ said nonchalantly.

Patrick faked an accusing look and overdramatically said, "I thought I was your best friend."

"Huh." Beca mocked a thinking look, and the she said in all seriousness, "So did I."

"Whaaa..." Patrick mocked a shocked look.

Beca stared at him with her eyes narrowed and her lips pressed tightly.

Upon seeing that look, Patrick knew that his best friend was possibly considering her decision whether or not she was going to let them watched her performance. Therefore, he grimaced and pleaded, "Please..."

Beca rolled her eyes and said with bored look, "Fine."

"Woo hoo!" Patrick threw his hands up. But when the brunette raised an eyebrow, he shut his mouth and muttered, "It's cool. I'm cool."

"You better be." The brunette said with a warning look, and then she continued tuning her guitar, humming lightly to a melody until it sounded right. After that, she hid the guitar behind a chair on the porch at the backyard.

Not long after, Ashley and Troian arrived, and they immediately rushed their ways to their own lovers.

Ashley hugged her girlfriend and said, "I've missed you."

Beca chuckled, "I've missed you too."

Then Ashley pulled back slightly, still with her arms around Beca's neck when she pouted and asked, "Why didn't you pick me up at the airport then?"

"I had to do something."

"Hmph." The blonde pouted even more.

Beca kissed that pouted lips, and Ashley smiled onto the kiss. Then the tiny brunette said, "I couldn't pick you up because I had to prepare a surprise for you."

"And what is it?" Ashley asked with her eyes lit up.

"It's called a surprise for a reason, weirdo." Beca said with bored-look. "You'll find out after dinner."

Ashley rolled her eyes playfully and said, "Fine."

Then the DJ leaned in for another kiss, and Ashley returned the kiss hungrily.

"Hey, lovebirds." Patrick teased while holding Troian in his arms. "Just a kind reminder, we're still standing right beside you, and our dinner is getting cold. So cold that I'm afraid even your pent up sexual tension can't heat them up."

Beca broke the kiss, rolling her eyes and said in mocked annoyance, "Tell me again. Why would we have dinner with our friends on our anniversary night?"

"Because I wanted to have a double date." The blonde said nonchalantly while twirling Beca's brown locks with her index finger. "It's been a while since we have one. Besides, they just made up after that sloppy kiss incident at the club. We need to show them how to be an adorably sickening couple all over again."

"Fine." The DJ said in mocked annoyance, while the other couple were laughing lightly.

Then they walked to the dining table. It was set near the cliff, and Beca and Patrick had put up some lights to brighten the place. The sun was going down, and everything seemed to be perfect regardless the fact that they weren't dressed up, and the dinner wasn't anything fancy.

During dinner, they simply talked about Troian and Ashley's trip to San Francisco with PLL's casts that week. Patrick could see how nervous his best friend was; Beca was squirming on her seat, and she kept rubbing her hands on her laps.

"Breathe, dude." Patrick mouthed subtly from across the table.

Beca took a deep breath to calm her nerves. After dinner, she wiped her mouth with a napkin and said, "I need to get something."

"Get what?" Ashley asked with her eyebrows furrowed.

"I'll be just a minute." The DJ said softly before she stood up and went to get her guitar at the porch.

When Beca came back with a guitar and set her chair so she was facing the blonde, Ashley asked, "What are you doing?"

"It's your surprise." The tiny brunette smirked.

* * *

"Found it!" Troian exclaims.

"Show me." Emily hurriedly says, and Troian hands her the phone. She clicks play, and the view of Beca strumming the guitar comes into the view.

In the video, the DJ was grinning while staring fondly at her girlfriend. Then she started singing,

_I could spray-paint "I love you"  
on that bridge or in the sky  
_ _And I could swear when you say it to me,  
_ _there's a good chance I could fly  
_ _And I might, it seems like, yeah,  
_ _If it's gonna be any night,_  
it might as well be tonight

It's obvious how happy Ashley was at that moment. She was smiling from ear to ear, and her cheeks turned red so fast. Meanwhile, Beca was singing while staring at her girlfriend fondly.

_There's this thing that you do,  
you don't know that it does something to me, yeah  
_ _It's in the way that you sway, that you talk,  
that you touch, that you kiss, that you breathe  
_ _That I need, you look at me, girl  
_ _You're shaking things up like you wouldn't believe,  
_ _Crashing my comfort zone,  
setting me free  
_ _It's a "who'da thought?",_  
"never dream" kinda thing

Ashley rolled her eyes playfully, yet the grin on her face was blinding. Emily thinks it might be because the blonde got so many compliments through the lyrics.

_Your name,your name_  
sounds so good next to mine,  
just saying  
_And I think, I think_  
I'm gonna put it in all my rhymes, baby  
_'Cause with you,_  
I'm gonna do  
quite a few things   
that I never thought I would do  
_Your name, your name, your name_  
_Would be a good tattoo, yeah  
_ _Would be a good tattoo_

Emily can see that Ashley seemed a bit puzzled, but the blonde didn't interrupt at all. Then Beca stopped strumming her guitar for a second to undo the first button on her shirt and showed the tattoo.

After the DJ revealed her girlfriend's initials on her left chest, Ashley gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. Her eyes were so wide; she was indeed shocked and speechless. On the other hand, Beca was already strumming her guitar again, and continued singing while smirking smugly,

_Ink it in on my skin,  
sign me up,  
make it last against the time  
_ _'Cause this is more than a picture  
that fades of a first date Friday night  
_ _It's unerasable, unmistakable,  
hey, everybody wants to know  
_ _Now I think I know,  
I'll wear it on my sleeve,  
I gotta let it show  
_ _Making it permanent_  
'cause I never wanna let you go

" _Damn... Now I know why Ashley is so deeply in love with Beca."_ Emily can hear Patrick's voice, and he sounds impressed.

" _I can't believe this. The hobbit turns out to be a romantic. I can hear a wedding bell, Babe."_

The youngest Bella chuckles lightly upon hearing Troian whispering to her fiancé in the video. Then Emily hears Patrick chuckling lightly. Meanwhile on the screen, Ashley was still struck.

_Your name,your name_  
sounds so good next to mine,  
just saying  
_And I think, I think_  
I'm gonna put it in all my rhymes, baby  
_'Cause with you,_  
I'm gonna do  
quite a few things   
that I never thought I would do  
_Your name, your name, your name  
_ _Would be a good tattoo, yeah_

Beca put down her guitar and dragged her chair forward, closer to her girlfriend. Then she cupped Ashley's cheeks as she softly sang,

_All my life,_  
all I got is this one heart to give  
_All my life, all this time,_  
I've been searching for this  
_Oh, and it looks like I found it_  
_Yeah, I finally found it, girl,  
_ _It's you-oo-oo-oo_

The camera zoomed in, and it was clear; Ashley's eyes were teary, though her smile was nearly splitting her face in two.

_Your name, your name_  
sounds so good next to mine  
_And I think, I think_  
I'm gonna put it in all my rhymes, yeah  
_'Cause with you,_  
I'm gonna do  
quite a few things   
that I never thought I would do  
_Your name, your name, your name_  
_Would be a good tattoo, yeah  
_ _Would be a good tattoo_

_Only you, baby_  
_Only you, no  
_ _Only you, now_

By the end of the song, Ashley leaned forward and kissed the tiny brunette deeply, wrapping her arms around Beca's neck to pull her closer.

After they broke the kiss, Ashley said in barely a whisper but Emily can still hear it clearly through the phone's speaker, _"I'm so in love with you._ _ **I**_ _, am so freakishly in love with you, Beca Mitchell."_

"Aw..." Emily coos.

In the video, Beca chuckled lightly and replied, _"I love you too, the weirdo who holds my heart."_

" _I do."_ The blonde said softly. _"I hold your heart as a hostage. It's mine. Forever and always."_

Mocking a serious look, the DJ said, _"I think it's the other way around, Miss Benson. I'm holding you as my hostage for the rest of my life. It's not a might be anymore. Because I got your name engraved on my left chest. It would be mean if you ever leave me after this. I mean, where can I find another girl with AVB as her initials?"_

Ashley rolled her eyes, but she was grinning from ear to ear when she said, " _Never._ _Ever. I am yours, and you are mine. Forever and always. That's a promise."_

Then Beca leaned forward for another kiss while Troian and Patrick cheered and clapped loudly. After the DJ broke the kiss, she turned to look at the camera, smirking smugly as she said, _"And that, is how you sweep a girl off her feet. You're very welcome."_

" _That's my dude!"_ Patrick exclaimed.

After the video ends, Emily can't help but feeling sad that her two best friends are no longer together.

Upon seeing the frown on the youngest Bella's face, Troian says, "They were so happy, Junk. And I'm not gonna lie to you. I was angry when Ashley told me about the reason she broke up with Beca. Your sisters knew nothing about them, but they had the audacity to force them until they had no other choice but breaking up. And it isn't enough for them. Now they're pushing Beca for more."

Emily looks up at Troian, seeming sad when she says, "I was angry too. And seeing Beca so hurting right now; Chloe is just as hurt; and Ashley couldn't seem to move on, I just... I didn't know what to do. If had known, maybe I would've tried harder, fought harder for Pop in the beginning so it wouldn't lead to this."

Patrick sighs heavily and says, "Don't beat yourself up, Em. It's not your fault."

Suddenly, the bell rings, and the blonde man says, "It must be Ashley. I'll go get the door."

"Let's not talk about this while Ashley is here." Troian says to the youngest Bella while putting away her phone.

"Agreed." Emily says.

* * *

**Meanwhile, at Aubrey's House.**

Aubrey, Stacie, and Chloe are sitting around the living room, and Bella is also there, playing with some dolls on her playmate.

"How's Shorty, Chloe?" Stacie asks.

With a light smile, the redhead answers, "She seemed so much better after seeing her therapist yesterday. And now she's in New York, dealing with the problem that has been distressing her lately."

"Oh." The tall brunette nods. She's wondering if it's the real reason for Beca to go to New York. Nevertheless, she knows that some times apart is good for both Beca and Chloe.

"So, Beca is in New York for work?" Aubrey asks with her eyes narrowed.

"Yep." Chloe answers before sipping her coffee.

"Why didn't you go with her?" The blonde asks again.

Chloe shrugs and replies, "I wanted to, but she said she'd be busy and wouldn't have time for me. Besides, it's only a two days visit anyway. Now that you ask me, she hasn't called to tell me if she's arrived yet."

"Huh." Aubrey responded with her lips pursed and her eyes narrowed. Certainly, she doesn't believe the DJ's excuse to be out of the country so suddenly. She even thinks that Beca isn't really in New York. "Why don't you call her?" The blonde asks.

"She forgot to bring her phone." The redhead explains. "She left it in the bedroom this morning."

"Why don't you ask Donna?" Stacie suggests. "She might know."

"You're right." Chloe pulls out her phone and dials Donna's number. "Hey, Donna. Sorry to bother you... ... Everything's okay. But uhm... Beca said that she had to deal with some problems in New York's branch?... ... ... Nothing important. But she left her phone, and I couldn't reach her... ... ..." She sighs in relief. "Oh, so the office just called to inform you that she's already there... ... ... No, I'm not worried. Just missing her. Thanks, Donna." She ends the phone call and says, "She's already in New York."

With a light smile, Stacie shakes her head and says, "Classic Shorty. I believe if her head wasn't attached to her neck, she probably would've left it too."

Chloe chuckles and says, "She's still as clumsy as she was back then in college."

Feeling impatient, Aubrey cuts them off by asking, "So, have you two talked about the wedding yet?"

The smile on Chloe's face falters, and she weakly says, "Not yet. She's still not ready to talk about it, Bree. And she's in distressed right now with the problem at work. So, I don't want to put more pressure on her. She just started feeling better."

"I think you should push her, Chloe." Aubrey persuades the redhead softly. "You know her. She always needed a little push. If not, she'll let you hang."

"I think Chloe is right, Babe." Stacie says. "Even a rubber will snap if you stretch it too hard. So, give Beca a break. I'm sure she'll talk about it when she's ready."

Upon not getting any support from her wife and best friend, Aubrey sighs in half-annoyance and says, "Fine. But you better make sure that she'll talk about it soon. Or should I sit her down?"

"No, please no." Chloe hurriedly says. "No offense, Bree. But you talking to her will only upset her even more right now. Let me talk to her."

"Hear that, Babe?" Stacie warns. "Let them talk."

Aubrey rolls her eyes in half-annoyance and says, "Okay, okay. I will not talk about the wedding with her."

"Thank you, Bree." Chloe says with an appreciative smile. Then her face lights up when she says, "I can't wait for the premiere on Monday. I'm so proud of her."

With a nervous look, Stacie glances at her wife and mutters, "About that..."

Aubrey gets the hint and moves to sit next to her best friend. She takes Chloe's hands in hers and softly says, "Sweetie, I know you're excited about going to the premiere with Beca. But I need to tell you this. Ashley will be there too."

"Ashley is gonna be there?" The redhead's purses her lips. Feeling upset and anxious, she starts pulling her fingers and tapping her foot. "I didn't know that." She mutters weakly.

Upon seeing how anxious Chloe has become, Aubrey hurriedly says, "But I don't think you should be worried, Chloe. She already has a new girlfriend, and they'll be there together. Her name is Shay Mitchell."

"Shay and Ashley? They're together now?" The redhead seems puzzled. "Since when? How did you find out?"

"It's all over the internet." The blonde says. "Since you're already engaged to Beca, and Ashley has already moved on, you don't need to worry about them anymore. I'm just making sure that you'll be okay with seeing Ashley there."

Suddenly, everything come back to Chloe; how upset Beca on her birthday, the changing of Ashley's hair color, and the night terror. "Since when they started dating, Bree?" She asks anxiously. "Is that before or after I proposed?"

Aubrey already plans it out, and she says, "Who cares? It doesn't matter anyway. She and Shay Mitchell have been friends for years. Who knows what kind of _friend_ ship they had even when Ashley was still with Beca? Remember you told us that Ashley wasn't always faithful to Beca? Turns out, the person the media said Ashley cheated with was Shay."

Stacie's eyes go wide. She's so stunned from the bad lies her wife easily tell that she can't even find a word to say.

"Are you saying that the reason they broke up was because Ashley actually cheated on Beca with Shay?" Chloe seems more confused. "It couldn't be right, right?"

"No, sweetie." The blonde smiles. "Beca broke up with her because she loves you. I'm saying, now the two of you are happily engaged, and Ashley has already moved on. So, you don't need to worry about Beca going back to her anymore."

Chloe just can't shake off the feeling that the news of Ashley dating Shay has something to do with Beca's condition lately. Therefore, she looks for the news on the internet, and she finds out that her suspicion is right. The picture of Ashley and Shay came out on the same day with her birthday.

So vastly, the redhead becomes panic, and she starts fidgeting when she frantically says, "The news about them started dating came out on the same day as my birthday, Bree. It's the reason Beca was so angry all the time. She's still in love with Ashley. She's jealous."

"Don't jump into any conclusion, Chloe." Stacie says calmly. "Remember that she lost her phone on that day? How could she find out if she didn't have her phone?"

"But she could find out from anyone around her, Stace." The redhead says worriedly. "I need to call her. I need to talk to her right now. I need to know the truth."

"Chloe, sweetie..." Aubrey says sympathetically. "Calm down."

"I can't!" Chloe snaps. Her hands are shaking, and her eyes become teary. "I can't, Bree. I need to talk to her right now."

"Chloe, breathe..." Stacie says as calm as she can, glancing at her daughter who is staring at the redhead with puzzled look. "Let it pass, and you can talk to her when she comes back. When you're already calm." Then she gives Bella a signal to remain silent, and the little blonde simply nods.

"I need to talk to her right now." Chloe cries while gripping her phone tightly.

"Okay, okay." The blonde says hurriedly. "Call her office in New York. I believe you can find the number on the internet."

With her hands shaking, the redhead frantically looks for the Lucifer Records' New York branch's number on the internet, and dials it hurriedly. "Ha- hallo. I'm Chloe Beale. Can I talk to Beca Mitchell?... ... ... I know she lives in LA. I'm her girlfriend. She said she's in New York this weekend for work... ... ..." Her eyes go wide. "There's no project that include her? Are you sure? Can you please check it for me again?... ... ..." She's pressing her knuckles onto her chin so hard while biting her bottom lip. "I get it. Thanks anyway." After she ends the phone call, tears start running down her face, and she says, "She's not there. They said there isn't any project that include her in New York."

"Maybe the staff you just called didn't know that she's there." Stacie tries to reason. She doesn't know either where her best friend is, but judging from Donna's information, the DJ is in New York. "Donna said that she's there, Chloe. No need to worry."

However, Chloe doesn't seem to pay any attention to Stacie. She's looking at Aubrey and asks frantically with shaky voice, "Do you think she's with Ashley? I think she's with Ashley. She must be with Ashley. She lied to me, Bree."

"Chloe." Stacie says softly. "You're thinking way too far. Wherever Beca is, she's not with Ashley."

"How do you know?!" The redhead asks with an upset manner while wiping the tears on her face harshly.

"Because Ashley is with Emily right now." The tall brunette explains patiently. "Legacy told me that she's having lunch with Ashley, Troian, and Patrick today."

"Call her." Aubrey says firmly. "Right now, Babe. Call Emily, and asks her. Put her on speaker. I can tell if she's lying to us."

Stacie sighs tiredly and pulls out her phone before dialing the youngest Bella's number.

" _Hey, Stace."_

"Hey, Em. Are you still at Troian's place?"

" _Yep. What's up?"_

"Is Ashley there?"

At the same time, Ashley says from the other side, _"I think golden and red can be a good combination, Patrick."_

" _Oh, great idea."_ Emily comments, and she doesn't seem to hear the prior question from Stacie.

" _Right? I kind of like that combination."_ This time, it's Troian's voice.

" _No way."_ Patrick says. _"The bridesmaids can wear golden and red. But I will wear black and white."_

" _Sorry, Stace. What did you say?"_ Emily asks.

"Just... Do you know where Beca is?"

_"New York. Why do you ask?"_

"Nothing." Stacie hurriedly says. "I want to invite you for dinner. Chloe is staying with us for the weekend."

" _Okay. I'll go to your place tonight."_

"Bye, Em."

" _Bye, Stace."_

After ending the phone call, Stacie says, "See? Beca is not with Ashley. She must be in New York. The staff probably didn't know that his boss's is there. You know that Beca likes to be in stealth mode for work. Besides, the staff might have lied to you. He might have thought that you were a fan who's impersonating as Shorty's girlfriend to stalk her. I don't think he's authorized to provide any information about his boss's whereabouts."

Upon finding out that Ashley isn't with Beca and getting a reasonable explanation from Stacie, Chloe seems a bit relieved. She takes a deep breath and asks, "You think so?"

"I believe so." Stacie gives the redhead a reassuring smile. "I'm sure she didn't lie to you, Chloe."

Chloe smiles in relief and wipes her tears away. "I hope she'll call me soon."

Stacie simply smiles in returns while her wife softly says, "If you're so worried that she'll go back to Ashley, I think you should talk to her about the wedding again, Chloe."

Feeling that her best friend is right, the redhead nods while sighing heavily.

"And about the house," The blonde says. "I will feel less worried and more relieved if you live next to us. You know, we can see each other every day, Stacie and I will be close to you when Beca is out of town, Bella can play with my future godchildren at any time, and whenever you need me, I'll be just a door away."

"I love that idea, Bree." Chloe smiles apologetically. "But I don't think Beca wants the same thing. You and her are... you're not in a good place. I'm afraid that the two of you will try to rip each other's vocal cords if we become neighbors."

Aubrey chuckles lightly and says, "No, Chloe. If she marries you and agrees to live next door, I won't bother her about anything anymore, unless she does something that hurt you."

"You promise?" Chloe asks with pleading eyes.

"Promise." The blonde says without hesitation.

After taking several seconds to consider, Chloe sighs and says, "I'll talk to her about it."

* * *

**August Rush Premiere: Monday, March 16th 2026**

In the weekend, Beca was indeed in her beach house. She purposively left her phone in her bedroom so nobody could reach her.

However, she still found it hard to meditate. Every time she started letting her mind to think about her issues, the heat under her skin was unbearable, and she couldn't breath.

Therefore, she spends her time mostly listening to instruments or sitting by the balcony, watching the waves washed the shore. Of course, all done with packs of cigarette.

When she came back to her apartment by Sunday night, Chloe was already waiting for her with dinner. The redhead seemed off, but when Beca asked about it, she simply said that she was tired after going to the aquarium with her goddaughter that day.

Feeling a bit tired, the DJ didn't pay more attention to it and went to sleep right after dinner. She didn't think that Chloe was upset for the fact that she didn't call at all the whole weekend. 

When they woke up on Monday, the redhead is already back to her cheerful self. She's indeed excited to go to the premiere of August Rush with her fiance.

Beca is wearing her blue navy suit, while Chloe is wearing a bright red plunging HANEY Alaina winged cape dress that shows her chest and legs wonderfully, completed with a pair of matching color heels. Beca's eyes widen upon seeing the redhead's appearance that afternoon, and all she can do is swallowing hard.

With a triumphant smile, Chloe says, "I know you love to see me in red, Babe. But you can't rip this one off. I'll take it off for you _after_ the premiere."

Beca simply chuckles and shakes her head lightly.

Still with that smug smirk on her face, Chloe links her arm with Beca's and cheerfully says, "Come on. We can't be late only because you're speechless and stunned for seeing me in this red dress."

The DJ simply let Chloe drags her into the elevator and then into the car. After they arrive, they spend some moments for some pictures. They are in the middle of posing on the red carpet when Patrick and Troian arrive.

"Dude!" Beca greets Patrick with a huge grin.

"Dude!" Patrick exclaims as he pulls Beca in a tight grip of hug.

"Dude, air." The tiny brunette grunts because her best friend is squeezing her too tightly.

Patrick breaks the hug and grips the DJ's arms before he joyfully asks, "How are you doing, asshole?"

"Fine, jackass." Beca shots back playfully.

"It's been a while, grumpy." Troian says in mocked annoyance.

Truth to be told, Beca wasn't thrilled coming to the premiere, knowing that she'd be seeing her ex. However, seeing her best friends do make her happy. Therefore, she wiggles her eyebrows playfully and asks, "Did you miss me?"

"You wished." Troian mocks a bored look.

"I missed you, dude." Patrick teases.

"And I missed you... _by_ several inches." Beca says with a straight face. "You know, when I shot you with my hypothetical gun."

Patrick laughs and curses, "Fuck you."

Then Chloe nudges her fiancé lightly on the back, and Beca hugs her around her waist from aside. "You guys remember Chloe."

"Nice to see you again, Chloe." Troian says politely while Patrick simply nods with his face hardened.

"Nice to see you too." Chloe smiles awkwardly.

Then the two couples give their time for some pictures. Beca and Patrick are sandwiched in between Chloe and Troian.

"You okay, dude?" Patrick asks his best friend in barely a whisper.

"Do you want the honest answer, or you're just asking for fun?" Beca asks back with an annoyed tone, yet she's faking a smile for the cameras.

While putting on a huge grin for the media, Patrick says, "Message received."

Suddenly, another car arrives, and Ashley comes out of it with Shay. Beca's fake smile falters, and her jaw drops as she sees Ashley's appearance. The blonde is wearing an ivory slip silk dress that can barely contain her perky breasts, and shows her tan legs in such a perfect way. Not to mention the slit on the dress that goes so high up and reaches her hips, showing her toned thigh.

Beca can't help it when her mouth becomes watery. Everything seems to be happening in a slow motion for her when her ex is walking toward them. The voices around her become merely an echo, and other than Ashley, everything seems blurry for her. The sound of her hard thumping heart is banging in her ear. _"God, she's breathtaking."_ Beca thought to herself.

Upon seeing that look, Patrick bumps the DJ's shoulder subtly and whispers, "Dude, pick your jaw up. You're drooling."

Beca shakes her head to get out of the dazzling view of her stunning ex-fiancé and swallows hard. However, she's too late because Chloe has already seen the look on her face.

The redhead is indeed jealous and hurt. Nevertheless, she simply holds Beca's arm tighter, keeping her calm look while taking a deep breath.

"Hey, you guys!" Shay greets them cheerfully. "What an odd coincidence for us to arrive at the same time."

"Hey, Shay." Patrick hugs Shay.

"Hey, Pats."

"Benzo!" Troian greets the blonde cheerfully.

With a bored look, Ashley says, "Troian, we met two days ago."

"So I can't miss my best friend after two days of not seeing her?" Troain asks with a mocked hurting look.

"Of course you can." Ashley says cheerfully, and they hug each other tightly. After that, they exchange the hug; Patrick hugs Ashley, and Troian hugs Shay.

Then Ashley turns to look at Beca and Chloe, smiling lightly as she says, "Hey, Moz. Hey, Chloe. Nice to see you."

The only thing Beca can do is nodding lightly, though her rosy cheeks and fidgeting fingers do tell that she's nervous. Her heart is pounding, and all she wants is to pull the blonde into the car and have her way in there. She just can't keep her eyes off of the blonde.

"Hey, Ashley." Chloe greets the blonde with a polite smile. "Nice to see you too."

"Hey, Chloe." Shay greets cheerfully while taking Ashley's hand in hers. "Very nice to meet you again. How are you?"

"I'm fine." The redhead smiles. "And it's nice to see you again, Shay."

Meanwhile, the DJ is still staring at Ashley while smiling lightly. It's been a while since they met, and she just realized how much she has missed to see the blonde in person.

"Mitchell." Shay greets politely.

The mention of her name pulls Beca out of her mind. Suddenly, she remembers that Ashley is dating Shay now. She finally notices that they are holding hands, and they are wearing matching slip silk dresses but in different colors. So vastly, she's hit with jealousy. With a tight-lipped smile, the DJ coldly says, " _Another_ Mitchell."

Everybody can feel the tension, and there's a couple of seconds where nobody talks at all.

Feeling upset for being called _another_ Mitchell, Shay shots back cheerfully, "Hey! I've heard about the great news. Congrats for the engagement, you two." She smiles at Chloe and says, "You moved fast. As Beca's friend, I can tell that she must loves you so much. She said yes even though it's been only what? Four months? Nobody has ever achieved that before with Beca. Good job."

Getting congratulations for their engagement from other people distracts Chloe for a moment. "Thank you." The redhead responds while staring at her fiancé fondly. "When you love someone so much, time isn't an issue."

"Congratulation, Chloe." Ashley smiles. "You too, Moz."

Beca simply fakes a smile while calming her aching heart. She's hurt when Ashley doesn't even flinch upon finding out that she and Chloe are engaged. _"She has moved fucking on, damnit! Why would you be surprised at all when she didn't even flinch?!"_ She screams in her mind.

Trying to ease the tension, Troian says over cheerfully yet also awkwardly, "Congratulations!"

Patrick follows by punching Beca's arm playfully and says, "Congrats, dude." Then he looks at Chloe and firmly says, "You take a good care of my best friend. Or I will take her away from you."

"Babe..." Troian warns her fiance.

Thinking that Patrick is just doing his _best friend's duty_ , Chloe smiles and says, "There's nothing I want more than to take a good care of her."

On the other hand, Beca just keep staring at Ashley who is whispering to Shay, warning her to behave. However, the DJ indeed doesn't know that. All she can see is Ashley and Shay being too close to each other in her taste, and she doesn't like it. She's overwhelmed with sadness, anger, and jealousy.

The tension is just getting thicker, and judging from the clenched jaw and hands, Patrick can see that Beca will most likely punch Shay on the face in any second. Therefore, he hurriedly suggests, "Okay. Let's go inside before the paparazzi burn us with the flashes from their cameras."

"Come on, Babe." Chloe pulls her fiancé gently, and the DJ complies without saying anything.

Fortunately, they sit in different rows so Beca doesn't have to see her ex with Shay in the theater. Even so, she can't really focus on the movie. Instead, she's busy calming her mind from the raging storm. One time or two, she feels that Chloe is squeezing her hand tightly, and she simply gives the redhead a light smile.

After the movie is over, Beca and Chloe stay for a couple of interviews in the hall at the back of the theater. Certainly, the reporters ask about the DJ's relationship with Chloe. Every time the issue comes up, Beca simply tells them that Chloe is her college sweetheart and her first love. She just can't wait to get it over with, and go back to her place to have a nicotine break.

When the interviews are over, Beca sighs in relief and says, "Let's go home, Babe. I'm tired."

"Do you mind if I go to the ladies room first?" Chloe asks.

"Sure. I'll be at the bar getting a drink." The DJ says.

Chloe kisses the brunette's cheek and says, "I won't be long."

Beca simply smiles in return before walking to the bar and asks for a glass of iced tea. She's sipping her iced tea with a straw while walking to the corner and checking her emails. Suddenly, someone bumps her from behind, and she spills her drink onto the person in front of her.

The DJ looks up and says, "I'm so-" She stops on her track when she sees the person she spilled her drink onto. For a couple of seconds that feels like a lifetime, the only thing she can do is staring at that person with wide eyes.

Meanwhile, the person in front of her feels awkward and swoon at the same time from the way Beca is staring at her. Nevertheless, she takes a deep breath, putting on a smile and says, "Well, look at us, Mitchell. Back to square one."

With a tight-lipped smile, Beca shoves her phone into her pocket and pulls out a navy blue handkerchief. "Here." She offers the said item to Ashley with her left hand.

As Ashley takes the handkerchief, she sees how the DJ's hand is a bit trembling. She's taken aback for a second, and then she says with a disappointed look, "You're smoking again, aren't you?"

"How did you know?" The DJ asks with an eyebrow raised.

It's been hard for the blonde to keep her happy facade the whole night after seeing her already-engaged ex fiancé. In addition, the reporters have been drilling her about her relationship with Shay, and certainly, questions about her break up with Beca came up several times. Now that she finds out about this smoking activity, she becomes more worried. Nevertheless, she sighs and looks down at her soaked dress, trying to act casual by patting it gently. "You have that light tremor when you smoke. Your hand is trembling."

Upon seeing how uncaring her ex seems to be, Beca scoffs, "I thought your Beca super senses had already been turned off. You know, now that you're dating someone else."

Ashley looks up at her, staring sternly as she warns, "Don't."

"Don't what?" The DJ challenges.

"Don't start being an ass." Ashley says firmly.

"I don't start anything." Beca tries to act cool. "Just stating the obvious. Besides, what are you gonna do anyway after finding out that I'm smoking again? Giving me some lecture?"

"No, I won't." The blonde says as casual as possible. "You know better than I do. You're the one with the heart condition."

Beca scoffs again and retorts, "You just don't care about me anymore now that you've moved on, do you?"

Clearly, Ashley is getting upset for getting an attitude from her ex that she's still in love with. Moreover, Beca's statements reveals that she doesn't know about the event after the night terror. She doesn't know why, but she feels a light tug of disappointment. Again, the blonde takes a deep breath and says as casual as possible, "You don't need me to care about you, Moz. I remember you told me that you've already learnt to love yourself. You should be able to take care of yourself. But right now, you're doing a shitty job at loving yourself because you've started smoking again."

The DJ is taken aback for a second. The words cut deep, and for a couple of seconds, she can't say anything. Then she recovers and says with a forced sarcastic smile. "Well, I get to decide what to do with my life. Besides, you don't have any right to tell me what to do anymore anyway."

It certainly hurts the blonde. The pang in her chest has become unbearable. Therefore, Ashley closes her eyes and takes another deep breath. Then she turns around, starting to walk away.

However, out of no where, Beca grabs her elbow and pulls her back as she mutters, "I'm sorry. I'm such an ass. Don't go."

Ashley sighs heavily and turns back around before she says in half-annoyance, "Then stop acting like an ass."

With a light relieved smile, the DJ says, "I will. And uh..." Her cheeks are so red when she mutters, "You look especially stunning tonight."

Trying to hide her flushing cheeks, Ashley looks down and pats her dress with the handkerchief Beca lent her again before she mutters, "Thanks. You look nice too."

Suddenly, the DJ remembers about something in their first encounter, and she says, "By the way, I never see my grey handkerchief again. You know, the one I lent you when we first met."

Ashley is taken aback, and she stops on her track. But she takes another deep breath and pretends to be busy dealing with her dress as she says, "I never give it back to you."

"Where is it now?" Beca narrows her eyes.

Ashley looks at the DJ and retorts, "Does it matter?"

Thinking that Ashley has forgotten about it, the DJ says in upset, "Of course it matters. I never said that I didn't want it back."

"Oh, please." The blonde rolls her eyes in annoyance. "You didn't even remember about it until now."

"That's the point." Beca says matter-of-factly. "Now I _do_ remember."

Ashley just keep staring at her ex with unreadable look, and somehow it makes the DJ feels nervous and guilty. To act casual, Beca simply sips her iced tea again and looks at anywhere but her ex.

After half a minute staring at the DJ silently, Ashley opens her purse and pulls out the said grey handkerchief. Then she hands it to the brunette without saying anything.

Beca is stunned, and she can't do anything else but looking back and forth between her ex and the grey handkerchief. When the gear in her head starts to kick again, she stutters, "I- is that?..."

"It's yours if you want it back." Ashley says with a light shrug, acting to be nonchalant. She's indeed upset now, but she doesn't want to have an argument with her ex, especially among the crowd.

The DJ looks up at Ashley with her face scrunched up and her eyes slightly teary, feeling moved and sad at the same time. After swallowing the lump in her throat, she asks, "You still have it?"

Upon seeing the tears in Beca's eyes, Ashley's anger is out of the window instantly. The look on her face is now matching the one on her ex's. She even wonders if Beca feels the same painful pang under the diaphragm like she does now. Nevertheless, she clears her throat and says with restraint voice, "Of course I do."

Beca feels like her chest is shrinking. She's smiling with her eyes teary when she asks in barely a whisper, "Why?"

Even though her eyes are teary, Ashley tries to keep her nonchalant act. She shrugs and says with shaky voice, "It's the first thing I got from you. Besides, unlike some people who have a thousand of handkerchiefs, I only have one. So, it's the only handkerchief I could carry all the time."

Knowing that the blonde is referring to her, Beca chuckles lightly and softly says still with her eyes teary, "Of course. I've never seen you buy a handkerchief for yourself. You bought so many of them for me though."

Since the lump in her throat is choking her, Ashley simply smiles. Then Beca takes the handkerchief into her hands and unfolds it. There's her initials sewed on the soft fabric; _BM._ She simply looks at it longingly while rubbing her thumb on the thread.

While Beca is too immersed with her own thought, Ashley notices that Chloe is walking toward them. She hurriedly composes herself, and subtly wipes the tears on the corner of her eyes.

When Chloe reaches them, she smiles at Ashley before looking at the DJ. "Babe, I'm sorry it took me so long. The line was long."

"It's okay." Beca responds without taking her eyes away from the handkerchief in her hand.

Then the redhead notices the item in her fiancé's hand, and her eyes widen. "Isn't it the last handkerchief your mom gave you?"

Still staring at the handkerchief, the tiny brunette smiles fondly and says, "It is."

Ashley drops her jaw in shocked; she knew that Beca has some handkerchiefs from her mom, but Ashley didn't know that this is the last one. Then she hurriedly says, "You can have it back, Becs. I'm sorry I didn't give it back. I didn't know that it was the last handkerchief your mom gave you."

After rubbing her thumb on the initials one more time, Beca looks up at Ashley, smiling fondly as she's handing the handkerchief back to the blonde. "Keep it. If mom was still alive, I'm sure she would've been happy to know that... you take a good care of her last handkerchief after all these years. You were right, I didn't even remember about it until now."

"Are you sure?" Ashley asks worriedly.

"More than anything." Beca replies softly. "Besides, I still have a few handkerchiefs from Mom. You know it." When Ashley says nothing but staring at her worriedly, the DJ smirks and points her index finger at the navy blue handkerchief in the blonde's hand as she says, "But I'm going to need that one back. Can't let you steal that one from me."

There's nothing special about the navy blue handkerchief. It just happens to be one of her most favorite ones among the other hundreds the blonde bought for her when they were still dating.

Ashley simply smiles when she and the tiny brunette exchange the handkerchiefs. "Thanks." The blonde says as she folds the grey handkerchief and puts it back into her purse.

"You're welcome." Beca replies while staring at Ashley longingly.

Meanwhile, Chloe is watching the scene from aside, and she's not only jealous anymore. She's anxious upon seeing how calm and collected her fiancé is around Ashley. Moreover, the way they are interacting do show that there's definitely something more than a conversation between ex's who turn into friends. There's this warm and light yet also blue vibe surrounding the ex couple, and it terrifies Chloe so badly.

Chloe's upset look doesn't go unnoticed by Ashley, and she says, "I better get going. Shay must've been looking for me. Besides, I need to deal with this mess on my dress. Bye, Moz. Bye, Chloe."

"Bye." Chloe says with a forced smile.

Beca simply smiles at her ex in return, but she keeps staring at Ashley from behind even long after the blonde is out of sight.

"Babe?" Chloe calls the DJ with a worried tone.

Beca turns to look at the redhead, smiling softly as she asks, "Ready to go home?"

"I am." The redhead replies while lacing her fingers with her fiancé's.

"Let's go then." Beca says softly.

In the car on the drive home, the couple are sitting in the backseat. Chloe keeps holding Beca's hand tightly, while the brunette herself just keeps staring out of the window. The redhead can see a light smile on Beca's face, and she even can feel how calm Beca is.

Beca is feeling so light and full at the same time. Meeting her ex didn't feel as bad as she had thought. Moreover, finding out thas Ashley still keeps her handkerchief somehow gives her peace.

There's no certain explanation of how a simple gesture can bring so much relief for the DJ. It's just a handkerchief anyway. But just like the tattoo on her left chest, it's a prove of how much they mean to each other even though they're not together anymore.

She smiles contentedly and thinks to herself, _"Ashley still keeps a piece of you. There's still a part of you in her life. She cares. Turns out, moving on doesn't mean leaving everything behind. You miss her, and it's fine. There will always be times like this for you and her. Because she's a huge part of your life, and so are you to her. Just like you still missed Chloe sometimes when you were still with Ashley. It's normal, Mitchell. Both of you are with different people now, but it doesn't mean you don't care about each other anymore."_

Suddenly, the words in Ashley's last letter replays in her mind, _"Bear this in your mind, Becs. We were happy and in love, and it was wonderful. But everything had come to an end. As hard as it is, I'd really like to believe that it's no one's fault. It's time for us to stop putting blame on anyone, We'll find it even harder to move on if we don't stop finding a scapegoat. You said so yourself; let this be our lesson in love."_

With a long contented sigh, the DJ thinks to herself, _"She's right. She's always right."_

Beca is pulled out of her mind when Chloe cautiously asks, "Babe, are you sure you want to give the handkerchief to Ashley? Your mom gave it to you at the hospital. She sewed your initials when she was..." She can't bring herself to finish that sentence with the word _dying_.

Nevertheless, Beca gets what her fiancé is trying to say. She simply looks at the redhead, still smiling softly when she says, "I'm sure, Babe. I didn't even know I lost it until today."

"How did she have it anyway?" Chloe asks curiously.

As the memory of their first meeting comes into her mind, Beca turns to look out the window again and her eyes are glimmering, unfocused because she's having a nostalgia. It's so contrast compared to the last few days where she always felt sad every time she remembered about Ashley.

Her smile is so fond, and her voice is so soft when the DJ says, "The first time we met, I spilled my drink all over her. So, I lent her the handkerchief to dry the iced tea on her dress. She didn't give it back to me. And I just... forgot. I guess. Until today."

"Hmmm..." Chloe seems troubled and torn. Seeing Beca so calm after meeting Ashley is unexpected. Combined with the talk she had with Aubrey and Stacie on Saturday, the redhead just can't help but feeling so insecure and anxious.

On the other hand, upon not getting any response, the DJ turns to look at her fiancé again. She sees through Chloe's insecurity. Therefore, she kisses the redhead's hand and says, "It's just one handkerchief, Babe. You have the rest of me."

Even though she's still anxious, Chloe feels a bit relieved. Then she smiles and says, "I know. You love me, and you want to be with me."

Beca simply smiles and nods in return. Then she turns to look out of the window again, simply enjoying the lightness and the contented feeling that warm her chest.

After they arrive at the apartment, the first thing Beca do is throwing away all of her cigarettes. She doesn't need them anymore. While watching the cigarette is being flushed down the toilet, she smiles and thinks to herself, _"Don't worry, Mitchell. She will always be a part of your life no matter what, and so will you in hers. She taught you to love yourself. So, to honor the love you had, you need to keep loving yourself."_ Then she let out another contented sigh and goes to her bedroom.

Meanwhile, Chloe is changing in the bathroom. She's wearing the black lingerie she wore the other night, determined to make love to her fiancé. It's her insecurities speaking caused by the night terror after the proposal, the fact that Beca hasn't brought up their wedding yet, how angry the DJ has been, and how seeing Ashley tonight could ease and make Beca calm.

After she walks out of the bathroom, the DJ is standing in front of the closet, taking off her watch. Then Chloe sneaks her arms from behind, wrapping the brunette's around her stomach and starts kissing her neck.

Beca closes her eyes, stirring lightly upon feeling the electrical sensation under her skin. Then she puts down her watch and turns around to kiss her fiancé on the lips. As the kiss gets deeper, Chloe unbuttons the DJ's shirt slowly.

Strangely, the DJ doesn't stop her fiancé as usual, and she doesn't even mind. It certainly makes the redhead become bolder. Even before she finishes unbuttoning the shirt, she already leads the brunette to the bed.

As she lies on top of the DJ, Chloe leans forward to kiss her on the lips. Without breaking the kiss, she unbuttons Beca's shirt slowly and starts trailing her kisses down to the brunette's neck and chest.

Beca can feel the heat pooling underneath, and she grasps Chloe's hair gently with her hands.

So suddenly, the redhead stops the kissing, and Beca looks down at the redhead with her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

Apparently, Chloe is staring at the tattoo on her left chest, and she sounds upset when she asks, "What is this?"

Beca is terrified. She completely forgot about this moment that she's been dreading for. While holding her breath, she swallows hard and stutters, "It's uh... a tattoo...?"

"I know it's a tattoo, Becs." Chloe rolls her eyes in annoyance. "Please tell me that it's not what I think it is. Because I think... it's Ashley's initials on your left chest."

After blowing out a ragged breath through her mouth, Beca grimaces awkwardly and mutters, "It... is. Yea?"

Jealousy and rage that have been building up in Chloe since before the premier finally blows up. It started when Beca looked at Ashley with pure adoration. She pulls away instantly, turning her back on Beca and cries silently. She's feeling angry but also helpless at the same time.

Beca buttons up her shirt hurriedly and hugs Chloe from behind before she softly says, "I'm sorry..."

Chloe remains silent, just wiping the tears on her face.

Meanwhile, Beca is trailing kisses on the back of Chloe's shoulder, and she keeps on mumbling _I'm sorry_ repeatedly.

"Erase it." Chloe eventually says with hoarse voice.

Beca is taken aback for a second, but then she asks, "What?"

"Make it disappear." Chloe says with shaky voice. "Laser it, write it off, cover it with a new tattoo or something. I can't... If that will be the first thing I see every time I make love to you... I don't think I can do it... Being constantly reminded about how much she meant to you? I... I can't live with that, Becs."

Taking her time to think on how to answer her fiancé, Beca takes a deep breath and sighs deeply before she says, "Babe... it's just a tattoo... it's just ink."

"Of your ex-fiancé's initials!" Chloe snaps.

"Chloe... Babe... it can be just a tattoo." Beca says apologetically. "It _is_ just a tattoo."

After wiping her tears harshly, Chloe turns around, facing and looking at Beca as she exclaims angrily, "Exactly! It's just a tattoo. Change it. Or maybe you don't want to because it still means something to you."

Undeniably, the tattoo still means something for Beca. If the engagement ring Ashley gave her _-the one thing that she can actually take off easily,_ is still on her finger, how can she erase or cover up a tattoo that means everything for her?

"But it's been a part of me for nearly three years now..." The DJ says apologetically. "I can't just erase my past, Chloe... Like it or not, this tattoo is a part of my life, of me..."

"Is that the reason why you wouldn't let me see you naked? Because you didn't want me to see the tattoo?" Chloe asks painfully.

Without any courage to look at her fiancé, Beca lies weakly, "No..."

"Babe..." The redhead pleads. "Please, be honest with me."

Beca shakes her head and sighs heavily; she's clearly torn. Then she mutters, "A little bit, yea. But it wasn't the main reason, Chlo. I wasn't ready. But I am now."

There is one question that Chloe has been dreading to ask; _are you still in love with Ashley?_ However, she's not brave enough to say it, scared of the answer. Therefore, she changes the question into, "Do you love me?"

"Of course I do." Beca answers instantly without any hesitation. "I love you, Chlo."

Even so, Chloe isn't convinced. She bites her trembling bottom lip, staring sadly at her fiancé before she asks in barely a whisper, "Are you sure?... Do you really love me, or is this just..." She sighs heavily, and tears start running down her face again. "Maybe when I was in the hospital..." She sniffles and wipes the tears on her face. "Maybe you were just scared at that moment, and you made a mistake by choosing me."

It's too close to home, and Beca becomes panic. She hurriedly kisses the redhead on the lips. For a second, Chloe kisses her back, but she pulls away immediately and snaps, "No! You can't make it better with a kiss, Becs! Tell me the truth!"

"Babe..." Beca pleads tiredly.

"Don't babe me!" Chloe snaps stubbornly as she gets off the bed and paces around the room. "I thought we were happy. But since I proposed, you seemed unhappy and angry all the time. And I'd like to think that you were really having some problems at work. But then I called your office in New York, and they told me that you weren't there. And the way you looked at Ashley tonight was so unacceptable. So, I couldn't help it, Becs. I'm tired of second guessing myself; I'm tired of being afraid that you don't actually love me; I'm tired to be the only one pursuing this relationship; I'm fucking tired, Becs!"

Beca sighs tiredly and stands up before she pulls Chloe to sit on the edge of the bed. Thankfully, the redhead complies. Then she holds the redhead's hands as she says, "I love you, Chloe. I love you enough to break up with Ashley and stay with you. Isn't it enough?"

"No, it's not enough for me." Chloe says while tears running down her face.

Knowing that there's no use to keep being stubborn, Beca sighs in defeat and says, "Then... what do you want me to do to make it enough? Just... just tell me, and I will fix it. However you want it."

Chloe wipes her tears and says, "Show me that you're in this with me 100%."

"How?" The DJ asks in defeat. "Just tell me, and I'll do it. Anything. Do you want us to... talk about the wedding? Let's talk about it. Or do you want to... maybe announce our engagement to the public to show my commitment to you? I can do that."

"Anything?" The redhead asks with hopeful look.

With a soft smile, Beca repeats after her, "Anything."

Chloe squeezes Beca's hand and softly says, "Let's move in together, have our wedding, and start our family; as soon as possible."

Beca becomes speechless, and she's completely stunned. This is beyond her anticipations when she said _anything_.

Understood that her finance is most likely terrified, Chloe continues still as softly, "I don't need a fancy wedding, Babe. It can be just the two us in the city hall before the end of the week. Then we can buy the house next to Aubrey's, and we can even find a fertility clinic tomorrow."

Still, the DJ can't do or say anything but staring at her fiancé with her eyes and mouth wide open.

Chloe cups Beca's cheeks and pleads apologetically, "I really didn't want to push you. I know you're beyond scared. But I'm 36, Becs. There's a limit for me to start a family, to have a baby. And I want to do it with you. After waiting for more than a decade, I just... I don't want to miss a chance to have a family with you. So, as terrified as you are, can you please, please meet me halfway? Please..."

This time, Beca reacts. Of course her mind is screaming _what the fuck?!_ , but not with her mouth. She swallows hard with her face scrunched up painfully, and her eyes become teary. Guilt is written all over her face, and apparently, Chloe sees through her.

The redhead slumps her shoulders in defeat and drops her face onto her palms, muffling in between sobs, "I- I knew it... you don't want to marry me..."

"Chloe..." The DJ says apologetically. "Please don't take silence as a no. I was... I was just thinking."

Still with tears running down her face, Chloe looks up at her fiancé and sadly asks, "What is it to think about, Becs? If you love me, then you wouldn't need to think about it at all. You said however I want it. This is what I want; a marriage and a family with you. Nothing else matters to me but you. You promised that we'll make it work... But now you're making me unsure if you really love me..."

It certainly frustrates the DJ, knowing that she can't tell the truth. She scratches her head harshly and says, "This is a huge decision, Chlo. I can't just make a decision right now. And... going to the fertility clinic tomorrow? Getting married by the end of the week? Buying the house next to Aubrey's? Doing it all at the same time? That is... I'm not gonna lie to you... It's outrageous. What makes you think that I'm ready to do it?"

"You were ready to do all of those things with Ashley, Becs..." The redhead sobs. "You were ready with her... You keep saying that you love me, that you chose me over her. But why would it be different with me?"

Beca is taken aback, realizing how true Chloe's words. However, before she can say anything, Chloe storms out of the bedroom, heading to the guestroom. Hurriedly, the DJ chases her down, but when she's near, Chloe slams and locks the door right in front of her.

"Damnit!" The DJ curses under her breath. Knowing that she should give Chloe some space, Beca huffs harshly and goes to her studio. The first thing that pops into her mind is smoking to tune down the tension. However, when she opens her drawer, she remembers that she had thrown it all away earlier. She huffs in frustration, and she's not sure if she should be thankful or upset with her old self for throwing away the only thing that can bring her comfort now.

After taking a deep breath, Beca decides to make herself a cup of ginger milk to calm her mind. Therefore, she goes to the kitchen and prepare a cup of warm milk. Then she has her beverages at the balcony. Slowly, she sips her warm milk while staring at the dark sky.

The thought about starting a family has been hanging over her head for quite long. She knows Chloe is right; it doesn't matter with whom, the bottom line is, she's ready. As outrageous as it is, Chloe's requests also make sense; she can't keep waiting, because biology never fails its around-the-clock work. Nevertheless, there's a part of her that's still dreading to spend the rest of her life wondering if she could've done things differently this time.

" _Come on, Mitchell. Think. Change the situation, or change how you feel about it."_ She thinks to herself.

Even after her milk is long gone, Beca can't seem to make any decision. Admitting defeat, she puts the cup down and sits up in a lotus position on the couch. She closes her eyes and starts putting attention on breathing.

She doesn't rush it but doing every steps naturally. For an hour or so, she simply does body scan to relax her tensed body parts.

When she feels relaxed already, she intentionally let her mind trailing its way back to everything from the beginning. The moment Warren left her and her mother, but she doesn't feel any tension anymore.

The thought of her growing up seeing her mom working her ass off so she can afford musical instruments for her only daughter makes her shiver a little bit.

Then she remembers them moment Warren insisted that she had to go to college, but that memory doesn't make her angry anymore.

The first time she met Chloe at the activities fair. " _Help us turn our dreams into a reality?"_ The redhead said with glimmering eyes and hopeful yet nervous look. As the memory comes back to her, Beca can't help but smiling lightly, and her stomach flutters. Then the whole four years of college she spent with Chloe just flows out naturally in her mind, and she feels warm in her chest.

Then comes the memories after she left, the hard lonely phase, and the first heart attack. Somehow, remembering those moments doesn't feel as bad as she had thought. After that, the memory of her first meeting with Ashley comes up. 

" _Stay longer. Be friends with me. I believe I can break you."_ Ashley said when they first met. Even remembering Ashley's laughter that night makes her smile. It was the beginning of the best almost six years of her life, the ups and downs and everything in between. Everything comes back to her like a movie; the dates, the second heart attack, the night they became a couple, the fights, the coming out to the public, the moving in together, the day she showed Ashley the tattoo on her left chest, the day she bought a ring, the failed proposal attempts, the successful proposal, and then the break-up.

A single trail of tears rolls down her cheek, but she just let her body feels them all; the sadness, the blue, the joy. No running away, no holding back. She keeps her breathing steady, and relaxes her tensed body parts. The calmer she is, the more everything becomes clear.

" _Maybe, all you need is time to realize that Chloe can be the one you need. Maybe, if you try to open your heart again, you'll find the love you had for her years ago. Or maybe, you can learn to love her again. And if you can't love her enough, then hopefully you will give in and try to settle with the amount of love you have left for her. Then hopefully, she can be happy with that. In the end, hopefully you'll be happy too when you realize that you can make her happy."_ Aubrey's voice comes into her mind.

" _This heart, this tiny beating heart that you tried to break years ago, could fit a whole universe and pour out the amount of love that I personally have never experienced before in my life."_ Ashley told her on the night they broke up. _"That's why you deserve to be happy, Babe. You will have your happy ending. I'm sure of that."_

" _It's okay, Em. I finally realized that... I might not be able to change the way I feel about Ashley. Maybe, I will always love her. Maybe, it will always be her for me. Maybe, she'll always be a part of me that I can't get rid of as much as I've tried or ever will try. Maybe, she'll always be on my mind in every step I take. But I've accepted that it will be Chloe in my future. Now my part is to do is moving on, even though without letting go."_ Her own words comes back to her mind.

Then Aubrey's words come into her head again. _"She is your best friend, who happens to be the only one who knows you better than anyone else, has loved you more than anything in this world so unconditionally despite of your annoying attitude longer than anyone else. And so far, she the only one who could deal with you the best. You're lucky for having her. Some people would kill to have someone like her; to be loved by someone like her."_

_"This is the second chance of our happy ending, Becs."_ Chloe said on the night she told her about the decision to go back to Ashley. _"I know it. You just have to open up yourself for the possibility that you can be happy with me. That we can be happy together."_

_"Start to love again, Becs. I believe that we'll have our happy endings. Just maybe not with each other."_ Ashley stated in the end of her letter.

She takes several deep breaths again, and then she replays everything she talked with her therapist the other day. She doesn't force anything but simply letting all the pieces add up on their own.

Everything comes down to one conclusion; she and Ashley existed in the past, but what's real for her right now is what she has with Chloe. She can keep feeling miserable, or she can choose to be happy with what she has now and stop regretting the past.

After she got her conclusion, Beca puts her attention back to her breathing again, and slowly flexes her muscles before opening her eyes. Now that she's already made a decision, all she needs to do is to sleep on it and let the idea sink in. Still feeling serene from the chilly wind and the quietness, she decides to just sleep on the couch at the balcony. Surprisingly, she doesn't have any dream that night.

* * *

"Becs?" Chloe nudges the DJ gently. "Becs, wake up."

"Huh?" Beca rubs her eyes.

"I made you a cup of warm milk." The redhead says.

Beca shakes the sleep off her head and sits up before taking the glass Chloe is offering to her. "Thanks." She says with hoarse voice.

With a light smile, the redhead sits next to her fiancé and says, "You're welcome. Did you stay out here all night?"

"Yea." Beca answers before sipping her milk.

For a while, nobody says anything at all but simply drinking the warm milk and watching the sun rising. It feels comfortable even after the fight last night. After 15 minutes or so, Chloe says softly, "Listen, Becs. I want to apologize for what I did and said last night."

"You don't need to-"

"Please let me finish." Chloe cuts her off softly.

"Okay." The DJ says even though she's a bit confused. Nevertheless, she just sips her milk without interrupting again.

Chloe takes a deep breath to calm her nerves and says, "Last night, I was emotional, and jealous, and terrified. That's why I asked you to do those unreasonable requests."

Without saying anything, Beca simply nods.

Then the redhead calmly continues, "But after I felt calmer, I started thinking about our relationship all over again. I knew that... I've been pushing you for a while. And I also knew that you'd do anything for me, even though it made you unhappy. Last night... I begged you to meet me halfway without realizing that you've been jumping to the other side for me for as long as we're together. You broke up with Ashley, and even though it was because you realized that you loved me, it doesn't mean that it was easy... You lived with Aubrey even though you weren't comfortable... You stayed even though the first two months of our relationship was only about me yelling at you... You came to see my family, to apologize for something that wasn't your fault... And now I'm pushing you with the wedding and starting a family... You have been holding yourself back for so long, and the outburst lately was your last thread... I've pushed you too far. I..."

A lump starts to form in Chloe's throat, but she coughs it out and continues, "I was too focused on having you.. on making you mine... on being afraid of losing you... and somewhere along the line, I forgot that I've never once asked you about what you want in this relationship. And for that, I'm truly sorry. I can't thank you enough for being so patient."

Beca doesn't know why, but she feels like crying because for the first time in months, she's being understood for the pain she's been through. All this time, even though she has several friends that know her condition, nobody has ever really asked what she really wants. She couldn't even tell them because she thought nobody would understand her pain. Her throat is aching, and her eyes become teary. She even can't open her mouth without risking breaking down in tears. Therefore, she simply takes Chloe's hand with her own free hand and holds it tightly while clenching her jaw tightly to hold herself from choking in tears.

With a smile so fond, Chloe kisses her temple and continues, "For our wedding, the moving in, and the children, we'll have it in your way, Becs. We'll do it when you're ready. Whenever it is. Even if you don't want a wedding and just want it to be like this, then we'll do it together. And I don't have to carry our children. If you're ready when I no longer can carry a baby, there are so many unfortunate children that we can adopt, and we will love them anyway. And if you don't want to have any children, it's okay too. We can live in this apartment, just the two of us until we're old. Only if you want to. I won't put any deadline on this relationship anymore. We'll do it in your pace and your way."

The lump in Beca's throat is choking her, and she drinks her milk to ease it. Then she clears her throat and looks at Chloe with her eyes teary before she asks, "Are you sure?"

Chloe herself is nearly crying because if she's being honest, it's not that easy to just bury the dreams she has had for so long. But she's willing to do it so they can be in this relationship without hurting each other. Therefore, with tears threatening to burst out of her eyes, she smiles softly and nods lightly.

As much as Beca knows how selfless Chloe can be, she also knows how hard it is to let go of something she loves the most. Therefore, she squeezes the redhead's hand and softly says, "Chloe... You don't have to sacrifice yourself to stay in this relationship. I don't want you to lose a chance to make your dreams come true just because you want to stay with me. I don't deserve that. You're a wonderful person, Chlo. Why would you be in love with me? You certainly can have a better person who can give you all that you want."

With her trembling lips pressed tightly, Chloe shakes her head and clears her throat before she says with restraint voice, "I've told you before, and I'm completely sure that I can never love anybody else the way I love you. You are an amazing person, Babe. You're just having a hard time now. And those things; the wedding, the children, the house, they aren't more important than you. I love you, and you're worth so much more than those things. Besides, I can't lose something I don't have yet."

Beca turns her head to look forward and takes a deep breath. After last night, she knows what she has to do. Right now, she's become more certain about the decision she's made. Therefore, she gets off the couch and kneels in front of Chloe. She takes Chloe's hands in hers and presses her lips several times on them.

Even though she's confused, the redhead can't help it when her heart starts pacing faster from hoping and excitement. Nevertheless, she's also afraid of being disappointed again. Therefore, she takes a deep breath and asks, "Becs, what are you doing?" 

With a soft smile, the DJ looks up at her fiancé and asks, "Are you sure that marrying me, starting a family with me, and spending the rest of your life with me is all that you need to be happy?"

Chloe smiles understandingly and says, "I'm sure. But you don't have to do it if you're not ready."

"I know." Beca softly says. "But I want to. Last night, after you locked yourself in the guest room, I also took my time to think, and I decided that... let's do what you want. Let's move in together, get married, and start a family as soon as possible."

"Really?" The redhead's eyes are so bright, and her smile is so warm that Beca's heart flutters from seeing it.

Beca smiles so tenderly and replies, "Really. I love you, Chlo. And if doing all of those things will make you happy, then I'll do it happily. And you were right. I was ready... I _am_ ready."

"Baby..." Chloe feels so relieved, and her eyes become teary. It's like the tons of heavy misery is being lifted off her chest.

"Just one thing though."

Suddenly, Chloe feels afraid again. But Beca seems calm when she says, "I know you've had a dream wedding since you were only eight. You've always wanted a white wedding. So, instead of getting married at the city hall; plan your dream wedding where Aubrey will be your maid of honor, our sisters can sing to us, and your father gets his only chance to walk his only daughter down the aisle. We can do it at anytime you want, and however you want it. Tell me all about it, and I'll make it happen. I just have one request. Can we please keep it only for family and friends? No blinding spotlights, no artists; just us and the people who love us."

While covering her mouth, Chloe burst into tears, nodding and sobbing because this is the happiest she's ever been in a very long time. It certainly warms Beca's chest, and she leans forward to kiss Chloe's forehead before hugging her tightly.

"I- I love you, Babe." The redhead says in between sobs while holding the person she loves the most tightly. "I really, really do."

While rubbing her fiancé's back gently, Beca sighs, smiling lightly as she kisses the side of Chloe's head. "I know." She mumbles with her lips still pressed onto the redhead's head. "And I love you too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, that would be chapter 33. About the surprise I told you by the end of previous chapter, surprised?
> 
> Beca finally found what her problem really is, and the meeting with Ashley had taken off her fear of being forgotten by her ex. Like I said chapters ago, Beca would have to fight her way back to Chloe, and she finally won the fight :) It was an honorable winning judging from how hard the fight was, in my opinion at the very least.
> 
> About the dress Chloe and Ashley wore to the premiere, you can find it on the internet. The descriptions are exactly like that.
> 
> The next chapter is about the wedding preparation, Ashley finding out about the wedding, and the wedding itself.
> 
> Until then, sit tight, relax, and make good choices. Thank you for reading :)


	34. Another Leap  of Faith

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey, Folks. I know it's been more than two weeks, but this chapter is so long. I needed times to edit and correct the grammar. Though I think I still made so many mistakes. So sorry in advance. English isn't my first language.
> 
> First, as always, thank you all of the readers, the followers, the people who favor, and the reviewers.
> 
>  
> 
> Now, let's go back to the story. In the last chapter, after so many, many ups and downs, Beca finally decided to marry Chloe. You will get Beca's explanation in this chapter. This is the longest chapter ever, because this is the last one. Read the endnote for more explanations. There are so many emotions in this chapter, and I think most of you might be confused of how to feel in the end. Let me know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I put several songs in this chapter. There's Infinity who originally being sung by 1D, but for the context of this chapter, if you want to listen to it, you can try finding the cover by Rolluphills on youtube. The cover by Caleb and Kelsey is also pretty cool. I also put Love Will Set You Free by Kodaline and Start of Something Good by Daughtry. Then A Thousand Years Part II originally being sung by Christina Perry featuring Steve Kazee. I couldn't find any acapella cover for the part II, but if you want to hear the acapella version for the part I, I found a quite decent one by Shirsha Chakraborty. The last song would be Just The Way You Are, originally being sung by Bruno Mars, but for the context of this chapter, I prefer the cover by Boyce Avenue.
> 
> I don't own Pitch Perfect, nor most of the characters, neither the songs. I hope you enjoy :)
> 
> Ps. There's a smut in this chapter. As usual, I've put signs for you who are not comfortable with reading one.

 

**Tuesday, March 13** **th** **2026: After The Real Yes.**

After Chloe's tears subside, Beca breaks the hug and wipes the tears on the redhead's cheeks with her thumbs. With a light smile, she says, "Your cheeks and nose are as red as your hair now."

Chloe lets out a damp chuckles and leans forward to kiss her fiancé gently on the lips. Then she rests her forehead onto Beca's and whispers, "You love it. You love the color red."

"Damn right I do." Beca smirks as she pulls away and sits on the couch again.

While picking up her cup of milk, the redhead says, "I remember that your favorite color back in college was green. You said that in a certain Chinese dialect, star is being pronounced in the same way with the color green."

"Yep." The DJ sips her milk. "In Hokkien. _Ché._ "

"How in the world could you know that?" The redhead asks in comic surprise.

Beca shrugs, "I like stars, and I have internet access."

Chloe chuckles and says, "You, star freak."

"Proudly am." The DJ smirks smugly and sips her milk.

"So, why did it change into red?"

"Time changed." Beca says nonchalantly. "My favorite color changed." Suddenly, she feels a light tingling sensation in her left chest, and she rubs in immediately. Her eyebrows are furrowed, because she knows that it's not the good kind of tingling.

"What is it, Babe?" Chloe asks worriedly.

The DJ loosens her tensed eyebrows and looks at her fiancé. "Nothing. Come on. Let's get ready for work."

Chloe simply smiles, and then the two of them go back into the apartment.

* * *

**Studio.**

Since she arrives at the office, Beca has been staying in one of the recording studios. She's recording two songs. One song is the one she wrote on the night she started smoking again, and the other song is _Love Will Set You Free_ by Kodaline.

At 10.00 AM, Donna walks into the studio and exclaims angrily, "I think you owe me some explanation, Monkey!"

Beca looks up and puts her guitar aside before taking off her headphone. Upon seeing how angry Donna seems to be, she rolls her eyes and says, "Ashley told you."

"Of course!" The redhead stands in front of the DJ with both hands on her hips. "What the hell were you thinking?!"

"I stopped, Donna." Beca says calmly. "Last night after meeting her, she talked me out of it. Well, kind of. The point is, after I met her, I felt so much better. So, I threw all of my cigarettes away. I don't smoke anymore."

Donna sighs in relief, but she's still showing her angry face. "You better, young lady. Or I'm going to choke you with four packs of cigarette all at once. If you want to die, I'm gonna help you speed up the process."

Beca scoffs while rolling her eyes again. "I won't smoke again, _Mom_."

Still seems annoyed, Donna says, "She didn't mean to snitch on you. Well, she did. But she just wanted to make sure that I could scold you to set your mind straight."

"I know."

Donna sits down on the chair across from the DJ and says with her voice soften, "I know you're going through a hard time, Monkey. But hurting yourself isn't the way to get out of it."

"I know."

With a warning look, the redhead firmly says, "Knowing doesn't mean anything if it doesn't stop you from doing stupid things."

"I know." Beca says firmly with convincing look. "And promise I'm not gonna do stupid things again."

"Do you mean it this time?" Donna asks with a warning look.

"I do." The DJ nods.

Donna simply sighs in half-annoyance.

Suddenly, Beca remembers about the tingling sensation in her chest this morning. "Donna, can you make an appointment with Liv?"

"Of course." Donna seems worried now. "What is it? Something wrong with your heart?"

"I'm sure it's nothing." The DJ says nonchalantly. "It's just... this morning, I felt a bit of tingling sensation. I just wanted to check. Besides, it's nearly my time to do the medical check-up anyway."

"I'll make an appointment for you tomorrow." The redhead says hurriedly. "It means you need to do fasting tonight at least for ten hours."

"I know." Beca says. "And can you call Harvey and Emily to have lunch together this afternoon? There's something I want to tell all of you. I already called Patrick and Troian."

"A grand meeting?" Donna asks with her eyebrows furrowed. "What's happening? You're okay, right?"

"I'm fine." Beca says. "I just have some news that I want to tell all of you."

"What news?"

"I'll tell you at lunch."

"Fine." Donna says. "I'll call them now. See you at lunch, Monkey."

"Yea."

* * *

**Lunch.**

Beca has invited Harvey, Donna, Patrick, and Emily to have lunch in her office. Troian is supposed to be there too, but the tall drink of water can't leave PLL's set. The DJ's intention is of course to tell them about her decision. They're sitting on the couch in Beca's office. After they're done eating, she explains about the whole event last night.

When the story is over, the DJ nods absentmindedly and says with an awkward grimace, "So... I'm getting married. With Chloe. And we're going to the fertility clinic at 3 PM today. And we're gonna buy the house next to The Posen-Conrad's."

Her best friends spend the next minute staring at her with wide eyes and slacked jaw. The DJ herself simply waits awkwardly with her eyes wide and a tight-lipped smile, rocking her body back and forth lightly on her seat. Eventually, someone cracks.

With dumbfounded look, Donna says, "Monkey, not that I will stop loving you, but have gone crazy? Or has something snapped in your brain?"

Beca chuckles and says, "No, I haven't gone crazy. And nothing's snapped in my brain."

"Are you sure?" Patrick asks while pressing the back of his hand on the DJ's forehead, and Beca bats his hand right away. "I'm just checking if you're having a high fever."

"I'm not." Beca rolls her eyes.

"But just this morning you promised me that you'd never do stupid things again." The redhead says in disbelief.

"I just..." Beca seems to find it hard to explain everything. Nevertheless, she should at least try. Therefore, she takes a deep breath and says, "From the very beginning, I knew that I'm in this relationship for the long haul anyway. It's not like I planned to break up with Chloe. If I had planned to break up with her, I wouldn't have been in a relationship with her at all. And eventually, the wedding, the living together, the starting a family will happen. So... why wait? I gave it a thought, and... I chose to do it. Happily."

"Are you sure that you're ready?" Donna asks with upset look. "Don't you think that maybe Chloe coerced you into this? And it sounded a lot like that, by the way. Even though I started to see that she could be good for you, I swear to God, I will smack her crazy head so hard for forcing you into doing this. Including Aubrey's and the other Bellas', except for Emily's."

"Well..." Beca shrugs. "I've told you. When she asked... she was terrified. But after that, she didn't push me anymore. I was the one who made the decision. And it has nothing to do with... her outburst. I weighed all the pros and cons, and... everything led to this."

"Bu- but you're still in love with Ashley." Emily stutters, still finds it hard to believe any of this.

"I am." The DJ says without hesitation. "So what?"

"So what?" Patrick bites. "You're gonna marry someone when you're still in love with someone else. That's the huge what."

"Moving on takes time." The petite brunette says nonchalantly. "I know that. I've been there before. It took me years to get over Chloe. Even when I was in a relationship with Ashley, I wasn't sure if I had completely moved on from her. Not until the kiss anyway. Besides, I love Chloe, and Ashley has moved on. This way, everybody win."

Donna scoffs, "You know that there's no such thing, right?"

"Huh?" The tiny brunette responds in confusion.

"There's no such thing as a win win solution, Monkey." The redhead says. "It's always win lose. And in this case, I only see you losing. Are you sure this isn't your guilty feeling talking?"

Beca sighs deeply and says, "It could be. But I'm sure that it's also because I love Chloe."

"Sorry, Pop. But..." Emily grimaces apologetically. "But you're not staying with Chloe just because you think you won't be able to get Ashley back, right? Because it's a very wrong excuse to marry someone."

"Of course not." The DJ seems offended. "Look. I know this is hard to believe. And frankly, I'm still on my way to convince myself too. But I can see it, you know."

"See what?" Donna bites. "You, sulking around and yelling at everybody because you're unhappy? Or you, going crazy for marrying the wrong person who's so far only cares about herself? Or you, dying because of another heart attack?"

Beca rolls her eyes, sighing deeply before she explains, "I'm starting to see the big picture of my life. You know, how I got through hard phases and became stronger than before; how things changed, and nothing ever went as planned. Literally nothing. I planned on going to LA, and not to college; yet I did go to college. I planned to stay only for a year, but I ended up getting my degree. I planned on making it big and..." She clears her throat. "Made Mom proud, but... she passed away too soon. I didn't plan to join a cult, yet I joined one, and became a captain for four years."

"The cult you're saying, it's called _B_ _ella_." Emily states with bored look.

"Yea, yea." The DJ rolls her eyes in mocked annoyance. "I planned to tell Chloe about my feelings back in college, yet I didn't. I planned to spend the rest of my life alone and never open up, but it didn't happen. I planned not to be involved romantically with anybody, yet somehow, I wanted to marry Ashley, and then that plan also rolled down the hill."

"What are you trying to say?" Patrick asks.

Beca takes a deep breath again and says, "I've been at the highest and the lowest points in my life. It was all unexpected. And as hard as it was, it all worked out in the end. All of my mistakes, all of my scars, it doesn't matter anymore. Because it led me to something more. To Chloe and the Bella, to all of you, then to Ashley, and now back to Chloe again. Right now, I just... I don't want to get in a way when it's all working out. So, I'm done planning. No more planning, no more hoping, no more wanting. I'll just live with what I have now. I can be a person who doesn't want to know where this is going, and can still be happy about it."

"Monkey..." Donna argues stubbornly. "This isn't the same. The major changes in your life happened because of love. You stayed in college because you loved the Bella. You ended up with Ashley and wanted to marry her, it was also because you loved her. You held on to those things because you loved them."

"And also because I took a chance." Beca says certainly. "I used to think that love is about holding on. And thanks to Ashley, I learnt to see it in another way. After seeing her last night, I remembered what brought me here; to the person I am today. It's because sometimes, and most of the times, love means letting go. Letting go of my fear, letting go of my ego, and even letting go of love itself. That's what she showed me." She holds up her left hand to show the tattoo on it. "So, me marrying Chloe, it's just another leap of faith I'm taking."

With a worried look, the youngest Bella sighs heavily and says, "But Pop, just a couple of days ago... you were so miserable. Instead of _taking another leap of faith_ moment, I think this is more like _in the_ _spur of the moment_ kind of thing."

"Before yesterday, I was so terrified." Beca explains patiently. "I was scared of..." She smiles bitterly with her eyes slightly teary. "I was scared of losing Ashley's love. I mean, I've lost her on the day I chose to be with Chloe, but I knew that she still loved me. Losing her love just became real after seeing her picture with Shay. Then I met her and... I realized that, no matter with whom we end up with, it couldn't change the fact that we had the best six years of our lives together; that somehow, even after we broke up, our love remains. And now, I can't change the fact that she has moved on. I can't change the fact that it's not me for her anymore. And I can't change the fact that... we've made our decision. It has happened. So, instead of fighting the universe, trying to change what I've done, which I'm so tired to do already, I'll just... go with it as it is, and let universe play it out."

Patrick is turning the gear in his brain so fast, considering if he should tell the DJ that Ashley is still in love with her. However, he can't know for sure without asking Ashley first. "Sorry, got to call work. I'll be back." Without waiting for any response, he walks out of the office.

* * *

Patrick dials Ashley's number fast.

" _What's up, Pats?"_

"Ash, I need you to listen to me. I don't have much time, and I need you to answer fast."

" _Shoot."_

"If Beca leaves Chloe for you, will you take her back?"

" _What kind of question is that?"_

The blonde sounds upset. Nevertheless, Patricks insists, "It's hypothetical. Just answer it."

" _She's not coming back to me, Pats. Why are you asking me this?"_ Ashley's voice has gone up one octave.

"I said, what if." Patrick says stubbornly. " _If_ , she comes back to you, will you take her back?" Then he hears a long sighing from the other side.

" _No."_

Patrick doesn't know why he feels upset, but he raises his voice. "Why? Why wouldn't you?"

" _You said what if. Why are you upset?"_

"Because I still need an honest answer."

" _No, Pats."_

"Why?"

" _Why are you pushing me?"_

"I'm not pushing you. I just want to know why you won't go back to her even though you're still in love with her."

" _If I give you an honest answer, promise me that you will never bring this up again."_

"Promise."

The blonde man can hear another sigh, and he can tell that Ashley is annoyed from being pushed.

" _Because Chloe is in her life. No matter whom she ends up with, if it's not with Chloe, things will stay the same. Even if Beca broke up with Chloe and came back to me, I don't think we could have a healthy relationship. Chloe will cling to her all the time. What do you think will happen if Beca and I get back together while the sole person who has always held her back in everything is sulking around us, clouding our life? It will hurt not only me, but also Beca to be in between Chloe and me. Beca will always be torn, and I will feel helpless because I will never push her to choose. More importantly, Chloe will feel like the universe is not treating her fairly. You've heard the stories. She thinks she is the victim. She has to be. Why do you think her friends keep on pushing Beca to relent? Even Junk is powerless. For them, it's like Beca owes her life to Chloe."_

"Don't think about Chloe for a second. Think about you and Beca."

" _Do you think I broke up with her to save Chloe? You have never been so wrong, Pats. I broke up with her to keep our sanity. Beca's and mine. If Beca hadn't chosen to go back to her, Chloe would've tried to kill herself again. I'm certain of that. And if it had happened, Beca and I wouldn't be happy either. I didn't do it for Chloe, Pats. My conscience was clear. I did it for us. For Beca and I. And Beca knew it. That's why she chose Chloe in the end."_

"Are you sure you won't come back to her?" Patrick is pleading now.

" _One hundred percent sure. Besides, if we had wanted to get back together, we would have done it when I met her at the beach house last year on my birthday. But we didn't. Because it wasn't the right thing to do. I knew it. She knew it."_

"Even if Beca breaks up with Chloe either it's for you or not, you won't get back with her? You will let her be with someone else?"

It takes almost a minute until Ashley answers, _"Yes. Her breaking up with Chloe won't change the fact that Chloe is back in her life..._ " She sighs heavily. _"Chloe demands undivided attention and love from her, Pats. She stayed three more years in college for Beca, trying to kill herself twice, leaving her fiancé instantly after kissing Beca. Sabotaging her own life in that way is..."_

When Ashley can't finish the sentence, Patrick does it for her. "Crazy."

" _I didn't say that. But it's... unusual and unhealthy. Even in the name of love. This feeling Chloe has for her, it's not only love, Pats. For something like this, we have a specific term to describe it. It's called obsession. If Chloe never gets over this obsession, whomever it is that Beca ends up with, as long as Chloe is in her life, Beca will always be unhappy. And the person who ends up with her will suffer the same misery. I love Beca. I love her enough to save us from this endless pain."_

"But what if Beca is unhappy with Chloe? You know she started smoking again, Ash."

" _Did she tell you? Is she still smoking?"_

"She told me over a phone call this morning." Patrick replies. "But no. She's not smoking anymore since she met you last night. She said she stopped because of you."

Then he hears a long sighing from the other side, a relieved one.

" _Since I couldn't smack her head myself anymore, I told on her to Donna this morning. Thank God, she has stopped."_

"But, Ash..." Patrick says in frustration. "She's hurting for losing you. Do you have the heart to leave her like this? To let her stay with Chloe and suffer alone? You don't feel like saving her from making the biggest mistake in her life?"

" _What biggest mistake?"_

Patrick becomes frantic, and he hurriedly says, "Nothing. I was talking about her decision to say yes to Chloe even though they've only been together for four months."

Ashley sighs again. _"It's her decision, Pats."_

Upon hearing his best friend's defeated voice, Patrick sighs heavily too.

" _I can't make the decision for both of us. If she chooses to marry Chloe..."_ She sighs again. _"I can't change it. And she has made that decision. I know she's not happy about it, but... I believe in her, Pats. I believe that she'll come out of this better than ever. She has gotten over worse than this. She knows her limit. You see why Donna and Harvey haven't interfere in their relationship? It's because they have faith in her. You'll know that you need to do something if Donna has come in between the two of them."_

"But Donna is doing something already, and it's not working." Patrick mutters under his breath worriedly.

" _Come again?"_

"Nothing." Patrick sighs heavily. "I will only ask you this one more time. Are you really, _really_ , _**really**_ , _**really**_ sure that you don't want to go back to Beca even if she breaks up with Chloe?"

" _I want to."_ Ashley sounds frustrated. _"I do. But I won't. And I can't. Letting her go is the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. And even now, I'm completely sure I haven't moved on from her yet. When I saw her last night, she seemed so broken. And I... I wanted to hug her, to kiss the pain away, to tell her that it'll be okay. But I couldn't, and I didn't. If I had done that, I would have wronged her in an excuse of loving her. And you know it's selfish. I love her so much, but I can't let this love destroy our lives. Her and mine. So, as hard as it is, I'm taking the high road. This is the hardest lesson I've ever had to learn in my life so far. After the pain I've been through, I don't think I have the strength to learn it from the beginning all over again. And I'm sure Beca feels the same."_

Knowing that he has lost the fight, Patrick sighs in defeat and says, "Okay then. I'm sorry to bother you with this silly matter."

" _You are forgiven this time. But if you ever bring this up again, I'll smack you so hard on the head, you're gonna have to postpone your wedding to recover."_

Patrick chuckles dryly and says, "Thanks for not smacking my head this time."

" _You're welcome. Break is over. I've got to go back to work."_

"Say hi from me to Troian."

" _Okay. Bye, Pats."_

Patrick ends the phone call and sighs heavily. He didn't expect this. He thought that Ashley would have taken the first chance to get back with Beca. Again, he had never been so wrong. Just as he's about to go back into the office, his phone rings, and he picks up without looking at the caller's ID, hoping that it's Ashley changing her mind.

" _What the hell did you do?!"_ It's not Ashley's voice, but his fiancé's. _"After coming back from taking a phone call from you, Ashley started crying."_

"I'm sorry, Babe. I did it to save the universe from another apocalypse, but I failed. I will explain it to you at home."

" _You're lucky I have to go back to work. We will talk about this tonight."_

"Okay. I love you."

" _And you're lucky I love you too."_

Patrick chuckles and says, "I am. See you at home, Babe."

" _See you at home."_

* * *

Meanwhile in the office, Donna and Emily are still trying to reassure that Beca knows what she's doing.

"Monkey..." Donna pleads. "You can stay with Chloe. But it doesn't mean you have to do those things right away. You can wait until you're completely sure that you've moved on from Ashley."

"I don't know when that will happen." Beca says casually. "It can be tomorrow, or next week, or next month, or in a year, or maybe two years, or maybe never. Then what? I'm supposed to make Chloe wait? Maybe Aubrey was right. I will fall back in love with Chloe. All I need is time, and this will end up like it should've been a long time ago. For now, I might not have a whole heart for Chloe, but I'm sure I have time to give. So, time it is that I'm giving. And half of my heart. At least until I can give it to her completely."

"And if you never reach the point where you love her whole-heartily?" Donna asks.

Beca is taken aback. She purses her lips while tapping her fingers on her thighs.

"See?" Emily says. "You can't do this to yourself, Pop. You want to stay with Chloe, then stay with her. But to get married, moving in to the house next to Aubrey's, and starting a family all at the same time, I don't think it's something you can handle right now. And Chloe has given you an out from those things. You don't have to do this."

Still, the DJ remains silent. She doesn't say anything even until Patrick comes back into the office five minutes later. Eventually, she takes a deep breath and calmly says, "There was a time I never thought that I would come to a point where I wanted to marry someone, let alone to have a family. But I did. Things change in time."

"Monkey..." Donna pleads with worried look.

With an understanding smile, the DJ says, "I know all of you love me, and want what's best for me. But I'm trying to take this matter into my hands. With all of the pressures and demands, I just want to put it all to an end. And then maybe I can see everything more clearly. I'm giving myself a chance to embrace the unexpected. I've told you, this is just another leap of faith. I know it will take some time. But everything will work out in the end. I'm starting to believe that... this could be the start of something good."

"Good for what?" Patrick asks.

"For whom to be exact." Emily corrects.

"For me." Beca says. "You know, learning to be a responsible adult, dealing with my problems in a way that I know is right, facing the consequences of my decisions at the front line. None of us know where this is going. All we can do is guessing. This might lead to something better, or maybe worse. But I'm seeing this as a challenge; that I will come out of it better than ever, no matter what will happen. So, this is a start of something good for me." She looks at the youngest Bella. "You said so yourself, Em. We make our own decision, and we can always choose if we want to be better."

Emily sighs heavily.

Running out of ways to convince the DJ, Donna turns to look at her husband and says, "Love, you've been too quiet. Please say something, or do something. We can't let Monkey do this to herself."

From the beginning of the talk, Harvey simply looks at the DJ with unreadable expression. After his wife asked him to say something, he leans toward Beca and says, "You do know that this isn't going to be the last stupid demands Chloe will ask from you, Monkey. If she's as insecure as you just told us, then she will always have reasons to ask for more. Nothing can ever fill the void of insecurities but the insecurity itself."

Beca swallows hard and nods lightly. "She'll get better. The therapy is going well. The yelling is way less, and even with me being so difficult lately, she didn't relapse. She only asked me to do this because... she was afraid of losing me."

"Do you remember what I said on the phone the day after Chloe tried to kill herself?" The lawyer asks.

"I do." The DJ replies.

"Tell me again." Harvey says calmly.

Beca takes a deep breath and says, "You said, I shouldn't do anything I don't want; that no one could dictate what I wanted to do with my life, and that I'm stupid if I choose to live my life for other people's demands. Especially when the demands come from stupid people, in a stupid situation, because of a stupid act of desperation... And you also said that, if I want to be stupid, then at least I should be stupid in my own terms."

With a light nod, Harvey calmly says, "For me, you getting married, starting a family, and move into the house near some stupid people; all of them are stupid things to do in this stupid situation. And Chloe pushing you to do all of them, is a stupid act of desperation. Just like the suicide attempt. Since it's been months you're pushed by stupid people, you're starting to think like one. So, think again. These stupid things you're about to do, are you doing it for other stupid people's stupid demands?"

"This isn't stupid, Harvey." The DJ rolls her eyes. "Chloe might have asked me to do those things as an act of desperation, but she isn't stupid."

"I stand by what I said." Harvey says without hesitation. "But are you doing it in your own stupid terms, or other stupid people's stupid terms?"

Beca rolls her eyes and says, "I'm doing it in my own terms."

After spending half a minute staring into the DJ's eyes, Harvey says, "Okay then. You've made your decision. And as stupid as it is, if you're doing it in your own terms, then I got your stupid back."

Getting a support from Harvey means a lot to the DJ. She smiles and says, "Thank you, Harv."

"Harvey!" Donna scolds.

Harvey holds up his right index finger to cut his wife off before saying toward Beca, "But under some conditions."

Knowing that the conditions isn't going to be easy, Beca cautiously asks, "What are they?"

Harvey says, "First, Chloe has to sign a prenup."

"What?" Beca responds in disbelief.

"Do you think Chloe wants to marry Beca for money?" Emily blurts out, also in disbelief.

"I'm thinking as Beca's lawyer, Emily. Not Chloe's." Harvey says. "And this is my client's best interest."

"But it's like you're hoping that we will get a divorce at some point." The DJ says in upset.

"It's nothing personal, Monkey." The lawyer explains. "Everybody in LA are doing it. And _you_ , have an empire to protect."

"Would you asked Ashley to do the same thing if Beca had married her?" The youngest Bella asks with her arms crossed on her chest. As much as she doesn't like the idea of Beca doing everything for Chloe, she can't let someone else accuse her sister cheaply.

"No." Harvey says in an instant. "Ashley is someone I can trust. But Chloe, she's lucky I trust Beca enough to do those stupid things for her."

"Then it's personal." Emily points out.

Harvey looks at the youngest Bella and nonchalantly says, "I stand corrected then. When it comes to Beca's interest, I can make everything personal. Chloe hasn't earned even an ounce of my trust so far. After every shit she has pulled, she should be thanking her lucky star Donna and I haven't done anything to keep Beca away from her."

"I won't let you do that to her, Harv." Beca says firmly. "And you can't make me."

"Watch me." Harvey says with an undermining smirk. "I don't need to make you do that. I simply have to make Chloe want to do that, and then she'll make you. Judging from all of this fuss, you'll do everything she asks, right? Besides, if money doesn't matter to her, then I'm sure it won't even take a heartbeat for her to sign the papers."

"Harvey..." Beca warns.

"We just want to protect your legacy, Monkey." Donna persuades patiently. "We're not wishing for your marriage to go south. This is just an anticipation."

"Anticipation for what?!" The DJ asks while waving her hands angrily. "That someday she will leave me? That she will stop loving me? Isn't more than a decade prove enough? Do you think I'm gonna regret my decision and ask for a divorce?"

"All of that, and in case you die soon after marrying her." Harvey says without any consolation. "You've started smoking again only after four months of dating her. Who knows how far you will go to ease the despair of marrying that hysterical drama queen? And after a little burn you got this morning, I need to do a precaution."

"You smoked?!" Emily exclaims angrily. She's the only one who just found out.

"I already stopped!" Beca exclaims defensively. "I've told Donna! After meeting Ashley, I threw all of the cigarettes away!"

"You fucking smoked!" Emily snaps at her former captain. "What the hell were you thinking?! Are you fucking retarded?! Are you trying to kill yourself too?!"

"Calm down, kid. I've already stopped, okay?" Beca says to the youngest Bella firmly.

"If you dare to smoke again, I'll kill you. You hear me?" Emily says fiercely. She's indeed angry. After everything she's done to protect the DJ, she just can't believe Beca would do that.

"Okay, okay. Fine." Beca tries to calm her aca-child. "I won't do that again."

Emily huffs angrily but remains silent.

Then the petite brunette turns to look at Harvey and asks with upset manner, "So, what if I die? You'll leave Chloe and my kids without any money while she's grieving?"

"Of course not." Harvey seems offended. "I'm not a monster. _If,_ you have kids with her, then your kids will be taken care of. But the rest of your assets in Lucifer Corps will go to a charity under your name. So, for as long as Lucifer Corps stands, your legacy will live on. I just don't trust Chloe and Aubrey to manage your assets. The last time you updated your will was after the second heart attack. You said half of your assets would fall into Steve's hands if anything should happen to you, and the rest would go to a charity. I'm offering the same thing, but this time, Steve's share will go to your children. _If_ , you have children with Chloe."

"And what about Chloe?" The DJ asks. "If I don't have any kids with her, you'll just hang her out dry?"

"She'll get a reasonable compensation." The lawyer says.

"A reasonable compensation?!" Beca raises her voice. "Are you fucking kidding me now?!"

"If you don't want me to hang her out dry, then don't do stupid reckless things where you can die so suddenly. Simple." Harvey responds casually.

"I won't smoke or drink anymore, Harv." Beca says stubbornly.

"You need to give more than your words to reassure me this time." Harvey says firmly. "Years you were with Ashley, and I didn't have to worry about you. Now you're only with Chloe for a couple of months, and I've been planning a hiding place with a whole new identity for you. If you want to marry her, the two of you have to sign the prenup. That way, you'll think twice before you start to smoke or drink again. If you die for doing those things, you know I will destroy every single bits and pieces of her."

"Fine." The DJ says in annoyance. "I'll do it. Just let me talk to Chloe first. And renew my will. If something actually happens to me, my toys at the mansion, the private island in Greece, the beach house, everything I bought with and for Ashley, you know what to do with them, Harv."

"Of course." Harvey says.

"That's it?" Donna asks in disbelief toward her husband. "You won't stop her from jumping voluntarily into this deathly trap?"

"Harvey, come on." Patrick says in frustration. "You can't let her do that. She's destroying her life for stupid reasons. You said that yourself."

Harvey sighs deeply, but he's firm when he says, "Other than the precautions I give, what else can I do? Kidnap her? Besides, I want to trust Monkey. That she knows what she's doing. Being stupid. But I believe she can handle this." He looks at the DJ with a warning look. "Can you?"

Beca simply nods.

"Okay then." Harvey says. "And secondly, Donna and I have to talk to Chloe before the wedding."

"You want to talk to Chloe?" Emily asks worriedly.

"Of course." The lawyer says, and there's a hint of anger in his voice and face. "I'm going to set her mind right. Beca isn't hers to have. She is our family. We've been taking care of her, loving her, and doing what's best for her in the last eleven years. Compared to us, Chloe is nobody. And don't let me start with your other sisters, Emily. Because I'm sure you don't want to hear what a piece of shit they are."

"No, I don't want to hear it." Emily says hurriedly, knowing that she won't be able to hold herself back from hitting the lawyer if she hears more insults about the Bella, as annoying as her sisters are being right now. "But if something happen to Chloe after you talk to her-"

"Then she's not good enough for Beca." Harvey cuts her off. "If she can't handle a couple lines of warning, then she will never be able to deal with the worst Beca. This stupid asshole needs someone who's strong enough to smack her when she does something wrong. She doesn't need someone to enable her; the way all of you, including Beca right now, are enabling Chloe. I'm not sorry to say, we don't need another Chloe Beale to handle." He turns to the DJ and firmly says, "And this is a warning for you, Monkey. If you turns into an attention seeker bitch just like Chloe for marrying her, I'm gonna kick your stupid ass into a nuthouse. I don't have time for drama and shit."

Beca scoffs and says, "I won't." She knows how harsh Harvey can be. But she also knows how much Harvey cares about her. The man has been the big brother she never had in the last ten years.

"Monkey, I still don't like this idea." Donna says worriedly.

"I know." The DJ smiles sympathetically. "You don't have to like it, Donna. But you are my person. For almost eleven years, I got through the hardest part of my life because I have you. So, will I have you too this time no matter how much you don't like my decision?"

With her cheeks a bit flushed, Donna rolls her eyes and scolds, "Don't be silly, Monkey. Of course you will always have me. Who's going to say _I've told you_ to your face if everything goes wrong?"

Everybody laugh lightly, including the DJ. After the laughter unwind, Beca looks at Patrick and asks, "And you, jackass? You gonna stick with me?"

Patrick rolls his eyes playfully and says, "Like I can find another best friend as stupid as you are, asshole."

Beca chuckles and turns to look at the youngest Bella. Even before she says anything, Emily says, "No need to ask. I will always be your aca-child."

"You have to." The DJ says with a bored look, and Emily simply scoffs while rolling her eyes playfully.

Then the youngest Bella sighs heavily and says to reassure, "So, it's settled then. You want to spend the rest of your life with Chloe."

With a light smile, Beca nods and says, "I will."

"Want or will?" Emily asks with her eyes narrowed.

Beca shrugs and says, "Potato potahto. Tomato tomahto."

The others simply nod understandingly.

"Alright then." Beca grins. "I still don't know when the wedding will be. It could be in two months, or six months, or maybe even by the end of the week. I'll tell you as soon as we decide. But all of you know your parts in my wedding, right?"

"Of course we do." Patrick says certainly. "I'll be in your getaway car, ready to drive you out of the wedding venue the second you got cold feet."

"Then I'll be the one distracting Chloe." Emily says.

"Don't worry about Aubrey Posen." Harvey says. "I'll tackle her onto the ground if I have to. I'm not against punching a crazy bitch who deserves it."

"I'll handle the rest of the Bellas." Donna says.

Beca rolls her eyes in half-annoyance and whines, "Guys, come on. I need you. All of you. I know it might not be easy, but I know I can get through it all as long as I have you. All this time, I don't know if I would come this far it wasn't for you, guys."

"Pop..." Emily coos.

"It's like she just said _I love you_ to us. Twice." Donna mocks wiping the invisible tears by the corner of her eyes.

"Shut up." The DJ mutters shyly.

"Of course you'll have me as your groomsman, dude." Patrick says in mocked annoyance. "Like you can afford another best friend as good as I am."

Beca scoffs and rolls her eyes playfully. "No. It's hard to find another pain in the ass like you."

Patrick punches her shoulder playfully and says, "Troian and I will be there at your wedding, man. Don't worry."

"Yeah." The DJ grins. "I planned to ask Troian to be my bridesmaid."

"She'll be happy to do that." Patrick says.

Donna sighs in defeat and says, "We'll be there for you, Monkey. All of us."

"Absolutely." Emily says. "I'm the aca-child. Can't not showing up at my parents wedding."

Beca smiles in relief and says, "Thank you."

Harvey smiles and says, "Is there anything else you want to talk about?"

"Yea." Beca says. "Can you buy the house next to Stacie's? And put it under Chloe's name. This is not up for a discussion, Harv. The mansion is Ashley's, and it's only fair that this one becomes Chloe's."

"Fair enough." Harvey says.

"Okay then." Beca says. "I think that's all."

"I have to go back to the office. I'll call you after the prenup is ready." Harvey says.

"Thanks, Harv." Beca replies.

"Don't mention it." The lawyer stands up and kisses his wife chastely on the lips. "See you at home, Love."

"I'll see you out." Donna says, and the couple walk out of the DJ's office.

Then Beca looks at the other two and asks, "When do you think is the best time to tell Ashley?"

"You're going to tell her?" Emily asks worriedly.

"Of course." The DJ says certainly. "I just think that..." She sighs deeply. "When I got engaged with her, I told Chloe myself. It's the right thing to do, right?"

"I don't think so." Patrick says certainly.

"Why?" Beca seems confused. "I don't want her to think less about me, dude. I should tell her myself."

"Don't worry about it." Patrick reassures. "I don't think she can think less of you. She'll understand. Just let me and Troian handle this."

"Em?" Beca asks the youngest Bella's opinion.

"I agree with Patrick." Emily says. "Let us tell her, Pop."

After taking half a minute to consider, the DJ sighs in defeat and says, "Fine. I'll leave you to it."

"Okay then." Patrick responds while standing up. "I need to go back to the set, dude. See you around."

"See you around, bud."

"Bye, Patrick."

After Patrick walks out of the room, Beca says to Emily, "Em, I need a favor."

"Shoot."

Beca walks away to sit behind her desk and takes a flash drive out of the drawer before handing it to the youngest Bella. "Can you handle some of my projects? I'm packed. And with the wedding coming up..."

"Sure. No problem at all." Emily takes the item and plugs the flash drive into her phone. "In what folder?"

"New project." The DJ replies while checking emails in her phone.

While waiting for the data getting copied, Emily looks at the folders, and she finds one that pulls her attention. "What's this folder named Fox? It has so many songs in it."

"Just the songs I wrote when I was still with Ashley." Beca says nonchalantly. "It's all about Ashley and my relationship with her in the last six years. Whenever I got inspirations, I just wrote it down and recorded it myself. Some of them were released, some aren't. There are some that I don't want to share."

With her eyebrows furrowed, the youngest Bella mutters, "Fox... Fox... Fox..." She feels like she has heard that name before, and then she remembers. Her eyes widen, and she asks in comic surprise, "Is Fox your pseudo name?"

"Yep."

With her eyes wide, the youngest Bella asks, "So... Way Back Into Love? You wrote that?"

"Yep."

"I See The Light in Tangled?"

The DJ gives her a tight-lipped smile and retorts, "Why do you think I like Rapunzel in that animation so much? I read the script, and I had the song. So, I offered them."

"Oh."

"But it was a long time ago." Beca says casually while setting her desk. "I hadn't even come out yet. I was still DJ M, and I wasn't thrilled putting my name in any movie productions. So, I used the name Fox."

"And there are two new files in it." Emily looks up from the screen at her former captain. "You recorded two new songs today?"

"Yep." Beca replies. "Those two are my last piece, Em. The last songs I wrote about Ashley. This is what Ashley would call a closure. After this, I won't do that anymore. No more song for my ex."

Emily nods absentmindedly and asks, "Do you mind if I listen to them?"

Beca shakes her head. "Go ahead."

The youngest Bella hits play and listens to the songs. When the songs are over, she says, "It's beautiful, Pop. Especially the cover of _Love Will Set You Free_. If I may know, why so suddenly you sang that song?"

Beca pulls out her wallet from her messenger bag and takes out a piece of paper from it. Then she shows the paper to Emily.

Accidentally, Emily's eyes catch the picture of Beca and Ashley. She saw the same picture at the hospital. She's surprised that the DJ is still keeping it in her wallet.

Upon seeing the look on Emily's face, the DJ says, "It's just a habit, kid. Don't think too far about it."

"I'm not thinking about anything..." The youngest Bella smiles sheepishly. "I'm just... surprised." Then she reads the paper in her hand.

Beca smiles knowingly and says, "So, the note you're holding, Ashley wrote the chorus for me in the morning before I went to the hospital. Last night, I just... I could see it in her eyes, you know. That I'm not alone. That somehow..." She smiles contentedly. "We're still connected. The pain I'm feeling of losing her, she's feeling the same hurt. Yet we keep on moving on. It reminded me of our decision. Of why we broke up. We did it because we knew which baggage to carry. We promised each other that we'd be okay. Besides, she was right. The song was right. Love will set me free. That's just how real love is supposed to be. I've told you. Love isn't about claiming and having. Most of the times, it's about letting go. And I love her enough to let our love go. For the right reason."

"Pop..." Emily says with her eyes teary. She's moved by how strong Beca has become, yet she's also sad that her former captain can't end up with Ashley: a person who could bring the best out of the DJ.

Beca shrugs and nonchalantly says, "I'm thankful, you know. For loving someone as amazing as she is. And since we're not together anymore... well, I got to find meaning out of everything on my own. The one that will keep me putting one foot in front of the other. So, I recorded the song. As a reminder to myself whenever I feel like too tired. That I'm not alone. I've got you, Patrick, Troian, Harvey, Donna, Chloe, and... the love I shared with Ashley."

While handing the note back to the DJ, Emily sighs with sympathetic look. "Do you plan on producing it?"

"Nope." The DJ says without any hesitation while putting the piece of paper back into her wallet. "It's private. Besides, I'm tired of dwelling on misery, Em. I'm done dwelling."

"Do you mind if I have them?"

"What for?" Beca asks with puzzled look.

"Nothing." Emily tries to look casual. "You know, just in case I got tired and needed a lift up too."

Beca scoffs, "Sure. But keep it to yourself."

"Thanks." Emily says while copying the songs. Then she hands the flash drive back to Beca.

After shoving the flash drive into her bag, Beca stands up and says, "Got to go, Em. I got to pick Chloe up at school. Wish us luck on getting pregnant."

"Okay." Emily stands up too. She kisses the DJ's forehead to show support, and then the two of them walk out of the office.

* * *

Beca and Chloe are at the best fertility clinic in LA. They have an appointment with Doctor Montgomery. From the resume, this doctor is the best in her field. They've seen a picture of the doctor. She has long wavy red hair and wears glasses.

After waiting for about 15 minutes, the nurse calls them to the doctor's office. As they walk into the office, the doctor stands up and greets them warmly, "Good afternoon. I'm Doctor Montgomery."

"Mitchell. Beca Mitchell." Beca shakes the doctor's hand.

Then Chloe takes her turn to do the same thing. "Chloe Beale."

"Please have a seat." The doctor gestures her hand to the chairs across the desk while sitting down. "How can I help you?"

"We'd like to talk about getting pregnant through IUI." Chloe says.

"Intrauterine Insemination." Doctor Montgomery says. "Have you read about it before you came in?"

"I only know one thing or two." Chloe says sheepishly. "But we really want to start our family. As soon as possible."

With a calming smile, the doctor says, "It's okay. It's an amazing thing to do. Starting a family. I'll explain it to you, and you can ask as many question as you want."

Chloe looks at the DJ with a cautious smile on her face. She is excited and nervous at the same time.

Beca simply smiles and takes her fiancé's hand into hers before looking at the doctor. "Whenever you're ready, doc."

"Very well." Doctor Montgomery says. Then she explains about IUI; the preparation, the procedure, the risk, the side effects, the probability of getting pregnant, and everything the couple need to know.

They also talk about Chloe's family history, the couple's lifestyle, and some other personal things. After almost two hours of discussion, Chloe asks, "How soon can we start?"

Doctor Montgomery leans forward and softly says, "Well, we can start with doing some tests to see your physical condition. After we get the results, we can start discussing your next step. Have you ever done any fertility tests before?"

"Yes." Chloe says. "Tt was always normal, and my cycle is always on time."

"Great." The doctor opens some files on her desk. "But I do have one concern. Here in your medical records, it's said that you have an underlying BPD. Have you talked to your psychiatrist about this?"

"I have." Chloe nods. "This was my concern when we discussed about my meds. I wanted meds that would not lessen the chance for me to get pregnant, or became a problem when I'm pregnant. She prescribed me with the meds that would not harm my uterus or my baby. She also said that if I keep taking my meds and keep my emotions in check, there's no reason for me to be afraid of getting pregnant."

"That's true." Doctor Montgomery says softly. "But I need to tell you this. The process of IUI itself is simple. But the biggest challenge during the process is the stress. The emotional aspect of waiting, hoping, and facing disappointments if it fails can be hard. I'm not trying to discourage you or something. With IUI, there's only a 10% chance that a woman your age can get pregnant. And although it's not uncommon to happen, most people don't even success on the first try. And if, and I'm saying if, it takes more than one try to get pregnant, it can be quite stressful. Are you ready with that possibility?"

With her bottom lip in between her teeth, Chloe looks at Beca nervously as if asking for an approval.

Upon seeing the hint of hope in the redhead's worried face, the DJ squeezes her hand and softly says, "Chlo, we can do a lot of things to have a baby. We can use a surrogate, or we can adopt. But if this is what you want, I'll be with you every step of the way."

Feeling relieved, Chloe smiles and looks back at the doctor. "I'm ready with every possibilities."

"Okay then." Doctor Montgomery says. "When will your next cycle begin?"

"April 3th." Chloe replies.

"Alright." The doctor says while checking her calendar. "You can come back tomorrow, and we can start running some tests."

"Thank you." Chloe says.

Then the couple head out of the clinic. In the car, Beca immediately calls Donna.

" _Monkey."_

"Donna, can you reschedule my appointment with Liv tomorrow?"

" _Why?"_

"Something came up. I have to come back to the clinic tomorrow."

" _But, Monkey. This is important. You said that you felt a-"_

"It's okay, Donna." Beca hurriedly cuts her off since they're using the line in the car. She doesn't want to worry the redhead about her condition. "I'll do it in two days."

" _No. I will not reschedule your appointment. You will go to the hospital tomorrow. End of discussion."_

Beca can't say anything else because Donna has ended the phone call. While driving, the DJ sighs heavily without saying anything.

"What's wrong, Babe?" Chloe asks worriedly. "Why do you need to see Liv? Is there something wrong with your heart?"

"No." The DJ lies. "It's just my regular medical check-up. I do it twice a year ever since I got a heart attack. It usually took a whole day, and I would be tired as hell."

Chloe rests a hand on Beca's thigh and says, "You should go have that medical check-up, Becs. I can go back to the clinic on my own."

"But I want to be there with you." Beca argues stubbornly. "It's important. I told you. I'll be there every step of the way, and I mean it."

"I know." The redhead reassures her fiancé softly. "But having your heart checked is also important. I'll ask Bree to come with me. And you don't have to worry, Babe. It's only regular tests. I'm sure it'll be okay. I have never had any fertility problems so far."

"Are you sure?" Beca asks worriedly.

"I'm sure." Chloe says.

Beca sighs in defeat and says, "Fine. But promise you'll call if you need anything."

"I will." Chloe says before she kisses the DJ's cheek. "Now, let's go to Aubrey's place to tell them the great news."

Upon hearing how excited the redhead is, Beca smiles and says, "Okay."

* * *

**The Posen-Conrad's Place.**

It's already around six when the couple arrive at Stacie's place. Just as the brunette walks into the living room, Bella rushes to her.

"Bec-Bec!"

"Smurfette!" Beca picks her up.

"I missed you!" The little blonde shrieks loudly.

Beca laughs lightly while Chloe pouts and retorts, "So, you didn't miss your godmother, Belles?"

"I just saw you two days ago, Aunt Chowee." Bella grins. "I haven't seen Bec-Bec in a while."

While the redhead is chuckling, Beca kisses the little girl's cheek and asks, "So... you missed me, huh?"

Bella nods excitedly, grinning from ear to ear. With Bella in her arms, Beca walks to the couch and sits down.

"Hey, Shorty." Stacie greets.

"Hey."

"Stace, where's Bree?" Chloe asks.

"In the kitchen." The tall brunette says. "She's preparing dinner."

"I'll go help her." Chloe says while walking to the kitchen.

"Bec!" Bella exclaims. "Mama just bought me a doll house! Let's play it with me!"

"Errrr..." Beca pretends to seem reluctant. "Not my thing."

"Come on..." The little blonde pleads with her puppy eyes. "Please... please... please..."

Beca chuckles and says, "Three pleases. Who can say no to that?"

Bella grins and pulls the DJ toward her playmate while Stacie is watching them with a light smile on her face.

"You can be the little puppy." Bella says while handing a little dog figurine to the DJ, and Beca simply takes it.

"Mama! Come join us! I need someone to be the cat."

Stacie joins them and then whispers to Beca, "Apparently, my kid do know what I like. A pussy."

"What the-?" Beca stares at her with disgusted look. "We're playing with a four year old, Stace. And she's your daughter."

"I know." Stacie responds nonchalantly. "That's why I whispered it to you."

"Yikes." The DJ shakes her head and shoulders, making Stacie laughing in return. Then the three of them just play with whatever scenario Bella has for them.

Around half an hour later, Chloe comes back into the living room to tell them that dinner is ready. However, when she sees her fiancé is so into the play, she sucks her teeth to hold back a laughter.

"Oh, no!" Beca says overdramatically. "The little puppy is exposed with radioactive. Now he turns into a..." She changes her voice into a heavy growl. "Monster puppy. I'm gonna destroy your house." She hits the house with the figurine while faking a devilish laughter. "Mua ha ha ha ha."

"Bec!" Bella pouts. "Don't destroy the house!"

Beca and Stacie simply laugh. Then the three of them hear a light snorting coming from behind. There she is. Chloe is biting her bottom lip so hard so she doesn't burst into a laughter.

With her cheeks flushed, the DJ mutters, "Shut up."

Chloe just shakes her head, grinning from ear to ear as she offers a hand to help her fiancé up. Then she sneaks her arms around Beca's torso and kisses her chastely on the lips. "You're too adorable for your own good, Babe. And I love you for that."

"Not adorable. Badass." The DJ says.

Chloe giggles and pulls her fiancé into the dining room. "Come on. Dinner is ready."

After Chloe puts down a plate of steamed chicken in front of her fiancé, Aubrey asks, "So, how was New York, Beca?"

"New York was fine." The DJ says. "As always."

"And the problem at work. Have you resolved it?" The blonde asks again.

"Yep."

"It's good to see you feeling better, Shorty." Stacie says.

"U huh." Beca responds while chewing her food. "I feel good too."

"Bec. Today, Steve and I got three stars at school for singing." The little blonde says with a proud grin on her face.

"Great." The DJ smiles.

Then they simply talk about Bella's activities at school. The whole dinner, Chloe seems to be giddy. She really wants to shout out that she's getting married with Beca. However, she wants to wait until Bella goes to sleep so they aren't interrupted when they're talking about the wedding preparation.

After they're done with dinner, Stacie takes Bella to wash up and sleep, Aubrey and Chloe clean up, and Beca waits in the living room. The petite brunette checks her phone, and finds some news about the meeting at the premiere. Turns out, the media has stated how great it is for Beca and Ashley to remain friends after breaking up.

With a light smile, she simply stares at a picture of all of them seem to be talking casually on the red carpet. It's lucky the camera couldn't catch the tension behind the fake grins they were putting.

Around 15 minutes later, Chloe and Aubrey come into the living room with a tray of tea. The redhead immediately sits next to her fiancé and wraps her arms around Beca's abdomen from aside. The DJ herself automatically slides her left arm to wrap Chloe's shoulders.

"Bree, we've got amazing news to tell." Chloe says cheerfully.

"What?" Aubrey asks.

"Let's wait for Stacie." Beca says.

"Is this about the wedding?" The blonde asks.

"It is." Chloe nods excitedly.

"You've talked about it?" Aubrey asks with her eyes narrowed.

"We did." Chloe replies.

"How about we wait for Stacie?" Beca asks with bored look.

Chloe looks at her fiancé and pouts, "But I'm too excited to wait. I've been waiting for too long."

"Stacie's here." Aubrey says impatiently upon seeing her wife walking toward them. "Hurry, Babe."

"What?" The tall brunette asks while sitting down.

"We're getting married!" The redhead exclaims.

Stacie and Aubrey gasp at the same time.

"You are?!" Aubrey asks in comic surprise.

"You are?" Stacie asks with puzzled disbelief look.

Chloe nods excitedly and says, "We are. We've talked about it last night and this morning, and we're getting married."

"And I already bought the house next to yours." Beca says to Stacie.

"You did?!" Chloe, Aubrey, and Stacie ask with different looks. Chloe seems so happy, Aubrey seems surprised yet intrigued, and Stacie seems stunned.

"I did." The DJ replies nonchalantly while untangling herself from the redhead to takes a cup of tea. "Just this afternoon. I asked Harvey to take care of it." She looks at her fiancé. "And he'll contact you soon for the paperwork. The house will be under your name."

Feeling so happy and surprised, Chloe can't say anything. All she can do is staring at her fiancé with her eyes and mouth wide open.

"You bought the house?" Aubrey asks in disbelief. "For Chloe?"

After sipping her tea, Beca shrugs and says, "Consider it as an early wedding present."

"Aw..." Chloe coos. "I love you, Baby boo."

"I love you too." The DJ says before kissing Chloe's temple.

"Wow..." Stacie is still finding it hard that her best friend would cave in the end about living next to her and her wife.

"And the great news doesn't stop there." The redhead says. "We went to a fertility clinic this afternoon. We're trying to get pregnant."

The only thing Aubrey and Stacie can do is staring at the couple with wide eyes. Then Aubrey blurts out at the DJ, "Why so suddenly you want to do those things?"

Beca casually says, "I said I'd think about it. So, I gave it a thought, and I decided to go with it."

"That's it?" The blonde looks at Beca with narrowed eyes. "That easy? After every resistance you pulled by being an ass for a whole week, and it only took one night to talk about it and said yes to all of them?"

"Yea." The DJ responds. "Or do you want me to make it hard?"

"No, no." Aubrey says with her cheeks flushed. "I didn't mean it like that. It's just... surprising."

Beca simply puts on a light smile and sips her tea again.

"It's great to see things are working out." Stacie says in relief. "You and Chloe are getting married, and it seems like your relationship with Ashley is also gonna be fine."

"If you're referring to the picture on the internet, then it's not exactly like that." The DJ says. "But I do hope so."

"What picture?" Chloe asks worriedly.

Beca takes the redhead's hand in hers and says, "It's the pictures of all of us on the red carpet last night. The media stated that it's good to see Ashley and I remain friends after the break-up."

"Oh." Chloe seems unhappy to hear that.

Upon seeing the frown on her best friend's face, Aubrey says to Beca, "I think you should stop being friends with Ashley. And since Patrick and Troian are also Ashley's best friends, I think it's better that you put some distance from them."

"Why?" Beca asks in confusion.

"You do know that it's never good to be friends with your ex, right?" The blonde retorts.

"I honestly don't know." The DJ says casually before sipping her tea again. "I only have one ex-girlfriend. So, how should I know?"

"Trust me." Aubrey says certainly. "There's nothing good coming from being friends with your ex. Name the couple you know that have a healthy relationship with their exes."

"Ross and Rachel?" Beca retorts. "And they're still in the same circle after the break-up."

Aubrey rolls her eyes in half annoyance and says, "I mean in real life. Besides, they got back together in the end of the series."

"You've got to be kidding me." The DJ says in disbelief. "I've only watched FRIENDS until season 8, but there's no way they would go back together. They've tried and failed. So, I don't believe you. Now, are you gonna lie to me that Chandler and Monica have twins?"

"They do." Aubrey says. "In the last season, Chandler and Monica adopted twins. Jack and Erica."

"They did?" Beca seems shocked. "You just spoiled the endgame for me. What is wrong with you?"

Feeling more annoyed, the blonde sighs and rolls her eyes. "Seriously. Can we talk about your friendship with those people who are originally Ashley's best friends? You already have the Bellas. You've got enough friends. You can spare yourself from more complications by being friends with Ashley, Patrick, and Troian. Think about it."

"Bree, it's not fair to ask Beca to stop being friends with her best friends." Stacie seems upset.

"It's okay, Stace." The DJ says nonchalantly. "I'll think about it."

"Good." Aubrey smiles. "It feels so great that you don't put up any fight. You know that we only want what's best for you and Chloe."

"U huh." Beca responds strangely casual.

Stacie and Chloe are watching with dumfounded look. They had never seen Beca cave in so easily to Aubrey's demands, especially for something this big.

"I'm so glad that you finally pulled your head out of your ass." Aubrey says softly.

"I'm glad too." The DJ smiles as she puts down the cup. "So, about the wedding plan. I believe you already have everything planned out."

"Of course." Aubrey says smugly. "In fact, I have printed it out and arranged it in a binder. I'll go get it."

"I'll come with you." The redhead stands up, and then the two of them walk away.

Once her wife and Chloe are already upstairs, Stacie asks the DJ with her eyes narrowed, "You would do that? Stop being friends with Ashley, Troian, and Patrick just because my wife suggested you to?"

"I didn't say I would." Beca says matter-of-factly. "I said I'll think about it. And when she asks me again, I'll say I haven't got a chance to think about it. And she'll suggest the same thing, and I'll give her the same response; I'll think about it. If she asks again, I'll say I'll think about it. Repeat until one of us die."

"So, you didn't plan to think about it at all?"

Beca scoffs, "Of course not. It's a soft no."

"Why didn't you just tell her no if you were gonna say no in the end?"

"What do you think would have happened if I had said no instantly?"

"She would've pushed you, of course." Stacie says in manner that says _duh_. "And the two of you would've fought about it. Most likely would've yelled at each other. Chloe and I would have been torn."

"Exactly." The DJ says nonchalantly while leaning her back onto the couch lazyly. "No offense, Stace. Your wife is a hard pain in the ass. But she's a hard pain in the ass that Chloe loves dearly. They are one package. Now that I'm marrying Chloe, I have to learn how to live with _your_ wife for the rest of my life too. So far, I've been fighting your wife in a very useless and stupid way. It's like trying to get into China by smashing the great wall with an icepick. Since I'm always on my own in this fight, again, no offense to you and the Bellas but it's true, I will certainly lose. So, I stop fighting it with an icepick. I'll just climb it and cross it by walking on it. Easier to do."

Stacie shakes her head and says, "You don't know my wife, Shorty. She will fight until she wins. No matter what it costs."

"I know." Beca says with convincing look. "There will be one hell of more fights with her. I have to be smart to choose which fight is worth my time and my emotional exhaustion. And this one, believe me, she won't win. But I knew she'd still fight me restlessly. So, I just simply gave her the answer that she wanted to hear. Shut her up instantly, right? I still got what I want, Chloe is less distressed, Aubrey let the subject go for now, and you could breathe in relief. It's a band-aid, but easier to deal with. Until I have the time and resource to shut your wife's shitty attitudes permanently about it."

Stacie scoffs, "You're an ass. But I agree with you in this one."

"You should." Beca says casually.

"Not that I don't know how Aubrey is, Shorty." The tall brunette says softly. "But you fighting with my wife is getting harder to deal with. I don't know which side to pick. She's my wife, and you're my best friend."

Beca smiles and casually says, "I know that you're having a very hard time, Stace. Ever since I left, you've been doing everything in your power to keep the Bellas together. Then after I contacted you more than three years ago, it became harder for you. But from now on, don't ever choose to be on my side if it would break your marriage. It's not worth it. You and I can't change your wife. I personally, have decided that I will change. To be smarter and more mature in dealing with your wife. But _I_ , am not the one she's married to. You are. So, don't fight for me, or Chloe. Fight for your marriage, and for Smurfette."

Stacie sighs heavily and nods.

"You're a good friend, Stace." The DJ says as casually as possible. "You'll always be no matter what. Thank you for putting up with every mess I've made."

With her eyes slightly teary, the tall brunette simply nods. She's feeling relieved that she doesn't need to stand in between anymore. Everything her wife has been asking, Beca is willing to do all of them. Since Aubrey herself has promised that she wouldn't push the DJ anymore after the wedding, everything seems to fall into its place.

Knowing that the tall brunette is a bit emotional, Beca remains silent and watches the TV instead to give her best friend some space. Five minutes later, Aubrey and Chloe come back into the living room with a binder.

"So..." Aubrey says while opening the binder. "Chloe said that you don't want it to be big. And since you've already agreed to anytime she wants, I say we do this wedding in two months." She looks up at the DJ and smiles. "It's our plan B."

Beca looks at Chloe and asks, "Do you want to get married in two months?"

With a smile so bright, Chloe nods excitedly.

"Two months it is." The DJ says without any hesitation.

Confused of how easily Beca agrees with everything, Aubrey looks at her with narrowed eyes and asks, "That's it? You're not going to... I don't know, being the usual asshole that you are?"

"Bree..." Chloe warns tiredly.

Beca squeezes her fiancé's hand and says, "It's okay, Chlo." Then she turns to look at the blonde and calmly asks, "What do you want? When I said I wasn't ready, you weren't pleased. Now that I'm ready to do everything, and I have done everything, you're doubting me. So, what do you want?"

Feeling ashamed, Aubrey doesn't even dare to look at the DJ when she mutters, "I just... it's hard to believe that you easily gave in."

"Okay." Beca responds still so casually. "So, what do you want? Do you want me to put up a fight? To argue with your plan?"

"No." The blonde mutters.

"Then there's no problem." Beca points out. "Don't create a problem when it's not necessary, Posen. I know you love to make a fuss out of everything, but sometimes, it could be simple. Like this time."

"Fine." Aubrey rolls her eyes.

"Now, let's talk about the wedding plan." Beca says as she takes the binder from the blonde. While reading the plan, she says, "I already talked to Harvey and Donna about our decision, Chlo. And since I'm not good with this kind of thing, if you need anything, you know, for making appointments with the designer, the bakery, and the catering, you can ask Donna to do that. Donna will arrange the appointments to fit my schedules so I can be there with you."

"Okay." Chloe says.

"So, where do you want to have our wedding?" Beca asks her fiancé.

"You said that you have a beach house, right?" Aubrey asks.

Beca smirks knowingly and shakes her head. "I was asking Chloe. But sure. Go ahead."

"I'm thinking that it will be perfect for you two to have a wedding by the beach at sunset." Aubrey says.

Beca looks at the blonde and retorts, "You think? Your idea?"

"Yes." Aubrey says. "My idea. But I'm sure Chloe would agree."

"Huh." The DJ nods absentmindedly. "We can have a wedding by the beach, but not in the beach house I told you. Since it's your idea, you have to find another beach. And make sure you get the private one to avoid paparazzi."

"Why can't we use your beach house?" Aubrey asks.

"Because it's Ashley's." The DJ lies without any hesitation. Ashley gave that house back to her, and it's hers now. She just doesn't want them to find out her new sanctuary. She knows she'll need it in the future.

"You said it was yours." The blonde seems upset more than confused.

"Not exactly." Beca says casually while closing the binder on her laps. "I bought that house as a birthday present for Ashley. It was ours. But now that we're not together anymore, it's hers. Unless you want me to marry Chloe at my ex's beach house. Then I suppose I can ask her. I'm sure Ashley won't mind."

"No, please no." Chloe hurriedly says. "Since it's only a small wedding, why don't we just have it in our backyard? You know, since you already bought the house next door. I prefer to start our marriage in our own house."

"I love that idea." Beca smiles at her fiancé. "We can do that."

Meanwhile, Stacie is thinking. She knew that Harvey and Donna wouldn't let Beca marry Chloe, starting a family, and moving in together in such a rush. Therefore, she cautiously asks, "Speaking of which, what did Harvey and Donna say about all of this?"

"Yea, Babe." Chloe says with her eyebrows furrowed. "I know that Donna is starting to like me, but I don't think it would be easy for them to understand our decision."

"Who are they anyway?" Aubrey retorts in annoyance. "Their opinions aren't important."

Still with her calm smile, the DJ says, "They didn't like the idea of us getting married, moving in together, and getting pregnant all at the same time. But they respected my decision. Under some conditions."

"What conditions?" Aubrey asks with accusing look.

Beca puts the binder away and takes Chloe's hands in hers before she softly says, "I hope you don't take this the wrong way, Chlo. This isn't personal, but since I share my company with Harvey, he wanted you to sign a prenup."

"What?!" Aubrey exclaims angrily. "Did he think that Chloe wants your money? This is so humiliating! I can't believe you agree with him! You should've stood up for Chloe!"

"Bree..." Chloe pleads. "Calm down." Even though she's asking her best friend to calm down, she herself is feeling hurt. It's humiliating that the couple Beca considers as family don't trust her to that level.

"You will not sign the prenup, Chloe." Aubrey warns her best friend before turning to look at the DJ and fiercely says, "You will tell him to shove the prenup up his ass! There's no way I will let Chloe sign it. I'm her lawyer."

Beca ignores the blonde and says to her fiancé, "I know it's inconvenient, but Lucifer Corps is his just as much as mine. He has the right to protect it no matter what. Like I said; don't take it personally. Just sign the paper. It's not like we'll get a divorce. The prenup is to reassure them, not us. It's just a formality, Chlo. You can read the prenup first, and then you can negotiate if you want."

With defeated look, Chloe sighs and nods. "Okay. Just email it to Aubrey, and we'll read about it first before we sign it."

"Chloe!" Aubrey exclaims angrily. "Why would you do that?!"

Chloe sighs again and tiredly says, "The prenup doesn't matter, Bree. I will never let Beca go. If signing a couple of papers is all I need to do to get their approvals, then I'll do it."

Knowing that her best friend is right, Aubrey sighs heavily. However, she's still pretty upset when she asks, "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure." Chloe nods.

"Okay." The blonde says, and then she looks at the DJ again to ask, "What are the other conditions?"

"Just one more." Beca answers casually. "Harvey and Donna want to talk to Chloe. You know, since they're practically my family, they want to talk to Chloe before the wedding."

"I knew it!" Aubre says fiercely. "I knew that there's no way you would easily give in. Turns out, you've planned the whole thing. Is this your way to make Chloe back out of this wedding? By sending your guarding dogs to talk to her?"

"Aubrey!" Stacie snaps at her wife.

"It's okay, Stace." Beca says nonchalantly. "They've said worse things about your wife." Still with a calm look, she looks at the blonde and says, "You can insult them all your way to China. It can't hurt them because you don't matter to them. And it certainly won't change the fact that they're my family." Then she turns to look at her fiancé. "They just wanted to talk. I can guarantee you that they will be harsh. They have always been hard. Even with Ashley and me. But they're my family, Chlo. They need to make sure that you're ready to join our family."

Even though she's scared, the redhead nods and says, "Okay. If that can show them that I'm good for you, then I'll do it."

Beca smiles and kisses her forehead. "Thank you."

"I have to be there." Aubrey insists. "That's our condition. If they want to talk to Chloe, then I should be there too."

"Unbelievable!" Stacie exclaims angrily at her wife. "Can you back off and let them do what they need to do?! Chloe's already said yes!"

"I'm Chloe's lawyer, Babe." Aubrey reasons with her wife. "Like I said. They can talk to Chloe with me, or they don't talk to Chloe at all. And they can say goodbye to the prenup too." She looks at Beca and firmly says, "Better yet, you choose. Is Chloe more important than some strangers who took advantage of you because you have money? You certainly don't need a family who don't trust your wife."

Beca simply looks at Aubrey calmly, and somehow it intimidates the blonde who tries to keep eye contact with slightly ashamed look. Knowing that it'll be easy for Harvey to take care of Aubrey, the DJ casually says, "About them trusting Chloe, it's not in my hands to change their minds. It's in Chloe's. The meeting is her chance to gain their trusts. And about you wanting to be with Chloe when they talk to her, it can be easily arranged. I'm sure Harvey won't mind. In fact, I think he would love a chance to talk to you, Posen. Besides, Chloe has to sign the prenup with her lawyer anyway. So, suit yourself."

Aubrey is taken aback. She thought that Beca would've caved in to choose Chloe and stopped these nonsense about the meeting and the prenup. Now that the DJ said it was okay, she just realized that she'd be facing her own boss in this case. However, since this is for Chloe, she'll do it; as terrified as she is. Therefore, she swallows subtly and stutters, "G-good."

Beca smirks triumphantly, knowing that the table has turned and she has the upper hand after agreeing to marry Chloe. Now she knows why she was so terrified with Aubrey's intimidation in their first meeting; she felt guilty and scared of being told about her mistakes. "Any other objections about the prenup and the meeting?" She asks as casually as possible, trying to hide the smugness on her face. When nobody says anything, she says, "Okay then. Let's talk about the wedding again."

After that, they simply talk about the wedding plan. Though, Aubrey is a little bit quiet, but it can't cloud the joy that is beaming out of the redhead. Chloe is indeed beyond happy to finally plan her wedding with Beca, especially since the DJ doesn't disagree much. The wedding will certainly be the redhead's show.

"So, Fat Amy will officiate our wedding, Aubrey will be my maid of honor, Emily and Stacie will be my bridesmaids, our other sisters will sing a song when I'm walking down the aisle, and my father will walk me down the aisle. Steve will be the rings bearer, and Belles will be our flower girl." Chloe concludes by the end of discussion. "And I know Harvey will be your best man. But do you need someone else on your side, Babe? CR maybe?"

"Yep." Beca responds. "But not CR. On my side, I will have Harvey, Patrick, and Troian. Donna will stay put to help with the wedding arrangement. I think she'll be happier if she can order people around."

"Why would we have Patrick and Troian?" Aubrey asks in annoyance at the DJ. "You said you'd detach yourself from them."

"I said I will think about it." Beca points out. "And since I haven't thought about it yet, they're still my best friends. So, they will be my groomsman and bridesmaid."

"But-" Aubrey wants to argue, but Chloe cuts her off softly. "If Beca wants them at the wedding, then they can be there, Bree. They are her best friends nevertheless." Then she turns to look at her fiancé and firmly says, "As long as they don't push you to leave me for Ashley."

Beca scoffs lightly and coughs out, "They're not Aubrey."

"What?" Chloe can't hear the DJ clearly.

"Nothing." The petite brunette smiles. "They won't do that."

"Are you sure?" The redhead asks worriedly.

"A hundred percent." Beca says nonchalantly to her fiancé. "There's no way they'll push me to go back to Ashley, especially now that Ashley has moved on, and I've decided to marry you. They won't go that low just because they care about me and Ashley. They respect our decisions on how to live our lives. They're that kind of people. They're considerate. So, don't worry."

It's no doubt intended to quip Aubrey openly. The blonde herself can't express her anger because it will raise certain suspicions to Chloe. The only thing she can do is glaring at Beca angrily.

On the other hand, the DJ simply smiles and thinks to herself, _"Sweet, sweet revenge. I can live with this forever."_

Doesn't want to get in between Beca's and Aubrey's feud anymore, Stacie says, "I will inform our sisters tomorrow first thing in the morning. They will be so happy."

Chloe reads the plan once again. Then with a smile so bright, she grabs Beca's face and exclaims, "We're getting married!"

Beca chuckles lightly and nods. "We are."

Then the redhead crashes her lips onto her fiancé's, pressing it so hard before she exclaims again, "We, are, getting, married! I still can't believe it!"

The DJ simply shakes her head while grinning from ear to ear to see how happy her fiancé is.

Still beaming and grinning, Chloe asks, "Are you happy?"

"Of course I am." Beca says softly.

Chloe hugs the DJ tightly and says, "I love you, Babe. So, so, so, fucking much."

Beca chuckles lightly. She rubs Chloe's back gently and says, "I love you too, Chlo."

After the redhead breaks the hug, she turns to look at her blonde best friend and says, "I'm getting married, Bree... I'm marrying the love of my life."

Aubrey is so relieved to see how happy Chloe is. Her eyes are teary, and she's smiling when she approaches and hugs the redhead tightly. "Congratulations, Chloe. Your dreams are finally coming true. I'm so happy for you."

Upon seeing that the blonde is almost crying, Chloe herself becomes emotional. "Thank you, Bree." She says with restraint voice. "Thank you for always being on my side. You are the best sister anyone could ever ask."

Feeling too emotional to talk, Aubrey simply hugs her best friend even tighter. Meanwhile, Stacie is feeling moved too. She joins the two in a group hug, thinking that everything finally comes to a happy ending.

On the other hand, never the one with physical contact with too many people, Beca simply watches the scene while smiling lightly.

After a while, Stacie pulls herself away and looks at the petite brunette. "Come here, Shorty. Let me hug you."

"Errr..." Beca grimaces uncomfortably, but Stacie simply chuckles and sits next to her before hugging her tightly.

"Congrats, Beca." The tall brunette says. "And thank you. For making my wife and my best friend the happiest people in the world tonight."

"It's no biggie." The DJ says while patting Stacie's back gently.

Stacie breaks the hug and grabs Beca's arms. She's smiling softly when she says, "It's everything for them. _You_ , are the best."

Beca smiles and nonchalantly says, "I'm just marrying my best friend, Stace. It's not like I'm joining the army."

Having a feeling that Beca doesn't want to make a big deal out of her decision to marry Chloe, Stacie simply kisses her forehead and goes back to her seat. Then Aubrey and Chloe break apart from each other.

While wiping the tears on the corner of her eyes, Aubrey says to her successor, "Thank you, Beca. For making my best friend happy. And congratulations. To finally set your mind right. I can guarantee you, this is the best decision you've ever made, and you will ever make. Trust me."

"Thanks." Beca replies with a light smile.

Chloe laces her hand with her fiancé's and says, "Let's go back to your place, Babe."

"Okay." Beca stands up and turns to look at the other couple. "See you. And thank you for helping us with the wedding preparation."

"We're family." Aubrey says. "No need to thank us for doing the best for both of you."

Beca simply nods. On the other hand, Chloe hugs both of her best friends again and says, "I can't thank you enough. This wedding is happening because the two of you have always supported me. I love you, guys."

"We love you too, Chloe." Aubrey replies as she hugs the redhead tightly.

"So much." Stacie chips in while wrapping the other two women in her arms.

Chloe breaks the hug and says to Aubrey, "Bree, can you come with me to the clinic tomorrow? Beca has to do some medical check-up, and she can't come with me."

"Of course." Aubrey says. "I'd love to be involved in my godchild's life from the very beginning."

Definitely, there's no way Beca will choose Aubrey as her child's godmother. However, she knows that it's another fight for another day. Therefore, she doesn't say anything but just keeps on smiling.

Then they say goodbye, and Beca and Chloe go back to the DJ's apartment. The next day, their phones are going crazy because all of the Bellas are congratulating them for the wedding plan. All of them are so excited about it.

* * *

**April, 10th 2026: Four weeks later.**

After the medical check-up, Liv found out that Beca's blood pressure was over the roof. She hadn't been sleeping well, and she was under a lot of pressures. She was lucky that she had the acupuncture. If not, she might have had another heart attack. Therefore, the doctor prescribed her with some meds to ease the BP, and ordered the DJ to rest more. Beca combined those with meditation, and it had kept the BP down.

Donna and Emily made sure that the DJ always got proper rest, ate healthily, had some times to work out, went to the therapy, meditated, and had acupuncture sessions as much as she needed.

Even with all of that, since it's been so hectic, Beca is still finding it hard to manage everything all together. She's tired all the time, and the back of her neck is always tensed. As usual, the DJ tries to push through. Thankfully, Emily, Stacie, and CR helped them with the moving in.

Other than that, Chloe's tests results came out normal, and the doctor already pumped her with medications to help her ovulating and producing more eggs starting from her day 1 of cycle. They have to go to the clinic every day to do some routine check-ups. Now the couple are picking a donor. They have until day 10 after the first day of Chloe's cycle to choose the donor.

Beca also had seen Harley again, and she told the doctor about her decision. Harley simply listened to her explanations without making a big deal out of it. If the doctor had made it such a huge thing, she knew that Beca would've become uncertain with her decision again.

Instead, they moved to the other issues; telling The Bellas how suffocated they made Beca, and telling Chloe the whole truth about the situation. After considering the pros and cons, the DJ decided to tell her friends the truth on the reunion. She also started writing a song to help breaking the truth to Chloe.

As for today, Chloe would meet Harvey and Donna. Other than for signing the prenup, it's also for the personal meeting the couple wanted to have with Beca's fiance. Chloe and Aubrey are sitting in the blonde's office at Lucifer Corps. They're waiting for Beca, Harvey, and Donna. The meeting will start at 4 PM, and it's still in 15 minutes.

"Are you sure you want to sign this prenup with no revision, Chloe?" Aubrey asks worriedly. "I mean, you will get nothing if, and this is just if,if Beca and you separate, you will get nothing but the house she bought for you."

"I'm sure, Bree." Chloe says calmly. "Beca and I will never get a divorce. I'm sure of that, and Beca promised. Besides, it's said in the prenup that our children will have more than enough if anything happens to Beca. It'll be fine."

"But what if you don't have kids at all?" Aubrey asks cautiously. "And if Beca die, maybe in an accident, or something else, you'll be left with nothing."

"Bree, relax..." Chloe smiles to reassure her best friend. "Beca will be fine, and we'll never get a divorce. And if, only if, death really do us part, I can take care of myself. I have a steady job."

Aubrey sighs in defeat and nods. "Fine."

"Let's talk about something else." The redhead suggests cheerfully. "We're picking a donor, and when my eggs are ready, we'll do the procedure in a couple of days. I'm so excited, Bree."

With a soft smile, Aubrey grabs her best friend's hand and says, "I'm happy for you, Chloe. But maybe keep the excitement down a bit. We don't know if it'll work. You said so yourself. The possibility of you getting pregnant on the first try is slim."

"I have a good feeling about this." Chloe grins from ear to ear. "It will work. My uterus is normal, and I still produce eggs. With the meds and everything, I'm optimist that it will work."

"I'm hoping for the same thing."

Suddenly, Chloe's phone rings, and she picks up instantly. "Hey, Babe." ... ... ... "I'm in Aubrey's office." ... ... ... "Okay. See you in a minute." Then she looks at her best friend and says, "Beca just arrived with Donna."

"Okay. I'll prepare our stuff." Aubrey says while gathering some documents.

Five minutes later, there's a soft knock on the door, and Beca shows up with a bouquet of flowers. "Hey." She walks to Chloe and kisses her chastely on the lips. Then she holds the flowers up. "For you."

With a smile so bright, Chloe says, "Thank you, Babe."

"Bribing your fiancé with flowers before giving her some shit." Aubrey mutters a bit loudly than necessary with annoyed tone. "Smart move, but cheap."

Beca ignores the blonde and asks the redhead, "You ready?"

Chloe nods, and then the DJ says, "I'm sorry for the inconvenient. And I know it'll be hard. But I also know that you can take them."

"I know, Babe." The redhead says. "I'll be fine. They're your family, and it's normal if they give me some drilling sessions before we get married."

While holding Chloe's hand, Beca smiles and says, "Thank you for being understanding. I love you."

"I love you too." Chloe replies.

"We should go." Aubrey says firmly. "Don't want to be judged unprofessional by my boss for being late."

"Shall we?" The DJ asks her fiancé, and Chloe nods lightly before putting down her flowers on the desk.

Then the three of them go to a conference room where the meeting will be held. The room is on the top floor, where Harvey's office is. The whole building is solely for Lucifer Corps main office, including a law firm on the 15th floor where Aubrey and Andre work.

When the three of them arrive, Harvey and Donna are already in there with a stenographer. A camera is set on the table to record everything. Upon seeing how formal it is, Chloe takes a deep breath and walks in. Then she warmly greets, "Hey, Harvey. Hey, Donna. It's nice to see you again."

Harvey simply nods politely while offering a handshake, to which Chloe takes instantly.

After a little bit of polite yet awkward greetings, Beca goes to sit in between Harvey and Donna, while Aubrey and Chloe sit across from them.

"First thing first." Harvey pulls out an envelope from his file case and gives it to Aubrey. "This is for you."

Even though she's confused, Aubrey takes it and asks, "What is this?"

With a calm look, Harvey says, "That, is your termination letter. You are fired effective immediately."

"What?!" Aubrey is beyond shocked, and she hurriedly opens the envelope.

"Why?" Chloe asks in confusion, and it's clear that she's also upset.

"The reasons for her termination is clear. It's in the letter." Harvey explains. "In the last couple of months, she hasn't won any cases, she's behind in every projects the company gave her, she has the worst work ethic, and she brought her shitty attitudes to workplace. Other than that, Beca told me that she insisted to be your lawyer in this case while she knew that it's a conflict of interest."

"I didn't know that." Aubrey says in upset.

"It's in your contract." Harvey says nonchalantly. "You can't represent somebody against our clients. It's in your expenses if you didn't read it thoroughly."

"This is bullshit!" Aubrey snaps.

"You just proved my point about your shitty attitudes at workplace." Harvey smirks arrogantly.

Chloe feels so angry, and she looks at her fiancé to ask, "Babe, did you know about any of this? Did you know they were gonna fire Aubrey?"

"I didn't." The DJ replies honestly.

"Then do something." The redhead commands firmly. "This is your company. You can't let him do this to Aubrey. This is a wrongful termination."

Beca looks back and forth between Harvey and Aubrey with her eyebrows furrowed. She didn't know that Harvey would fire Aubrey. However, after listening to Harvey's explanations, she calmly says, "It's not in my hands, Chlo. Harvey is the CEO. And he has reasonable excuses to fire Aubrey. It's not a wrongful termination."

"There's no way Aubrey is lacking in her job." Chloe argues stubbornly. "You know her. She always does her best. Always."

"Apparently not, based on her performance evaluations." Harvey says.

"She's been under a lot of pressure, Becs!" Chloe says angrily at the DJ. "She's been so worried about me because of you, and now she's paying for it!"

"What?" Beca responds with her eyes narrowed. She can't believe Chloe puts the blame on her.

Still with a calm look, Harvey says, "Well, every one of us have some problems. But none of us brought them to work. Can't let the company pays for her lack of ability to manage stress."

"Wait, wait." Beca interrupts, and she's looking at her fiancé with disbelief look. "You're putting this on me? You think she was stressed out of her mind because of me? Seriously?"

Upon seeing how upset her fiancé is, Chloe is taken aback for a second, but she hurriedly says, "I- I'm sorry, Babe. I didn't mean it like that. I... I was angry. It's not because of you. I'm so sorry." Then she looks at Harvey and pleads, "Sorry for snapping and being angry. But can you please give Aubrey another chance? She was just distracted. But she'll do better from now on."

Truth to be told, it was only in Beca's regard that Aubrey could work for Lucifer Corps until now. At first, Harvey was impressed with Aubrey's resume and her interview. But so far, her evaluations showed the otherwise. Aubrey couldn't meet the job's demands.

All of the reasons of Aubrey's termination are true. If it wasn't for a year contract, he would have fired Aubrey more than a month ago when the blonde yelled at another associate in a meeting unreasonably. Then he found a chance after the DJ told him that the blonde insisted to come to the meeting. Aubrey just kept on giving him reasons to fire her. Therefore, he says, "I'd given her so many chances. And now I've run out of them."

Meanwhile, Aubrey is overwhelmed. She's angry and sad. With trembling hand, she picks up a glass and drinks the water slowly. She knows that she has to remain calm. She can't let this get to her, and give Harvey, Donna, and Beca the satisfaction of seeing her crumbling down into a mess. At least not in front of her best friend.

Aubrey is clenching her hands so tightly. She doesn't say or do anything else because she's so close from blowing out chunk. As much as she knows how reasonable her termination is, she can't help but blaming it all on Beca. For her, Harvey firing her is more for a personal reason, not the professional ones.

If they followed the procedure, Aubrey couldn't have been fired until the one year contract ended. However, her insistence to represent Chloe sealed the deal for an immediate termination. In her stubbornness to help Chloe, she completely forgot that none of the associates is allowed to represent somebody against the firm's clients. More importantly, Beca isn't only a client, but also Lucifer Corps' owner.

After putting down the glass, Aubre says with her voice a bit shaky, "It's okay, Chloe. Now, let's start this meeting."

"Very well." Harvey smiles in satisfaction. Then they read each points of the prenup to check if Beca and Chloe both agree to them. There's no trouble or argument about it. Beca doesn't need anything from Chloe, and Chloe says yes to all of the agreements.

After they're done signing the prenup and the papers for the house, Harvey says to the stenographer, "Thank you, Jack. Now you can leave."

Jack simply nods before he walks out with the machine and the camera in his hands.

Then Harvey looks at Chloe and says, "I believe Monkey has told you that Donna and I wanted to talk to you."

"Yes." Chloe replies with cold look. She's still upset of how they fired her best friend so suddenly.

Harvey remains calm, but the look in his eyes is threatening when he says to Chloe, "Since you came back into Beca's life, everything has become full of drama and turned into a mess. You've caused nothing else but trouble to her and to us. _I_ , was patient. Because I believe in Beca; I believe that she's strong enough to take the shit from you and your best friends. And I still trust her enough to let her marry you. But I will put this out. _Beca,_ is not yours to have. She doesn't live her life only to your convenient or to meet your demands."

With her arms crossed on her chest, Aubrey asks, "What do you mean that you let Beca to marry Chloe?"

"You need to shut up, Posen." Donna says firmly. "We're not talking to you. You have no business here. So, I suggest you to shut your mouth, or I will call the security to drag you out."

As upset as she is, Aubrey can't let Chloe be alone in this. Therefore, she bites her tongue and keeps quiet.

Harvey continues talking to Chloe coldly. "I will tell you the same thing I told Beca on the day she announced your crazy demands. For me, you pushing Beca to get married, start a family, and move to the house near some stupid people; all of them are stupid things to do in this stupid situation. This is a stupid act of desperation. Just like the suicide attempt you did. Now that Beca's been pushed by you stupid people for months, she started to think like one."

Chloe and Aubrey are watching Harvey with their eyes and mouths wide open. They're offended and angry, but also stunned by how blunt Harvey is.

On the other hand, Beca has expected this to happen, and she decides to remain silent. She knows that Chloe has to get used to the way Harvey and Donna take things into their hands.

Since it's expected to see the shocked look on their faces, Harvey continues, "I won't stop Beca from doing it. She has made a decision, and after listening to her explanations, I respected her life choices. She's doing this because she's too kind for her own good. As stupid as it is, she's my family, my sister. And I trust her enough that she can do this. But, if you ever ask her for more than she's ready to give you again, you can bet on your life I will cut you out of her life. No matter what it costs."

When Aubrey wants to interrupt again, Harvey holds up his index finger and firmly says to the younger redhead, "Someone should have told you this from a long time ago, but apparently nobody had the balls. So, I'm going to tell you. _You_ , have to stop acting like a victim. Threatening to kill yourself every time something didn't go your way is childish, and selfish, and stupid. And your friends nourished those attention seeking bitch attitudes. But not with me. I don't care if you try to kill yourself again. I don't even care if you succeed. All I care about is Beca's well being. So, if you put more pressure on her, asking her to do more ridiculous demands, you won't even have a chance to say goodbye to her. Mark my words."

Chloe and Aubrey are still looking at Harvey with dumfounded look. They can't say anything at the moment because the weight of the truth in his words is too heavy.

With her arms crossed on her chest, Donna firmly says, "I don't like you. Both of you, and the rest of the Bellas other than Emily. Now that Chloe is marrying Beca, I will watch you closely. Every one of you. If there's any signs that you're not treating her as she deserves after everything she put up for your stupid demands, I will crush you. If she becomes too distressed and gets another heart attack, I, will, crush, you. I will destroy your lives so badly that you will beg to turn back the time, hoping that Chloe had succeeded in killing herself, so all of you wouldn't have to be caught up in this mess. Do you understand?"

"Is that a threat?" Aubrey asks angrily.

Harvey scoffs and arrogantly says, "Threat is for kids, Posen. Like Chloe tried to kill herself when she didn't get what she wanted. That's a stupid tantrum for adults; a childish way to threaten the stupid people around her. And _I_ , don't do stupid and childish. This isn't a threat. This is a promise. You can try to see how good I am at keeping my promises. You've seen what we did to Jesse. You should give him a call to ask how his life is now."

Then the blonde glares at the DJ and fiercely asks, "Are you going to let them talk about your fiancé like that?!"

Beca can see that her fiancé is nearly crying. She knows that Harvey and Donna have gone too far. However, she also knows that Chloe has to stand up for herself. Therefore, she simply shrugs with a tight-lipped smile on her face.

Meanwhile, Chloe is trying to compose herself by taking several deep breaths. She's beyond angry with the accusations and threats. She's nearly choking in tears. This is beyond her anticipations when Beca said the couple would be harsh. They accused her for trying to kill herself to get what she wanted, and they talked as if marrying her is such a bad thing for Beca. In addition, her fiancé doesn't even try to defend her at all. It certainly hurts.

"You are a fucking coward, Beca Mitchell!" Aubrey snaps. "You hide and let them do your dirty work! Shame on you!"

Chloe clears her throat and takes another deep breath before she says, "Enough, Bree. You yelling at Beca won't make this any better." Then she looks at Harvey and says with her voice a bit shaky, "If this is your way to drive me out of Beca's life, you just failed. Nothing you say or do could change my mind. I love her, and she loves me too. That's why we're getting married. She didn't do it just because I asked her to. We're happy, and I will keep making her happy."

"Words don't mean anything without any proves, Chloe." Harvey says nonchalantly. "You think you're not pushing her. You think that you could make her happy. You've said that before. Yet, here we are; seeing Beca meeting more stupid demands from you and your shitty best friends."

Hearing the insults over and over again is infuriating for Aubrey and Chloe. The DJ wasn't kidding when she said that the couple had said worse things about them. Nevertheless, Chloe knows that spitting out her anger won't reassure Harvey and Donna. It will only do more harm than good. Therefore, she takes another deep breath and says, "I will prove to you that I'm good for her; that I can make her happy."

"I've been waiting." Harvey says with an undermining smirk. "Yet, you're still nowhere near to accomplish that. In fact, you're just getting further and further away from what you've said. Don't get me wrong. I'm more than happy if you can actually make Beca happy. But I don't see that you can do that. Ashley has set a golden standard as Beca's partner after all. Compared to her, you've got nothing so far."

"You'll see." Chloe says firmly.

"I sure hope so." Harvey says, still with an undermining look. "We've said what we needed to say, and I will wait for you to prove yourself worthy. Just remember; you only have this one chance to fail." Without waiting for another response, he looks at Beca and says, "I think that's all, Monkey."

"Thanks, Harv." The DJ says.

Harvey simply smiles and pats her shoulder before walking out of the room. Then Donna stands up and says to Beca, "I have to go back to the office, Monkey. Call me if you need anything."

"I will. Thanks, Donna." Beca smiles, and then Donna kisses the top of her head before heading out.

Then the DJ approaches her fiancé and rests her hands on the redhead's shoulders before she worriedly asks, "Are you okay?"

"Am I okay?!" Chloe snaps angrily with tears threatening to burst out of her eyes, and she stands up to shrug off her fiancé harshly. "How could you let them do this to me?!"

Beca takes a deep breath and stands in front of the redhead. She grabs Chloe's arms and softly says, "This is your first fight against Harvey and Donna's barrier, Chlo. It's hard. I know. But believe me, this is nothing. Ashley got way worse than this. She got a restraining order, and she almost got arrested for insisting to stay in the waiting room of the hospital just to wait for me waking up from a coma. Not to mention how Harvey yelled at her, threatening to ruin her career. But she stood up for herself, being stubborn and persistent. That finally opened up a bit access from Donna and Harvey. And they didn't trust her right away. It took her more than a year to eventually gain their trusts, by showing that being with her could make me a better person. So, I didn't interfere because I wanted you to pass their first barrier. I couldn't do that if I had stood up for you."

Feeling angrier from the mention of Ashley's name, the redhead swats Beca's arms harshly and snaps, "She's better than me! I know! You don't need to keep reminding me!"

"I didn't say that..." Beca says tiredly. "I'm just saying... be strong. This wouldn't be the hardest thing they do to test you. More will come your way. But I can say that you passed the first barrier just fine."

Chloe doesn't say anything but standing with her arms crossed on her chest. She's biting her bottom lip so hard to prevent herself from crying or snapping.

Cautiously, the DJ steps closer and hugs her fiancé. Just like that, all of Chloe's defenses crumble down, and she hugs Beca back tightly. The dam finally breaks, and the redhead is sobbing hard on Beca's shoulder.

Beca simply sighs heavily and rubs her fiancé's back gently without saying anything.

Meanwhile, Aubrey is crying too. Her defense has cracked. She's still sitting, leaning forward with her elbows on the glass table, grasping her hair so tightly with tears running down her face.

Without breaking the hug, the DJ pulls out her phone and calls Stacie. "Hey, Stace. Can you come to LC now?" ... ... ... "The meeting didn't end well." ... ... ... "We're in the conference room on the top floor."

After she ends the phone call, the brunette drags Chloe to the chair. The redhead climbs to sit in between her fiancé's laps, curling on her side with her knees pulled up. She keeps crying on Beca's chest while Beca simply holds her tightly.

Even when Stacie arrives half an hour later, Aubrey and Chloe haven't stopped crying. Knowing that her wife rarely cried in front of other people, the tall brunette hurriedly goes to her wife and worriedly asks, "What happened?"

Upon hearing Stacie's voice, Aubrey stands up and hugs her tightly, sobbing on her chest as she says, "Th- they fired me."

"They did?" Stacie is shocked. "Why? How?"

"Be- because of your stu- stupid coward best friend!" Aubrey snaps in between sobs.

Stacie lifts her chin to look at Beca with her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, and Beca mouths, _"Later."_

Since it's not a good time to demand some answers, Stacie simply nods in return and holds her wife even tighter. Judging from how Aubrey and Chloe are crying so hard, Stacie can tell that the meeting went worse than what they had expected. Especially upon seeing her wife sobbing uncontrollably. Harvey and Donna managed to do something nobody could've done before.

Gently, Stacie picks her wife up in bridal style and sits down on a chair with Aubrey on her laps. The two brunettes are holding their love ones in the same position quietly. It takes a while until Aubrey and Chloe can gain some composures.

While wiping the tears on her wife's face, Stacie worriedly asks, "What happened?"

Aubrey is still sniffling softly when she says in upset, "Yo- your fucking best friend ma- made her guard dogs fi- fired me. She also let them in- insulted the Bellas, threw mean ac- accusations to Chloe, a- and threatened our lives if something ever happen to her."

Stacie looks at the DJ with narrowed eyes as if asking for a confirmation, and even an argument that it wasn't true.

However, Beca calmly says, "They fired Aubrey because she was a mess at work and she represented Chloe in this case. She shouldn't have done that because every associates are forbade to represent somebody against their clients. They insulted The Bellas because they were angry about the way all of you treated me, and you know what I mean. What they said to Chloe, it was because they don't trust her yet. And the threats, well, it was real."

Knowing that this incident is most likely her wife's mistake from the very beginning, Stacie sighs heavily and kisses Aubrey's temple without saying anything else.

On the other hand, Chloe is still holding Beca tightly, still resting her temple on the DJ's chest when she says in between light sobs, "I- I love you, Babe. Why cou- couldn't they see it?" She grasps a short breath. "Wh- why didn't they be- believe tha- that I can make you ha- happy?"

Beca sighs heavily and says, "They just needed a reassurance, Chlo. After the exhausting drama we've been through in the last four months, they just wanted to make sure that we'll be fine with our decisions."

"But they're so mean." The redhead cries out in a restraint voice.

Doesn't know what else to say, Beca simply presses her lips onto Chloe's crown and holds her even tighter.

For the next 15 minutes, the room is only filled with sniffles and sobs. Beca and Stacie simply give Chloe and Aubrey times to gather themselves together.

Eventually, when the tears already subside, the tall brunette takes a deep breath and says, "Let's go home, Babe. Bella is waiting for us."

Aubrey nods and gets off her wife's laps. Chloe does the same, and then both of them hug each other tightly.

"I'm so sorry, Bree..." Chloe cries. "It's all my faults."

"No, it's not." Aubrey says with shaky voice. "I should've known better that your shitty fiancé is a fucking jerk."

Beca nonchalantly says, "I think it's time for you to consider that you brought this wrath on yourself. But I don't expect you to. As always, you have too much ego to save, Posen."

Stacie pulls the DJ to the corner of the room and whispers, "I think you're enjoying this way too much. She's still my wife, Beca. Can you please at least be nice to her for my sake?"

"I was telling the truth, Stace." Beca whispers back defensively. "Your wife did this to herself. I didn't do anything. She should've known better that karma could be a bitch."

"Shorty..." Stacie pleads tiredly still in a whisper. "I know you're angry with my wife for what she did to you. You have the right to feel that way. I apologize in my wife's behalf, okay? But can you please put is to an end? If nobody ever surrenders, this will keep going. If you love Chloe and Bella enough, can you please stop bringing up about how Aubrey pushed you to stay with Chloe?"

Upon seeing how helpless her best friend is, Beca rolls her eyes and says in annoyance, "Fine. But what is wrong with you people? You always use love as an excuse for everything. I thought love was supposed to be freeing, not incarcerating."

"I'm sorry." The tall brunette says in defeat. "I'll just... I'll take Aubrey home."

Without saying anything in return, Beca walks to Chloe and asks, "Ready to go home?"

Chloe looks at her fiancé with pleading eyes and asks, "Can we stay at Aubrey's place tonight? She needs me, and I want to be with her."

"You can." The DJ says without hesitation.

"You won't come with me?" The redhead intensifies her puppy eyes. "I also need you tonight." When she sees how reluctant her fiancé is, she pleads, "Please? For me?"

Beca sighs in defeat and says, "Fine. I have to go back to my place to pick up some stuff though."

With an appreciative smile, Chloe says, "Thank you. I'll go with Stacie, but come as fast as you can." She kisses her fiancé chastely on the lips. "I love you."

"I love you too." Beca smiles lightly.

Then the four of them walk out of the conference room.

* * *

The dinner at Stacie's place is spent awkwardly. The tension is high because Aubrey is spitting out her anger. She's yelling out tons of insults and curses to Harvey, Donna, and Beca. Chloe is on Aubrey's side certainly, and she's spitting out her anger to the older couple too. It makes Stacie busy calming the two raging women.

On the other hand, the DJ simply takes Bella to the bedroom and plays with her. That way, she saves herself from an unnecessary fight, and she also saves Bella from getting a trauma. It's proven the right decision to prevent herself from getting angry too. She has a strict order from Liv to keep her blood pressure in a normal range.

Beca even falls asleep on the floor in Bella's room. By midnight, Chloe wakes her up, and they go to the redhead's bedroom. When they're already on the bed, the redhead hugs her fiancé from aside and rests her temple on Beca's chest.

"I'm sorry, Babe." Chloe says softly. "I'm sorry for blaming you. It's not your fault. It's Harvey's and Donna's."

"I don't think so." The DJ says calmly. "Every action caused another reaction. We should learn to see our part in every problems."

Chloe pulls herself up to look at her fiancé and stubbornly says, "But the way Harvey treated me and Aubrey was unacceptable. He's disrespectful and pitiful. He shouldn't have fired Aubrey just because he was on your side."

Knowing that it isn't the time to remind her fiancé about how Aubrey has treated her, Beca sighs and says, "You've heard the reasons of her termination, Chlo. And frankly, I don't think it's important for us to argue about this. I'm so tired, and I still need to check by blood pressure before going to sleep. Can we rest this case now? It's not like talking about it could change anything anyway."

"Fine." Chloe says in defeat before getting up to get Beca's digital wrist blood pressure monitor from the duffle bag. After making sure that the brunette's blood pressure is fine, Chloe gives her some meds and covers her under a Bali sarong. Then she snuggles up onto Beca's chest and says, "Good night, Babe. I love you."

"Love you too." The DJ replies with her eyes closed.

* * *

**April 24** **th** **2026.**

Nine days ago, Chloe finally had the IUI. The doctor already put the donor's sperm into the redhead's uterus. There was no fuss in picking the donor. They settled with a music teacher who genetically have MC1R gene so there's a possibility for them to have a redheaded kid. It was on Beca's demand for sure, and Chloe complied happily. In return, Chloe wanted a donor who has the same eyes color as Beca's. The redhead wanted their kid to have something in common with both of them if it's possible.

One day after the IUI procedure, Beca finally dropped. In between going to the clinic, moving in, preparing the wedding, the pressure on telling Chloe the whole truth before the wedding, and getting ready for MTV Awards, automatically, Beca was worn out, and her asthma came back.

Donna insisted that the DJ needed a total bedrest for at least three days, and Beca complied without any arguments. Liv admitted her into the hospital, and the doctor pumped her with meds to give her heart a rest and to clean her lungs from the residual smoke. Most of the times, she just slept, and Liv monitored her heart closely. Three days turned into a week, and the DJ came out of the hospital feeling much better.

Right now, Beca is in her office with Emily. The youngest Bella has been working in the DJ's office to monitor her Pop's condition. She's been watching Beca scratching a pen on a paper for hours, and the DJ seems frustrated.

"What is it, Pop?" Emily asks.

Beca sighs heavily and says, "I'm trying to write a couple of songs for the wedding. You know, for all of you to sing when Chloe walking down the aisle, and for the first dance."

"You don't have to worry about the song we sing when Chloe walking down the aisle." Emily says. "We're already rehearsing to a song Chloe requested."

"Oh." The DJ is bit surprised. "I thought she wanted me to write the song."

"Nope." The youngest Bella shakes her head. "She wanted it to be a surprise for you."

Beca nods absentmindedly and says, "Well, I still have to deal with the song for the first dance."

"Did she ask for it?"

"Nope." Beca says with a tight-lipped smile. "But I'm sure she wanted me to surprise her. Knowing her, she must be expecting some grand gesture as a surprise in our wedding."

"Right." Emily grimaces awkwardly.

"I've been trying for weeks now, but I couldn't find the inspirations. I'm stuck."

"Huh." The youngest Bella seems puzzled. It's so unusual for the DJ finding it hard to write a song. "When did the last time you write a song?"

"More than a month ago." The DJ replies. "I wrote a song to tell Chloe the truth."

Emily is taken aback, and she blurts out, "You're gonna tell her the truth of why you chose her?"

"Yea." Beca says certainly. "Harley said it'd be better to start our marriage with a clean slate. And I agreed."

"Are you sure?" The youngest Bella asks with terrified look. "Don't you think it's gonna break Chloe's heart?"

Beca sighs deeply and says, "I have to. I don't want her to find out from someone else and misunderstand. She needs to know that I might chose her because Aubrey pushed me to, but I'm staying because I wanted to. I just don't think starting our marriage with a lie, a huge one, is a good thing."

Even though she's still worried, Emily knows that it's the right thing to do. Therefore, she sighs and says, "You're right. So, when are you gonna tell her?"

"Soon?" Beca grimaces awkwardly. "I'm still afraid of her reactions. But I know I have to do it before the wedding."

Emily simply smiles sympathetically and nods. Then she puts her attention back to her work. Suddenly, her phone rings, and she picks up instantly. "Troian, what's up?" ... ... ... "I know. We're still going to her place tonight, right?" ... ... ... "Okay. See you tonight."

Meanwhile, Beca just keeps stealing glances at the youngest Bella. She has a feeling that the phone call has something to do with Ashley, but she's afraid to ask.

After ten minutes or so, Emily asks, "Okay. What is it?"

"What?" Beca pretends to write down some ideas.

With bored look, Emily says, "You've been stealing glances, and your brain is thinking too loud. It's buzzing in my ears."

Beca's cheeks flushed, and without looking at her aca-child, she mutters, "How is she?... Ashley... Have you uh... told her? About the wedding?"

"We're gonna tell her tonight after dinner." The youngest Bella says. "We've been busy, and you were in the hospital for a week... So, Patrick, Troian, and I decided to wait until things have settled down to tell her. Besides, the closer it is to the wedding day for us to tell her, the sooner everything is gonna be over for her. You know, the waiting, the pain of dealing with the inevitable."

"Oh." The DJ sighs heavily. Even so, she tries to be casual when she says, "Okay. But I'm sure she'll be fine. She has moved on, and Shay is with her."

Emily glances her eyes away from her former captain and mutters, "We sure do hope so. Nevertheless, we think it's still gonna be hard on her."

Beca simply nods in return.

"So, about the song for the first dance." Emily tries to change the subject. "What are you gonna do now that you find it hard to get inspirations?"

"I don't know." The DJ massages her forehead. "It usually isn't this hard to write a song."

"How about the song you prepared to sing for her birthday?"

"It's not a wedding material. Too casual. Nothing grande that Chloe would appreciate as a wedding present. You know her."

"Let me listen to it."

"Fine." The DJ grabs her phone and looks for the song in it.

After the song plays out, Emily says, "Well, it's honest. The start of your relationship was... well, it started with a wrong reason, you also took a chance, and yes, God knows you tried. And you said it. You want a love like she made you feel back when you were eighteen. But uh... what is this _pouring a drink_ thing? You're not allowed to drink."

"It's just a metaphor." Beca says. "It means, let's celebrate."

"Oh." The youngest Bella nods absentmindedly. "Yea, you're right. This isn't a wedding material."

Beca rolls her eyes in mocked annoyance, "Told you."

"So, what are you gonna do?"

"I don't know. All I know is, I don't want to disappoint her."

"You do have a folder full of love songs." Emily says with an apologetic grimace.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Beca stares at the youngest Bella with an eyebrow raised. "All of those songs are about Ashley. Most of them are about me wanting to spend the rest of my life with her. And I started writing them since two years ago. Not two months ago. Now you're asking to just switch it to Chloe?" She flicks her fingers. "Just like that?"

"What choice do you have?" Emily retorts matter-of-factly.

"Absolutely not." The DJ says without any hesitation.

Suddenly, Emily got an idea, and she says, "Remember Just The Way You Are? The song you sang with her and the rest of the Bellas at the pool?"

Beca grins and says, "Oh, yea. Fuck, I didn't know how it happened, but the songs we sang that night was... it was how I felt about Chloe back in college."

"Well," Emily shrugs nonchalantly. "Chloe will appreciate it since it has a history value in your relationship."

Beca grins and says, "I'll call someone to sing the acoustic version in our wedding. Thanks, Em."

"Just being the best aca-child you always said." Emily says smugly.

While holding her phone on her ear, the DJ simply rolls her eyes playfully. "Hey Manzano, my man. How are you doing?" ... ... ... "Listen, dude. I need a favor. But I need you to keep it a secret from the media."

* * *

**Later that night.**

Patrick, Troian, and Emily are at Ashley's place. The four of them are sitting in the living room, and watching some shows after dinner. At first, Patrick, Troian, and Emily are stealing glances at each other. They have no idea of how to start.

Eventually, Troian takes a deep breath and says, "Ash, we have something to tell you."

Patrick immediately turns the TV off, and Emily adjusts her position so now all three of them are facing the blonde.

"What is it?" Ashley asks with her eyebrows furrowed. "You seem so serious. Anything happen to Beca? She's fine, right?"

"She's okay." Patrick hurriedly says. They didn't tell the blonde that Beca was in the hospital for a week. "But uh..." He steals a glance at his fiancé.

Troian takes the hint and moves to sit next to her best friend. She takes Ashley's hands into hers and says, "We have news that will upset you. So... we need you to take a deep breath before we begin."

With her eyes narrowed, Ashley responds, "O... kay?" She takes a deep breath. "I'm ready."

After taking another deep breath, Troian says, "Beca and Chloe are getting married in less than two weeks."

For Ashley, everything seems to stop at the moment. The time, the earth, and most likely her heart. The air is knocked out of her lungs, and she finds it hard to breath. She's supposed to be aching, but she can't feel anything but cold. So cold as if the blood is drained out of her veins in a matter of seconds. After taking in a short ragged breath, with her face scrunched up painfully, she asks in barely a whisper, "When?"

"On May 9th." Troian says with sad look.

Ashley clenches her jaw so tightly to prevent herself from crying. Now she feels suffocated, and Troian holds her clenched hands so tightly. Somehow, she's able to smile. A bitter smile appears on her face even though tears are threatening to burst out of her bottom eyelids.

When a single trail of tears start running down her face, Ashley wipes it away instantly. Since she's clenching her jaw so tightly to hold back the sobs, the only thing she can do other than smiling is nodding weakly.

Seeing through her best friend, Troian sympathetically says, "Don't hold yourself back, Ash. It must be hard. We're here for you."

With the last strength she has, Ashley manages to swallow the lump in her throat and breathes out, "I... I'll be fine... I'll just go to my room now..." She stands up, but her knees fail to support her, and she falls down effortlessly.

Troian is fast to catch and hold her up. Patrick is quick on his feet, and he picks Ashley up in bridal style. The blonde herself doesn't say anything but clutching Patrick's shirt tightly with her shaky hands.

"Let's take her to her bedroom." Troian says.

Then the three of them take Ashley to the third floor. In the bedroom, Patrick lays the blonde on the bed carefully.

This hollow in her chest is so suffocating, so heavy, and Ashley automatically curls on her side with her knees pulled up onto her chest.

Troian climbs onto the bed immediately to hug Ashley tightly. Emily sits on Ashley's other side and simply rubs the blonde's back gently. Patrick is sitting by the edge of the bed silently. Nobody has anything to say at all. They know that nothing they say can make this better or easier.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Ashley starts laughing. It starts with a damp chuckle, and it becomes louder. The odd thing is, she's laughing but tears are welling up in her eyes. It's bitter and painful to hear and see, but her friends don't say anything.

"Rihanna was right, you know." Ashley says with restraint voice and trembling lips. "I- it's funny. I... I always thought that Beca was the broken one... But right now... at th- this moment... why I feel like I- I'm the one who needed saving?" She lets out another damp chuckle. "Funny right? I- I didn't understand wha- what it meant u- until now... It's like..." Her voice comes out in barely a high pitch whisper. "It's like running in a circle... I can't escape her shadow... bu- but I also can't stop running... And I'm tired, Troian... So, so tired..."

Then tears start running down her face, and the bitter laughter turns into a hard sobbing. While shaking so hard, Ashley cries; screams hysterically to be precise. She thought she had no more tears left after crying for so many nights after breaking up with Beca. Turns out, she was wrong. Her head and her chest feel so heavy. Every fiber of her being is aching now.

Upon seeing how unsettled her best friend is, Troian simply hugs her best friend tightly and presses her lips onto Ashley's forehead. It's so heart wrenching to see Ashley that way, and Emily can't help but shedding some tears too. Patrick can't even bring himself to look at the blonde at all. He's clenching his jaw and hands so tightly with his face so red from holding back tears and anger.

"I'm so sorry, Ash." Troian says with restraint voice and tears running down her face. "I'm so sorry."

Ashley is shaking and sobbing in her best friend's arms, gripping the front of Troian's shirt so tightly and helplessly. She finally understood why Chloe decided to end her life. Hit after hit just keep on coming even though she's already down on her knees. But this hole of sorrow seems endless and bottomless. The misery of losing the love of her life feels inconsolable. This pain is unbearable.

At some point, nobody knows how, the tears subside, and Ashley falls asleep. Her friends aren't even sure if the blonde is asleep of passed out. Then Troian and Emily fall asleep too while hugging Ashley from both sides.

Patrick on the other hand, he can't sleep. He just lie there on the couch with one arm on his forehead, thinking, contemplating if there's a way to save both of her best friends from their own stubbornness. Try as hard as he might, he knows that Beca and Ashley are right. Both of their explanations make sense. There's no way out of this; not with Chloe around the corner.

When the sun comes up, Patrick wakes his fiancé up, and both of them prepare some breakfast. It's already 07.30 in the morning when Troian wakes Ashley and Emily up.

"Urgh..." Ashley grunts while massaging her temple. Her head is so heavy, and her eyes are so swollen that she finds it hard to open them completely. "My head is killing me."

"Here." Troian hands her aspirins and a glass of water.

With one eye slightly open, Ashley takes them and mutter, "Thanks."

Emily sits up with her back leaning on the headboards, Patrick joins them in bed with a tray of food, and Troian puts down the tray in her hands on the bed as she asks, "How are you feeling, Ash?"

Taking her time to compose herself, Ashley nourishes her water. It's painful indeed, and she's not ready to deal with the pain. Therefore, she decides to play it cool. After finishing a glass of water, Ashley says, "Like ten layers under the rock bottom, and the layers are all crap."

Even though they know that the blonde is hurting, they can see that she's trying to seem better. Therefore, her friends chuckles dryly, and then Emily says, "Glad that you still can make a joke."

"It's all I have now." Ashley says while taking a toast. "Making fun of how ironic life is."

"What do you mean life is ironic?" Patrick says before munching his toast.

Ashley swallows her food and says in annoyance, "When love means letting go. Ironic, right?"

Emily and Patrick are taken aback for a second, remembering the similar words coming out from Beca. Then the youngest Bella clears her throat and cautiously says, "Speaking of which... I have something for you, Ash. But I'm not sure if you want them now."

"What is it?" The blonde asks.

After getting a light nod from Troian, the youngest Bella takes out a flash drive from her pocket and holds it up in front of Ashley. "Pop recorded a cover of Love Will Set You Free. She said she did it for closure, and I... I asked her to have it. I didn't tell her that I was going to give it to you. I just thought that it could be your closure too."

"Oh." Ashley responds while taking the flash drive.

With a sympathetic look, the youngest Bella says, "She said that you gave her a note the morning before she went to the hospital, and... she sang it herself as a reminder that... she's not alone; that you two promised each other to be okay; and when she's too tired of everything, this song will remind her that... everything's gonna be okay; that your love, yours and hers, could set her free. Some kind of silver lining kind of stuff."

Doesn't know what to say, Ashley simply nods and puts the flash drive into the drawer under the night stand.

Then Emily continues, "I just thought that... if I were you, I'd like to have the options. You know, to choose whether or not I should listen to it."

"Thanks, Em." Ashley smiles bitterly. "How is she anyway?"

Emily steals a glance at Troian before she cautiously says, "She uh... she seemed fine. She has accepted that... it would be Chloe for the rest of her life."

Ashley remains silent for a little while, letting the pang in her chest sinking deep into her mind, feeling the pain cutting through her heart. As hard as it is, she puts on the best smile she can muster. It's a broken and heartbreaking smile. Nevertheless, she swallows hard and says with shaky voice, "Good for her."

After that, they simply resume breakfast in silent. Troian, Patrick, and Emily don't know what to say at the moment. They can't say it'll be okay, because they don't know if it will. They can't say the pain will pass, because they know that Ashley knows better that it will. Therefore, nobody pushes to say anything but simply holding themselves back from screaming in anger.

Certainly, the three of them hate this situation. Patrick and Troian hate Chloe and Aubrey for sure for making their best friends so miserable. Emily is angry too, but she couldn't say anything because the people who caused this are her sisters. They know that Beca thought she was doing the so called leap of faith. But for them, doing Chloe's demands is a leap of suicide for Beca and Ashley.

However, the ex-couple seemed to be so determined with their decision. As their best friends, Patrick and Troian have told them several times that it could be the wrong thing to do. In the end, they are hand tied. Beca and Ashley made a decision that both of them thought was the right one.

More importantly, they agree with Beca and Ashley in one thing. Beca and Ashley wouldn't be happy either even if Beca had left Chloe and chosen Ashley. Because Chloe is here to stay, and apparently, staying to make sure that Beca won't be happy if it's not with her. So, there's nothing left to say for them to change the decision.

Eventually, Troian asks, "So Ash, do you want to stay in today, or do you want to go to work?"

"I'll go to work." The blonde says with a weak smile. "I can't stay in and just sulking all day. I'll deal with it when I feel ready. Right now, I can't. It's still too painful."

"Okay." Troian says softly.

"You know we're here for you, Ash." Patrick says. "Both you and Beca."

"Always." Emily continues.

"I know." Ashley gives them a sad appreciative smile. "I'm glad to have you, guys. Thank you."

"Don't mention it." Troian says. "Beca asked me to be her bridesmaid. But I'm sure she won't mind if I choose to stay with you on her wedding day."

"No." Ashley shakes her head lightly with a sad smile. "Be with her. She'll need all of you. I think I'll just go to my parents'. I need a getaway anyway."

"Are you sure?" Patrick asks. "I will be with her, and Troian can stay with you."

Ashley feels moved that her best friends are doing their best to be with both of them at the same time. However, she shakes her head and smiles softly as she says, "I appreciate it. But it's a big day for Beca. I'm sure you don't want to miss it. The two of you have been her best friends in almost six years. I'll be fine."

"We'll go to Anaheim right after the wedding is over." Emily says.

"Okay." Ashley nods.

After breakfast, all of them go to work. Ashley tries to distract her mind the whole day. As hard as it is, she pushes through. She has to. By the time they finish filming, Troian offers to stay at her place, but Ashley refuses. She knows she needs some alone time to process everything, and to decide whether or not she'll listen to the song Emily gave her this morning.

When she gets back to the mansion, Ashley takes a long hot bath to calm herself. She's nourishing a glass of hot ginger milk while her mind travels back to the time she and Beca were planning their wedding, wondering how it would have actually felt like to prepare their wedding that was supposed to be held in July.

A sad bitter smile appears on her face. She knows that they would have had tiramisu and cheesecake for desserts; she would have pushed Beca to try on an orange wedding suit just to see the brunette whining; they would have had a quickie in the fitting room because Beca wouldn't be able to keep her hands to herself; she would have worn a combination of white and red dress on their wedding day because Beca thought red looks so perfect on her; and so on.

As the thoughts are flowing into her mind, a single track of tears is running down her face. She pulls her knees onto her chest and hugs them before resting her forehead onto her kneecaps. She's crying again for the hundreds times in the last six months.

Suddenly, her phone rings, and she wipes her tears away. She checks her phone, and it's Shay. After clearing her throat, Ashley picks up and says, "Hey, boo."

" _Hey, Babe. Want to hang out? Tyler, Sasha, and Lucy are going to a club."_

"No. I just want to sleep."

" _Something wrong? Are you sick?"_

"No, no." Ashley smiles weakly. "I'm fine. I'm just... tired."

" _Are you sure? You sound not well."_

"I'm fine, Shay. Don't worry."

" _Do you want me to go there?"_

"Thank you, but... you go have fun." She hears a long sighing from the other end.

" _Okay. See you on Monday. Love you, Babe."_

"See you on Monday." She ends the phone call.

Other than Troian and Patrick, nobody else at work knows about Beca's wedding. She's relieved about that. She just can't stand everybody looking at her with a sad look. It's hard enough without people coming and telling her how sorry they are.

Ashley sighs heavily and gets out of the tub. After changing into a shirt and shortpants, she takes two bottle of wine, a glass, and the flash drive to the balcony. She puts them all on the table, and then she simply sits on the couch.

For a long while, she simply stares at the flash drive while sipping wine. Glass after glass, and eventually, half a bottle has gone. Nevertheless, she just resumes what she's been doing for hours; staring at the flash drive while nourishing the liquor. After finishing one whole bottle of wine, she plugs the flash drive into her phone.

She's confused to find two songs in it. Emily only told her about Love Will Set You Free. The youngest Bella must have put the other one accidentally. Nevertheless, Ashley hits play, and the guitar starts to play. Eventually, Beca's voice comes in.

_Down to Earth_  
_Keep on falling when I know it hurts_  
_Going faster than a million miles an hour_  
_Trying to catch my breath  
_ _some way, somehow_

_Down to Earth  
_ _It's like I'm frozen,  
_ _but the world still turns  
_ _Stuck in motion,  
and the wheels keep spinning 'round  
_ _Moving in reverse_  
with no way out

_And now I'm one step closer to_  
_being two steps far from you_  
_When everybody wants you  
_ _Everybody wants you_

Ashley realizes that Beca must have written this song after finding out about her dating Shay. Try as hard as she might, she can't imagine how painful it must have been for Beca to think that she has moved on. Beca doesn't know that she's still in love. On the other hand, as painful as it is for her in the last six months, Ashley always knew that Beca is still in love with her somehow.

_How many nights_  
does it take to count the stars?  
_That's the time_  
it would take to fix my heart  
_Oh, baby, I was there for you_  
_All I ever wanted was the truth_  
yeah, yeah  
  
_How many nights_  
have you wished someone would stay?  
_Lie awake_  
only hoping they're okay  
_I never counted all of mine_  
_If I tried,_  
I know it would feel like infinity  
_Infinity..._  
_Infinity...  
_ _Infinity..._

How many texts and phone calls she ignored in the name of trying to move on? Countless. Countless times Beca tried reaching out for her, but she didn't respond. Even the bouquet of lilies Beca sent as a thank you gesture ended up in a trash because she was too hurt about the duet. Ashley chokes on her tears upon realizing how she has abandoned the DJ completely.

_Eyes can't shine_  
_Unless there's something burning bright behind_  
_Since you went away,_  
_there's nothing left in mine_  
_I feel myself running out of time_  
  
_And now I'm one step closer to being_  
_two steps far from you_  
_When everybody wants you  
_ _Everybody wants you_

The pain in her chest is unbearable. She opens another bottle of wine, and just chugs it down her throat directly from the bottle to numb the pain.

_How many nights_  
does it take to count the stars?  
_That's the time_  
it would take to fix my heart  
_Oh, baby, I was there for you_  
_All I ever wanted was the truth_  
yeah, yeah  
_How many nights_  
have you wished someone would stay?  
_Lie awake_  
only hoping they're okay  
_I never counted all of mine_  
_If I tried,_  
I know it would feel like infinity  
_Infinity..._  
_Infinity..._  
_Infinity...  
_ _It would feel like infinity..._

She keeps on listening to the song in repeat. It feels like the pain Beca tried to convey in that song could reach her and rip her heart out of her chest. However, she just can't stop. She feels like she deserves this pain for leaving Beca behind.

When the two bottles of wine are already empty, Ashley tries to stand up to get another one. However, she's too drunk, and her feet are unsteady. She falls back down onto the couch, and she groans loudly. Without realizing what she's doing, she pauses the song and dials a number.

* * *

**At Beca's apartment.**

Beca is sleeping next to Chloe in her bed. The DJ's phone rings, and as usual, Beca doesn't wake up. Her fiancé on the other hand, is annoyed with the ringtone.

"Babe..." Chloe mumbles with her eyes closed. "Your phone."

However, the DJ doesn't budge.

"Babe..." The redhead nudges her fiancé gently.

"Engh?" Beca grunts.

"Your phone is waking the whole apartment up." Chloe mumbles in her sleep.

Beca groans loudly and grabs the said item on the nightstand. Without opening her eyes, she picks up and mumbles, "Do you know what fucking time is this?"

" _Becs..."_

Upon hearing Ashley's voice, slurring like she's so wasted and most likely crying, Beca is waken up. With her eyes wide, she sits up and glances at the clock. It's almost three in the morning. Afraid of waking up her fiancé again, Beca gets off the bed quietly and walks out of the bedroom.

" _I'm sorry... I- I'm sorry for... for lea- leaving you alone... Y- you must be angry... And I'm sorry... Bu- but I was there... I swear I was... A- and tonight... Becs... I need you to- to save me tonight..."_

Then complete silent. "Ash?" Beca calls, but she gets nothing in return. She hurriedly ends the phone call and goes back into the bedroom to change. Thankfully, Chloe isn't disturbed at all.

As fast as she can, Beca rushes her way to the parking floor to find her car. She calls Pascal on her way out, and the bodyguard says that Ashley is in the mansion. Beca drives crazily fast to her ex's place. Since it's after midnight, the street is less crowded.

After she arrives, she runs into the house, straight to the third floor, to the main bedroom. When she doesn't find Ashley on the bed, she runs upstairs to the sanctuary, but she doesn't find Ashley there either. She's taken aback to see so many canvases, so many paintings in the room, and most of them are her. However, she doesn't have time to look at them closely.

Feeling more worried, she runs back downstairs to the main bedroom to check the balcony. As soon as she sees Ashley lying on the couch with two empty bottles of wine on the table, she sprints forward and puts her index finger under Ashley's nose. Upon feeling the blonde's warm breath on her skin, she sighs in relief. Still breathing heavily, she sits cross-legged on the floor next to the couch, in front of her ex.

The blonde is curling on her side, sleeping soundly with her lips slightly parted and her hand holding her phone on her neck. With a light smile, Beca sighs and shakes her head, knowing that Ashley must have drunk dialed her.

She spends a while simply staring at Ashley's face. There's still a trace of tears on the blonde's rosy cheeks. Beca finally realizes that finding out about her wedding with Chloe must have been devastating for Ashley.

She knows that touching Ashley isn't a good idea, because she probably won't be able to stop. However, she just can't help herself. Cautiously, she reaches out her right hand closer to Ashley's face. She brushes a strain of hair off Ashley's face and caresses Ashley's cheek with the back of her index finger gently.

In an instant, Beca feels her chest is full, and she lets out a damp chuckle. With her eyes teary, she cautiously rests her palm on the blonde's cheek. When Ashley doesn't even flinch, she sighs in relief. Gently, she caresses Ashley's cheek with her thumb. Out of nowhere, she starts singing softly,

_If you're ever feeling lonely,_  
_If you're ever feeling down_  
_You should know_  
you're not the only one  
_Cause I feel it with you now_  
_When the world is on your shoulders,_  
_and you're falling to your knees_  
_Oh, please...  
_ _You know love will set you free_

Maybe it's from the light rubbing on her cheek, or maybe from hearing the familiar voice, Ashley stirs in her sleep, and her eyes flutter open slightly. A light fond smile creeps across her face, and she closes her eyes again as she mumbles, "Babe... you're home."

It's so simple, but Beca chokes on her tears. She has to bite the bottom of her left thumb so hard to prevent a sob from coming out of her mouth. Since they lived together, Ashley always greeted her with the same sentence. It sure feels like home every time they're together.

Without pulling back her right hand, Beca wipes the tears off her own cheeks with the back of her left hand. After taking in a ragged breath, the DJ replies with shaky voice, "I am."

"Me too." Ashley slurs in her sleep.

"It's gonna be okay, Hon." The DJ says with her face scrunched up from holding back the pang in her chest. "You're gonna be okay."

"I know." Ashley mumbles, still with her eyes closed and a fond smile on her face.

That simple answer brings Beca relief. Somehow, she just knows that Ashley will be able to mend.

After that, nobody says anything anymore. From the steady heaving chest, the DJ can tell that Ashley has fallen back asleep. She simply chuckles lightly and sighs contentedly as she pulls back her hand. With her arms, she locks her knees on her chest, and simply stares at Ashley's sleeping face.

The dawn is already breaking when the DJ decides that she has to go back to Chloe. She fixes her eyes on Ashley's face for another minute, and then she gets up. When she's stretching her back, her eyes catch the liquor on the table. Judging from the two empty bottles of wine, the DJ is sure that Ashley won't remember anything about this meeting.

Therefore, she takes Ashley's phone and deletes the last outgoing call, knowing that it'll better that Ashley doesn't know about her being here. After putting down the phone back near the blonde's face on the couch, she looks at Ashley once again with a light smile on her face. She's fighting the urge to kiss the blonde's forehead. As impossible as it feels like, Beca manages to hold herself back. Then she huffs out a long steady breath and walks back into the house.

Before going out, she goes to see her kids in their room. The puppies are wiggling their tails upon seeing their owner. Beca squats down and pats their heads gently. "Take care of mommy, okay?" After letting the puppies lick her hand and face, she gets up and heads out. She doesn't feel heavy for leaving, but still, there's a light tug in her chest as she walks out of the house.

She stops by the security post to tell the bodyguard in charged to not telling Ashley that she came by. Then she drives back to her apartment. On the way, she calls Pascal again to make sure Ashley doesn't find out about her midnight visit.

After that, she remembers the part where Ashley mentioned being there for her. Since she can't get the actual answer, Beca simply brushes it off, thinking that Ashley must have meant it not in a literal way. They shared the same pain, ergo; Ashley was at the same place with her. That's her conclusion.

* * *

The next morning, Ashley wakes up with a light smile on her face. Suddenly, an image of Beca sitting in front of her comes across her mind. She vaguely remembers having their usual conversation every time the DJ came home to her. The last thing she blurry remembers was dialing Beca's number.

"No, no, no, no, no!" Feeling panic, she sits up abruptly. "Aw!" She massages her forehead.

Her head is banging from the hangover. Nevertheless, she grabs her phone and checks her call history. As much as she misses Beca, drunk calling her ex is not going to end well for both of them. She can't drag the DJ back, especially now that Beca is getting married soon. Therefore, she feels so relieved upon finding out that there's no record of her calling Beca. "Thank God." She sighs in relief. "It must be a dream."

Then she lies back on the couch, squinting her eyes from the bright light of the sun above her head. Since it's too bright, she closes her eyes and thinks back to her dream.

Now that she's replaying the whole scene, she remembers saying the same thing to Beca on when the night terror happened. She knows how deceitful the brain can be. It can create any moment to help human to cope in devastating time.

Although it's only a dream, she can still feel the warmth on her cheek from Beca's touch. With her hand rubbing her cheek, she chuckles bitterly and mutters, "There's no way Beca still calls you Hon. What a dream."

Somehow, it makes her feel slightly better. She realizes that there's a part of her, the unconscious mind in her, trying to tell herself that she's going to be okay. It gives her strength to play the other song in her phone; the one Emily said could be her closure. After the intro of solo guitar, Beca's alto voice comes in.

_I'm sure you're probably busy_  
getting on with your new life  
_So far away from  
_ _So far away from_

_When everything we used to say_  
was wrong is now alright  
_Where has the time gone  
_ _Where has the time gone_

With her eyes closed and one arm on her forehead, Ashley simply let the words sink into her mind. _"Your time with Beca has gone, and there's nothing to regret. You had an amazing run anyway."_

_If you're ever feeling lonely_  
If you're ever feeling down  
You should know   
you're not the only one  
'cause I feel it with you now  
When the world is on your shoulders  
and you're falling to your knees  
Oh please...  
You know love will set you free

At this point, tears start rolling down her temple into her ears. However, she doesn't wipe it away.

_I took a long and lonely walk_  
up to an empty house  
_That's where I've come from_  
_Where have you come from_  
_The more I live,_  
the more I know,  
I've got to live without  
_This ain't no sad song  
_ _Life has to go on_

She smiles bitterly, and thinks to herself, _"Life has to go on, Ash. It's hard to live without her, but it's not impossible. Remember, it's just another lesson to learn."_

_If you're ever feeling lonely  
_ _If you're ever feeling down  
_ _You should know  
you're not the only one  
_' _cause I feel it with you now  
_ _When the world is on your shoulders  
_ _and you're falling to your knees  
_ _Oh please...  
_ _You know love will set you free  
_ _Love will set you free_

When the song ends, Ashley says to herself with shaky voice, "It's gonna be okay, Ash. You're gonna be okay. You'll find another K to your okay. It's time to put the old key into a box. There's no more doors to open with that key."

She lets the song play in repeat for one more time before turning it off and gets up. Upon feeling how the ground is spinning around, she grunts and mutters, "And apparently, no more getting drunk over your ex, Ashley never gonna be Mitchell."

* * *

**May 8** **th** **2026: One Day Before The Wedding.**

Beca and Chloe have moved into their new house for a week now, but Beca is still trying to get used to the new environment. The backyard has been set for their wedding tomorrow. The chairs, the buffet, the white carpet for Chloe walking down the aisle, and the arch made from flowers fence for the altar. Everything else but the flowers is in white.

Right now, Beca is waiting for Chloe to come home at the balcony with a guitar in her hands. After weeks of postponing, she finally surrenders and decides to tell Chloe the whole truth today. She has planned the whole thing out. She'll start with a song, and then she'll tell Chloe everything, crossing her fingers that it won't change anything about their wedding tomorrow.

"Babe! I'm home!" Chloe yells from inside.

"Out here!" Beca yells back. She shakes her hands and huffs out one hell of nervous breath out of her mouth.

"Hey!" Chloe greets cheerfully before leaning downward to kiss her fiancé's lips chastely.

"Hey." Beca smiles. "How was school?"

"School was great." The redhead says as she sits next to the DJ.

Gently, Beca takes Chloe's hands into hers and softly says, "Chlo, I need to tell you something. But I'll start with a song, and I hope you get the message I'm trying to say."

With her eyebrows furrowed, Chloe says, "Okay... But I also have some news to tell you."

"Can I go first?" Beca asks with an awkward grimace. She can't wait any longer, because she's afraid that she will lose her courage in any second.

"Hmmm..." Chloe purses her lips. "Okay. Go on."

"Thanks." Beca says before taking a deep breath and let go of Chloe's hands. She strums her guitar, and starts singing,

_You never know  
_ _when you're gonna meet someone  
_ _And your whole wide world in a moment_  
comes undone

_You're just walking around and suddenly_  
_Everything that you thought that you knew about love is gone_  
_You find out it's all been wrong_  
_And all my scars_  
_don't seem to matter anymore  
_ _Cause they led me here to you_

Beca is referring that part to the day she met Ashley, all the things she has learnt from loving the blonde, that eventually led her to the decision to stay with Chloe. She's smiling lightly while singing.

On the other hand, Chloe is thinking that the DJ is referring to the day they met at the activities fair. The redhead is also smiling ever so brightly, feeling ever so happy.

_I know that it's gonna take some time_  
_I've got to admit that the thought has crossed my mind_  
_This might end up like it should_  
_And I'm gonna say what I need to say_  
_And hope to god that it don't scare you away_  
_Don't wanna be misunderstood_  
_But I'm starting to believe that...  
_ _this could be the start of something good_

Chloe is intrigued with the chorus. In one hand, she's curious about the things Beca is about to tell her. But she's also flattered that Beca has admitted how this wedding can be a start of something good. She herself has news that will make the beginning of their marriage not only good, but amazing.

_Everyone knows_  
_life has its ups and downs_  
_One day you're on top of the world_  
_and one day you're the clown_  
_Well I've been both enough to know_  
_That you don't wanna get in the way when it's working out  
_ _The way that it is right now_

_You see my heart_  
_I wear it on my sleeve_  
_Cause I just can't hide it anymore_   


_I know that it's gonna take some time_  
_I've got to admit that the thought has crossed my mind  
_ _This might end up like it should_

_And I'm gonna say what I need to say  
_ _And hope to god that it don't scare you away  
_ _Don't wanna be misunderstood  
_ _But I'm starting to believe that_  
this could be the start

_Cause I don't know_  
_where it's going_  
_There's a part of me that loves not knowing  
_ _Just don't let it end before we begin_

With a smile so bright, Chloe takes out something from her purse. She puts it on her laps, and she's tapping her fingers impatiently.

Beca can see that it's a shirt, a folded light blue t-shirt on her fiancé's laps. Although she's curious, she just keeps on singing.

_You never know  
_ _when you're gonna meet someone  
_ _And your whole wide world in a moment_  
comes undone

_I know that its gonna take some time_  
_I've got to admit that the thought has crossed my mind  
_ _This might end up like it should_

_And I'm gonna say what I need to say_  
_And hope to god that it don't scare you away_  
_Don't wanna be misunderstood_  
_But I'm starting to believe_  
_Oh I'm starting to believe that...  
_ _this could be the start of something good_

After the song ends, Beca turns around on her seat to put her guitar away. When she turns to look back at the redhead, Chloe is holding the shirt in her hands. On the back of the shirt, Beca can read it; _The Most Adorably Badass Mama in the Universe._

Beca's eyes go wide, and she becomes speechless. All she can do is looking back and forth between the shirt and her fiancé with her mouth wide open.

"I just can't wait anymore." Chloe says with happy tears in her beaming blue eyes. "The IUI; it worked, Babe. We're pregnant."

"We are?" The DJ asks cautiously yet a smile is starting to creep on her face.

"We are." Chloe grins from ear to ear.

"Are you sure?" Beca asks with her eyes teary and a huge grin on her face.

Still with that beaming grin on her face, Chloe nods and says, "I've been late for a week, and I've been doing pregnancy tests in the last three days, five times a day. You know, just to be sure. It was all positive. I had to wait for this shirt so I could tell you."

"We're gonna be moms?" Beca asks in disbelief. She's feeling a warm sensation in her chest that she has never felt before. It travels from her stomach, to the tips of her fingers, and down to her toes.

"We are." Chloe nods excitedly.

"We're gonna be moms!" Beca roars loudly while throwing her fists up triumphantly. "Woo hoo!"

Upon seeing how happy her fiancé is, the redhead laughs lightly. It's been so long since she saw Beca this happy. The last time would be on the brunette's fifth anniversary with Ashley at the club. She remembers it closely; how bright Beca was beaming that night, rushing her way to Ashley after singing the song.

Beca grabs Chloe's face and kisses her lips repeatedly while saying in between kisses, "I love you. I love you. I love you!"

Chloe chuckles and replies, "I love you too, Babe."

Then the DJ scoots closer and rubs Chloe's stomach gently. She just can't help but grinning from ear to ear when she's staring at Chloe's stomach. "There's a baby in your tummy, Chlo." She says in wonder. "Our baby."

Chloe puts a hand on top of Beca's and softly replies, "There is. Like you said in the song. This will be the start of something good. Amazing even."

With her eyes teary, the DJ leans closer to kiss her fiancé on the lips. It starts gentle, but she can feel it. Something is crawling in her stomach. It's the kind of desire she has never felt before. She wants to make love to the woman who soon will be her wife and the mother of her child.

However, she's also worried. They haven't had sex at all after the tattoo incident. She knows that Chloe has been holding herself back, and she herself doesn't want to push. Therefore, she's surprised when Chloe deepens the kiss.

When the redhead is starting to unbutton her shirt, Beca grabs her hand and breaks the kiss. "Chlo..." She says through labored breaths. "I want this so badly... But the tattoo... it's still there..."

"I don't care..." Chloe breathes out with husky voice. "We're getting married tomorrow, and we're gonna be parents... I don't care about that stupid tattoo anymore. You were right. It's just ink from your past... I just want you to make love to me, Baby..."

Beca smiles in relief but worriedly asks, "But... you're pregnant. Do you think we can...?"

"We can." The redhead nods. "Just do it gently."

"I'm nothing but gentle." The DJ smirks. "I think we should move this to the bedroom."

With her bottom lip in between her teeth, Chloe simply nods and pulls her fiancé to their bedroom.

* * *

_**Smut.** _

As soon as they reach the bedroom, Beca kisses Chloe hungrily while kicking the door shut. On the other hand, Chloe is already pushing the shirt out of the DJ's shoulders.

Without breaking the kiss, Beca's hands travels to Chloe's back to unzip the skirt, and it falls down onto the floor effortlessly.

They are undressing each other vastly. It's hard to see whose hands are on whom. The sexual tension has been building up for almost two months, and none of them feels like going slow.

Suddenly, both of them are already naked. Chloe is scooting back on the bed with Beca crawling on top of her, kissing her hungrily.

Instead of lying herself on top the redhead, the DJ lies on her side, supporting her body weight with an elbow while her other hand is caressing Chloe's stomach gently. Slowly, she slides her hand up to brush the crook under Chloe's breast with her thumb.

" _Oh..."_ Chloe moans onto the brunette's lips.

Beca breaks the kiss, smirking as she whispers, "Someone's been missing my touch."

" _You have no fucking i- Oh..."_ The redhead is cut off as her fiancé pinches her nipple gently.

Then the brunette trails her lips down to suck Chloe's pulse point, making the redhead moaning even louder, grasping her own red locks tightly.

When Beca scoots down further, Chloe's perky breasts are already hardened. Gently, the brunette nibbles the nipple in between her damp warm lips.

Feeling like she's going to explode, Chloe breathes out, _"I... I change my mind... Forget gentle... Fuck me hard, Babe..."_

Beca growls, feeling the heat is pooling underneath, and she bites the redhead's nipple a bit harshly. Her left hand is already travelling down to Chloe's core, and she presses her thumb onto the clit hard.

Chloe moans loudly, feeling light headed. Her core is throbbing, and the tension in her legs is so unbearable that she needs to clench her toes.

While pressing her thumb in circle on Chloe's clit, Beca kisses the redhead's stomach gently all over.

The redhead is gripping the sheet beside her head tightly, arching her back up, asking for more. As the brunette slips a thumb into her core, Chloe's eyes roll back. _"Fuck, Babe..."_ She's shuddering, biting her bottom lip so hard from the unbearable desire.

Then the brunette slides down, positioning her head in between Chloe's thighs. Gently, she lifts one of Chloe's leg up and puts it over her shoulder. She licks the redhead's core hard, wiping off the sweet nectar on it.

" _Oh, fuck me..."_ Chloe moans loudly.

Beca hugs Chloe's lifted up leg with her left arm, and lets her left thumb pressing on the redhead's clit from above. Her right hand is kneading Chloe's breast roughly. It's unusual for the brunette to do it that way, but somehow Chloe's lusty moaning just drives her crazy. No teasing with the tip of her tongue, no light and gentle touch with her lips and hands. She sucks Chloe's core hard as if she's going to eat it.

" _Don't stop, Babe!"_ The redhead moans, thrashing, shaking her head from side to side. _"God, I'm coming hard!"_

While her thumb is pushing Chloe's clit, Beca sinks her mouth onto the redhead's core hard, swiping her tongue in and out, scraping her teeth on Chloe's sensitive skin slightly on the way in.

Instead of feeling hurt, Chloe grasps her own hair so hard, arching her back up so high, feeling like she's going to explode in any second. Her lips are chanting, _"Oh... Oh.. Oh. Oh!"_

A second after the sweet nectar squirts out of Chloe's core into Beca's mouth, the redhead falls down onto the bed breathlessly.

Gently, the brunette pulls herself up and pours the liquid out of her mouth onto Chloe's thigh. After taking the redhead's leg off her shoulder, the DJ scoots up and lies on her side next to her fiancé. She holds her head up on her elbow. With a light smile, she brushes the damp red hair off Chloe's sweaty face, and then rests her hand lazily on Chloe's stomach.

Chloe is still trying to catch her breath, and her chest is heaving heavily. It's not unusual to see the redhead that way after having sex. Yet the look on her face is somehow different. Her face is beaming differently, and her radiant red hair is shining so brightly.

"Is this what people say that a pregnant woman is glowing?" The DJ retorts softly.

Since she's still out of breath, the only thing the redhead can do is smiling. She's still feeling high from the orgasm, and Beca's hand caressing her stomach just build up another wave of desire in her chest. She swallows hard and takes a huge breath in through her mouth before flipping their positions.

"Whoops!" Beca is surprised when Chloe flips their positions so suddenly.

With a devilish smirk, the redhead sits on her fiancé's crotch. She slips one of her leg under the brunette's left leg and aligns their clits. Then she starts grinding.

Beca's eyes roll back, and her hands automatically slither up Chloe's abdomen to knead those perky breasts.

With her back arched forward, Chloe throws her head back and grinds even harder. She's pushing her right hand onto the bed to support her body weigh while her other hand is groping Beca's breast.

With a heavy grunt, the DJ pushes herself up, supporting her body weigh with her right elbow. She reaches her left hand to the back of Chloe's head and pulls the redhead downward to crash their lips together.

Chloe leans forward to kiss her fiancé back fiercely while keeps grinding her hips.

Beca grasps the red hair, and pulls Chloe's head slightly backward to nip her neck harshly.

" _Oh, baby..."_ The redhead moans loudly with her eyes closed. She's trying to keep her rhythm steady, but she's nearly coming again.

As the wave hits her in the higher spot, Beca throws her head back and drops back onto the bed. She's breathing heavily, trying to gasp a sip of air into her lungs. She can feel how blood is rushing to the tip of her fingers, pumped by her hard thumping heart. She hasn't even caught her breath yet when she feels Chloe's warm breath on her wet core.

"I've been waiting for this moment." The redhead says with devilish voice before she sinks her mouth onto Beca's core hard.

" _Shit!"_ Beca grasps her head tightly with her chin lifted up. She pulls her knees up and spreads her legs wide to give her fiancé more access to explore her core. With Chloe's thumb on her clit, and Chloe's tongue in her core, Beca comes again for the second time.

Then Chloe lays herself next to the brunette, and breathes out, "You... have no idea... how long I've been waiting to do that to you..."

Still breathing heavily, the DJ simply chuckles lightly. She takes a few deep breaths to calm her nerves while Chloe is staring and grinning at her.

There's no doubt of how happy Chloe is for making love to her fiancé for the first time ever.

After her breaths are even, Beca turns on her side and says, "Turn around."

Without asking anything, Chloe turns her back on the brunette.

Beca holds herself up with her right arm while saying, "Knee up, Beale."

Chloe pulls one knee up, and Beca instantly thrusts two fingers into the redhead's wet core from upfront.

" _Agh!"_ Chloe moans loudly, and she automatically pushes her butt back to rub Beca's core.

As the brunette twirling her fingers inside out, Chloe moans, _"Oh, babe... oh, babe... oh, baby..."_ Then she twists her upper body in a way that she can reach the back of Beca's head with one hand, and pulls the brunette in for a messy wet kiss.

Beca just keeps on thrusting, twirling, and curling her fingers inside Chloe. A loud growl comes out of her throat as Chloe's teeth scrape the soft skin of her bottom lip, but she doesn't stop her fingers, neither her lips.

Chloe breaks the kiss and breathes out, _"Fuck me harder..."_

Without pulling her fingers out, the brunette pulls herself backward slightly so Chloe can lie on her back. She slips her right arm under Chloe's neck and starts sucking the redhead's nipple. She even dares herself to slip another finger into Chloe's core harshly.

" _Oh, fuck!"_ Chloe moans loudly with her chin lifted up. Her head is spinning around, and her hands are grasping her own hair so tightly.

The sound of Beca's labored breaths is competing with Chloe's loud moaning. The DJ thrusts her fingers harder and faster into the redhead's core, letting the knuckle on her thumb hitting Chloe's clit in the way.

The harder Beca thrusts, the harder Chloe moans, _"Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!"_

When she nearly comes, Chloe grabs Beca's face and crashes her lips onto the brunette's hard. Just as she squirts, her toes spread out widely, and Chloe whimpers heavily, _"Ngh..."_ Then her arched back drops onto the bed effortlessly. She's panting hard, sweating all over her body.

Beca rolls to lie on her back, also breathing heavily.

"That was..." Chloe breathes out. "That was the most..." She gasps in a ragged breath. "I can't even..."

Still trying to even her breath, the DJ simply chuckles with her eyes closed.

_**End of smut.** _

* * *

After her breaths even out, Beca kisses Chloe's temple and scoots downward. Gently, she kisses the redhead's stomach several times and rubs it as she says, "Hope you're okay in there, little one."

Chloe chuckles and says, "She doesn't even have ears yet, Babe."

"She?" Beca asks comically while moving up to lie beside her fiancé. "How do you know?"

Chloe turns to lie on her side. Now they're facing each other in pillow talk position. Beca brushes a strain of hair off her fiancé's face, and the redhead automatically scoots closer to hug her.

With her eyes staring fondly into her fiancé's, Chloe says, "I don't know for sure yet. But I have a feeling she's gonna be a she. What are we gonna call her anyway? They? It?"

"Hmmm..." The DJ purses her lips while caressing her fiancé's stomach absentmindedly. "How about peanut? This little one must be just as big as a peanut by now."

Upon seeing how serious Beca is in choosing a pet name for their baby, Chloe giggles and kisses the brunette chastely on the lips. "Peanut sounds cute."

"No, not cute." The DJ mocks a terrified look. "So many people are allergic to it. Peanut is dangerous. It's a badass _nut_ nut."

Chloe laughs lightly and says, "I hope our baby is as adorable as you are."

"Not adorable." Beca says with a childlike stubborn look. "Badass."

It's as adorable as it can be, and Chloe can't help herself but laughing even louder.

On the other hand, Beca is studying her fiancé's face closely. Something is definitely different with the redhead. She's always been beaming brightly, but Beca can feel something more.

However, the DJ doesn't say anything but smiling lightly. She rolls on her back and brings Chloe with her in her arm.

Chloe lies on her stomach half on top of her fiancé, and suddenly, she remembers that Beca was going to tell her something. "Babe, you said there's something you needed to tell me."

Upon remembering that she should tell the redhead the truth, Beca is taken aback. Now that Chloe is pregnant, she's afraid that it will upset her fiancé for finding out the truth. The possibility of Chloe changing her mind about the wedding, or the news affecting the pregnancy scares her.

Therefore, the brunette takes a deep breath and smiles. "It doesn't matter anymore, Chlo. We're getting married, and we're having a baby. Nothing else matters more than that."

Automatically, the redhead rests her temple on Beca's chest. She's feeling so contented, so light, and so happy. She rubs Beca's chest gently and softly says, "I can't wait to be your wife, Becs. Tomorrow seems to be so far away."

Beca chuckles lightly and pulls herself away to talk to Chloe's stomach again. "You hear that, little peanut? Mommy can't wait to marry your badass Mama." She's talking with a goofy grin on her face. "We're so happy to have the wedding with you, little one. Be strong in there, okay? And please don't give mommy morning sickness tomorrow." Then she presses her lips onto Chloe's stomach before lying next to her fiancé again.

Chloe snuggles up onto the brunette's chest and says, "You'll be the best mom in the world."

"No." The DJ mumbles with her lips on Chloe's crown. "You will."

With a contented smile, Chloe sighs and hugs Beca even tighter. "I love you, Babe. So much."

"I love you too."

Then they just lie on the bed silently. Beca is twiddling Chloe's hair with her fingers, while Chloe is rubbing the brunette's chest gently, trailing her index finger on Beca's surgery scar.

Eventually, the DJ asks, "Have you gone to the clinic again? You know, to have an ultrasound?"

"Not yet." Chloe replies as she pulls herself up to look at her fiancé fondly. "I want to do it with you. I want us to see our baby for the first time together."

With a smile so bright, Beca leans forward to kiss Chloe's lips gently. Then Chloe lies back onto her fiancé's chest. "Aubrey is gonna be so happy. She's gonna be a godmother."

"No fucking way."

"Babe, be nice." Chloe warns softly.

Beca rolls her eyes and firmly says, "There's no way in hell and heaven peanut will ever be Aubrey Posen's godchild. So, no, fucking, way."

While rubbing the brunette's chest gently, Chloe softly explains, "We had a pact that her first child would be my godchild, and mine would be hers."

"It's _your_ pact with her." Beca states matter-of-factly. "Not mine."

Still lying half on top of the brunette, Chloe pulls herself up to look at her fiancé again and asks, "Who then? Donna? You know she hates me, Babe."

"Since we don't have a close male friend in the Bella's circle, Harvey will certainly be peanut's godfather. But for the godmother, hmmm..." Beca purses her lips, thinking about who'd be the best candidate godmother for her peanut. She has a lot of candidates. Well, three people are more than enough for her to claim _a lot._ However, she's not sure yet. Therefore, she says, "Let's think about it some other time. But I can assure you. It will never be Aubrey."

"But Babe..." Chloe pouts. "Aubrey will be upset. I know you don't get along with her. But she's my best friend, and I am Bella's godmother. It's only fair that she becomes our kid's godmother."

"Over my dead body." Beca says firmly. Upon seeing the redhead intensifies the pouts on her face, the DJ says, "I believe you have a bachelorette party to attend, and my friends are waiting for me at Harvey's place for a tea party."

With pleading eyes, Chloe asks, "Can we just stay together tonight? I don't want to be away from you after we made love, and I don't think I can survive this night without you."

"Say that to your best friend." The DJ smirks.

Chloe simply huffs and rolls her eyes.

Beca chuckles lightly and says, "I'd love to stay in our bed with you. But I want to be at our wedding in one piece. Which would be impossible to do if I don't let you go to your bachelorette party. Aubrey will tear me apart limb by limb. Especially if I make you late by having sex with you."

Knowing how punctual her best friend can be, Chloe pouts. "Fine."

"But let's not tell them about the pregnancy yet." The DJ says while pulling herself away from her fiancé. "I don't want any fuss before our wedding. You know how our sisters can be."

"Okay." Chloe gets off the bed too.

After a lot of kisses and vigorous pouting from the redhead, they go their separate ways to have their own bachelorette parties. Beca heads to Harvey's place to meet Harvey, Donna, Patrick, Troian, Emily, and Andre.

On the other hand, Chloe will be having her bachelorette party with the rest of the Bellas at the DJ's karaoke bar where she met Beca again around nine months ago.

They won't be sleeping together tonight. While Beca is staying in their house, Chloe will be staying at Aubrey's place. It's more to Aubrey's demand. Some stupid tradition in Beca's opinion, but it's not worth fighting her former captain for some stupid things.

* * *

**May 9** **th** **2026: The Morning on the Wedding Day.**

Emily, Donna, Harvey, and Stephan come to Beca's place at nine in the morning. Certainly, the tiny brunette hasn't even woken up yet, because she came back from Harvey's place around two in the morning. She's sleeping on her stomach while hugging her pillow tightly, covered under a Bali sarong.

"Monkey! Wake up!" Donna shouts from the other side of the master bedroom.

Beca remains asleep. She doesn't even notice that Donna has opened up the door.

Stephan rushes in and jumps up to sit on the DJ's back. "Wake up, Bec! Wake up!"

Beca groans loudly and grunts, "Steve... You're killing me. Get up, you little monster."

The little boy giggles but doesn't get off of his godmother's back.

"It's your wedding day, Monkey. Lighten up!" Donna scolds playfully with her hands on her hips.

After groaning even louder, Beca scolds back, "Don't tell me to lighten up. I'll lighten up when... I'm light. And awake."

"Steve, get off your godmother's back." Donna tells her son softly, and Stephan complies.

Emily skips into the room and pulls the blanket away, knowing that Beca couldn't sleep without one no matter how hot the weather is.

"Why..." Beca whines. "Why... why did I invite all of you to my wedding? Which, by the way, will be held at six in the evening. It's only nine. Let me sleep some more."

"Pop, come on. You need to eat and get ready. Have you prepared your vow yet?" Emily pushes her former captain to lie on her back.

"Shit!" Beca jolts up abruptly.

"Language!" Stephan, Donna, and Emily exclaim in unison.

"I totally forgot." Beca says in panic. "Do I have to say one? Isn't saying I do enough already?"

"Breathe, Pop." Emily calmly says. "Just write it now. It'll be okay."

"Right." Beca mutters as she gets up from the bed.

After taking a shower, the DJ joins her friends in the kitchen to have breakfast. Then she starts writing her vow. She's sitting in the living room, staring at her phone with her eyebrows furrowed, trying to type something lovely for her soon to be wife. However, just like she couldn't find the inspirations for a song, Beca also can't find the right words to say for her vow.

"Tsk." Beca scratches the back of her head.

Upon seeing the frustrated look, Harvey asks, "What is it, monkey?"

Beca looks up at him and says, "I'm trying to write my vow, but I don't know what to say."

"Say that you're doing a stupid thing, and being stupid for marrying a stupid desperate woman." Harvey says nonchalantly while doing something with his iPad.

"Harvey..." Beca says tiredly.

"It's the truth." The blonde man says.

"Just help me with this." The DJ says in frustration. "You've been married. You know what to say."

Harvey sighs in annoyance and says, "Just say that you've been in love with her since forever. Say you've been waiting for this moment your whole life, that she is your one true love, that this is the best fucking decision you've ever made in your entire life."

"That's..." Beca says with an awkward grimace. "Not entirely true?" I mean, well, I... well..." Feeling more frustrated, she runs her fingers through her hair and scolds, "Come on!"

"What? Women dig that." Harvey points out. "Trust me. Besides, what she doesn't know won't hurt her. Just a couple of exaggerated lines, she'll take it as it is, and you'll get laid tonight."

Beca rolls her eyes in half-annoyance and bites, "Thanks. Very helpful."

Emily and Donna walk in with a tray of tea.

"Just tell her how you feel about her." The youngest Bella says while handing a cup of tea to her former captain. "That she's your best friend, that she's the first person who could break down your wall, that marrying her can be the start of something good. Just like you told us two months ago."

"Huh." Beca nods absentmindedly. "I guess I can do that." She grins. "Thanks, Em."

"No problemo." Emily replies before sipping her tea. "And use this." She hands her former captain a piece of paper. "You're gonna need to read it in an old fashion way. Not with your phone. Chloe is all about vintage today."

Beca simply rolls her eyes and takes the paper. After that, Beca just writes down several lines, scratching and revising her words.

"Where's our son, Donna?" Harvey asks before sipping his tea.

"Next door, playing with the Bellas' kids." Donna answers. "Bella and the twins dragged him there earlier."

"Huh." Harvey presses his lips ands absentmindedly, showing impressed look. "My boy is going places."

All of them chuckle lightly.

* * *

Around 01.00 PM, John and Eliza come to the house and walk into the living room.

"Mr. and Mrs. B!" Beca exclaims while putting the paper away. "It's great to see you. Come in. Have a seat. Can I get you anything?"

"I want to talk to you." John says firmly while sweeping the room with his eyes. " _Privately_."

"John!" Eliza scolds her husband. It's understandable, because John seems upset, and it's not polite that he didn't even introduce himself to the other people in the room.

Harvey, Donna, and Emily look at the DJ all at the same time. Even though Beca is confused because John seems upset, she tries to introduce her friends first. "Uh... Mr. and Mrs. B, these are my friends." She gestures her hand to Harvey and Donna. "They are practically my brother and sister." She points at Emily. "And I guess you know Emily. She's a Bella." Then she gestures her hand to Chloe's parents. "Harvey, Donna, they are Mr. and Mrs. Beale. Chloe's parents."

Harvey and Donna stand up to greet Chloe's parents. However, Eliza is the only one who greets them warmly.

"Harvey Specter." Harvey offers a handshake, but Eliza hugs him instead.

"Eliza. It's good to see Beca's family." Eliza says. "Thank you for taking care of Beca all this time."

"No need to thank us." Harvey says politely while breaking the hug gently. "She's our family."

"Of course." Eliza smiles and turns to hug Donna. "And very nice to see you. You must be Donna."

"I am. It's good to see you too." Donna says while patting the older woman on the back gently.

After they break the hug, Emily comes to hug Chloe's mother and says, "Hi, Mrs. B. Great to see you again."

Eliza breaks the hug and grabs the youngest Bella's face. She smiles warmly and says, "Oh, it's so good to see the aca-child. It's been so long. How are you doing, sweetie?"

"I'm good." Emily smiles.

Meanwhile, John is still staring at Beca angrily. Therefore, the DJ looks at her friends and says, "Give us a moment, please."

Harvey looks at the DJ in way that says  _Are you sure?_

Beca simply nods lightly.

Without saying anything, Harvey, Donna, and Emily walk out of the living room. Then Chloe's parents sit on the couch in front of the brunette.

"So..." Beca starts awkwardly. "Is there something wrong?"

John is looking at the DJ angrily, and he retorts, "What made you think that you could marry my only daughter without asking my permission? And getting married in such a rush?"

"Huh?" Beca is taken aback.

"I'm so sorry, sweetie." Eliza says apologetically. "John is just upset. Giving her daughter away is hard for him. Especially since this wedding seems to happen so suddenly."

Still at lost, Beca says with her eyebrows furrowed, "It's okay. But uh... I didn't know that I should have asked your permission. Your daughter was the one who proposed. I mean, you knew that she proposed to me on her birthday, right?"

This time, it's Chloe's parents' turn to be taken aback.

"You didn't know?" The DJ is surprised. Upon seeing the look on her soon to be in laws, Beca repeats as a statement, "You didn't know."

"But she just told us a week ago." Eliza says with puzzled look. "She said you proposed two months ago, and you wanted to have the wedding as soon as possible. So, we're a bit confused."

"Eerrr..." Beca is also confused, but she tries to explain anyway. "I won't say that what I did was a marriage proposal? I mean, I..." She scratches the back of her ear. "I simply asked her if she's sure about the things that she wanted to do. And... I said I'd do it for her. And those things would be getting married, moving in together, and starting a family as soon as possible."

"Are you saying that my daughter lied to me?" John asks with dangerous tone.

"No, God no." Beca hurriedly negates. "I didn't say that. I just... I thought you knew that she proposed. So, I didn't think that I needed to ask your permission. Because... she proposed to me first." Upon seeing that the older couple are most likely confused, Beca takes a deep breath and calmly says, "I'm sorry. You are right to feel angry. It's not appropriate to marry someone's daughter without asking their permission. Especially since Chloe is your only daughter. If you're okay with it, I'd like to do it now. Well, if it's not too late for me to make it up to you."

With his arms crossed on his chest and his chin lifted up, John says, "Go ahead."

Beca gives him an appreciative smile and says, "Mr. and Mrs. Beale. You have a wonderful daughter. She's passionate, she's loving, she's caring... she's the first person who could lighten up my life. For some reasons that I don't actually know, she chose to love me and to spend the rest of her life with me. And I love her too. So... if it's okay with you, I'd like to ask your daughter's hand in marriage. And if you let me marry her, I promise; I will take care of her, the best that I can."

John loosens the crossed arms and huffs harshly before he says, "Okay then. I give you my permission. You may marry my daughter. But don't you ever hurt her."

Beca smiles and nods. "I'll do my best."

"Wait a second." Eliza says. She's still confused about the situation. Therefore, she looks at the DJ and asks, "You said that Chloe asked you to do all of this? Marrying her, starting a family, and living together as soon as possible? Is that something that you wanted to do, or you're just doing it for her?"

"Both." Beca says without any hesitation. "She asked me, and I thought... if it could make her happy, why not? So, I wanted to do it. To make her happy." Upon seeing that her soon to be mother in law isn't convinced, the DJ smiles and says, "I love your daughter, Mrs. B. I'm doing this because I wanted to. And it could make her happy. So... don't worry."

Feeling that the petite brunette is being sincere, Eliza's eyes become teary. "I'm so happy that both of you are finally getting married. Told you; time will tell the rest."

"You better take a good care of her, Mitchell." John warns with restraint voice.

With a light smile, Beca says, "I promise, Mr. B."

"Call me John." Johns says. "You're my daughter in law now. You can call me John."

Beca chuckles, "I promise, John."

"Come here, sweetie." Eliza says with tears in her eyes, and she goes to hug the DJ tightly. "I put my trust in you; that you can take care and keep my baby safe."

"I will do my best." Beca pats the older redhead gently on the back.

Then John hugs them both and kisses the top of Beca's head before he says, "I believe in you, Mitchell."

Beca breaks the hug and says, "Thank you, Mr-" Upon seeing John raising an eyebrow, the DJ corrects, "Thank you, John."

"Alright." Eliza wipes the tears in her eyes. "Let's go see our daughter, John."

"You haven't seen Chloe yet?" Beca asks in confusion.

John says, "No. We just landed, and we came here first."

"Oh." Beca nods absentmindedly.

"Just one more thing." John holds his wife back, and then looks at the DJ. "I believe my daughter had a very good reason for not telling us the whole truth. So, don't tell Chloe anything about this. I don't want her to feel upset on her wedding day."

Beca is unsure about all of this, and she herself needs some explanations. Nevertheless, she also doesn't want to upset the redhead on their wedding day, especially since Chloe is pregnant. She doesn't want anything bad happening to their baby. Therefore, with her lips pressed tightly and her eyebrows furrowed, she nods and says, "Sure. I won't mention this meeting to her."

"Good." John pats Beca's shoulder.

"We have to go." Eliza says while walking toward the front door. "John still has to rehearse how to walk Chloe down the aisle." She turns to look at her husband, and scolds, "And you better do it right. This is your only chance to walk your daughter down the aisle."

"Hmph." John nods in mocked annoyance.

Beca simply chuckles dryly. After Chloe's parents leave, the DJ just sits back down on the couch, thinking about what the older couple just told her; Chloe lied to her parents. This fact bothers her a bit, but she brushes it off and goes back to finish her vow.

Around ten minutes later, Harvey, Donna, and Emily come back into the living room.

"What did they want?" Harvey asks while sitting down on the couch.

"It's..." Beca shakes her head in confusion. "Chloe's father was angry because I didn't ask his permission to marry her daughter. I just found out that... Chloe just told her parents about this wedding a week ago, and she told them I was the one who proposed. I don't get it. Why did she lie?"

"Did Mr. and Mrs. Be know?" The youngest Bella asks cautiously. "You know, about why you stayed with Chloe in the first place?"

"No." Beca shakes her head. "When I met them on Christmas, her mom just had a feeling that I wasn't in love with her daughter yet."

"Maybe Chloe knew that if she had told her parents the whole truth, her mom would have talked her out of this wedding, and maybe even the proposal." Emily says casually. "You know Mrs. B, Pop. If Chloe had told her, she would've told Chloe to wait until you're sure."

Beca takes a couple of seconds to think, and then she sighs heavily. "I think so. Well, it's my fault anyway. I should've called them together with Chloe to tell them about our decisions. I shouldn't have let her do that alone."

"Can you stop cleaning the shit she made?" Harvey is clearly upset. "Like father, like daughter. They don't have manner. And talking about asking permission, Chloe didn't even tell us that she wanted to propose to you. I don't think it was enough shitting her the other day."

Doesn't want to create more fuss, the DJ says, "Harvey, just... let this one slide. It doesn't matter anymore. He was upset, just like any father would be on their daughters' wedding day."

"Bullshit." Harvey curses angrily.

"I'm surprised he didn't bring up the meeting we had with Chloe and about the prenup." Donna comments.

"I don't think Chloe would dare telling her parents." Emily says with an awkward grimace. "If her parents had known about how harsh you treated their daughter, this wedding wouldn't be happening. If you think Aubrey is overly protective, you haven't seen anything yet. Mr. B is very protective to Chloe. Not to mention her two older brothers. They would've forbade Chloe from marrying Beca for sure. Or... pushed Beca to cut the string with you two."

Harvey sighs heavily and shakes his head. "Unbelievable. No wonder Chloe is acting like a spoiled drama queen. She's fucking raised to be one."

On the other hand, the DJ simply sighs deeply and continues finishing her vow.

Upon seeing how defeated Beca is, Donna says to her husband, "Harvey, that's enough."

Harvey rolls his eyes in annoyance, but remains silent.

"You okay, monkey?" Donna asks worriedly.

Beca scoffs tiredly and says, "I choose to be okay. The problem has been solved. So... no use to dwell on it. It's my wedding day anyway." She folds the paper. "I'll just meditate now. Please don't come into the bedroom until I need to get ready."

"Okay." Donna says softly. When the DJ walks pass her, she holds Beca back and says, "You don't have to do this if you don't want to. I can call everything off, Monkey. You just need to tell me."

With a light smile, Beca says, "Don't. I'm fine, Donna. Some uncomfortable things will always occur unexpectedly. It doesn't mean we have to stop whatever it is that we're doing."

Donna smiles understandingly and simply kisses the DJ's forehead.

Then the petite brunette goes to her bedroom and meditates for an hour. After meditating, she feels so much better. Especially for remembering that Chloe is pregnant. Nothing can seem to bring her down every time she remembers that they'll have a baby soon.

Sometimes around 03.00 PM, Donna and Emily drag her to eat something and get ready.

* * *

**Thirty Minutes Before The Wedding.**

Around 05.30 PM, guests are starting to crowd their backyard. Beca watches them from the windows in her bedroom upstairs.

They only invited all of the Bellas and their families, Benji, the Specter family, Patrick, Troian, and of course, Chloe's whole family.

The DJ herself is wearing a white tuxedo for her wedding. In Chloe's insistence, Emily styled her Pop's hair in a long wavy formal wedding style. Beca didn't argue with that because it's just a simple thing to do.

Right now, Beca is alone in the bedroom, simply waiting for the cue for her to walk down to the backyard. Against popular beliefs, she seems calm and collected, simply standing by the window with her hands clasped on her back. Suddenly, she hears the door open, and she turns around to find out that Patrick, Troian, and Emily have walked into her bedroom all dressed up for the wedding.

"You know I can just sneak your tiny ass out of here, dude." Patrick says in all seriousness while walking toward his best friend. "I've prepared a getaway car in case you got cold feet."

Beca laughs lightly and says, "I'm afraid that time has come and gone, my friend."

Troian gasps, "Did you just quote The Day After Tomorrow?"

"I did." The DJ says smugly. "Thanks to your best friend, of course."

Patrick sighs deeply and hugs the DJ. "You look great, asshole."

"You too, jackass." Beca pats his back gently. Then she breaks the hug, and lets Troian hug her. "How's she?"

Knowing that Beca is asking about Ashley, Troian pulls away and says, "She's holding up. She's at her parents' place right now. So, don't worry about her. We're going to see her tonight right after the wedding."

Beca simply nods and asks, "So, ready to walk with me to the altar?"

Troian rolls her eyes in mocked annoyance and scoffs. "Of course. Who will cover you, and create a diversion if you change your mind halfway through the aisle?"

"I can do that." Emily chips in while walking toward her former captain to fix the suit. "And I believe Donna and Harvey have prepared something too in case you want to run away."

Beca knows that her best friends are just making sure that she's completely sure about marrying Chloe. Therefore, she simply laughs while letting her aca-child fixing her tie.

Upon seeing how relax the DJ is, Emily asks with puzzled look while brushing her shoulders, "For someone who's getting married in less than an hour, you sure seem fine."

"I _am_ fine." Beca states casually.

"Shouldn't you be squirming on your seat?" Troian asks with narrowed eyes. "I don't know. Maybe nervous, or anxious if things will go as planned, or jumping on your seat for being too excited... well, something else than being fine. Especially after what her parents did to you this afternoon." When Beca raises an eyebrow, Troian nonchalantly says, "Harvey told us."

"Angrily." Patrick adds.

The DJ simply rolls her eyes in mocked annoyance and retorts, "Should I be feeling that way? And do you know anything about how to feel on your wedding day? None of you are married."

"Harvey!" Patrick shouts.

Harvey comes into the bedroom and asks, "What?"

"We need you to tell her how you felt on your wedding day." Patrick says.

"I was calm and collected." Harvey says nonchalantly.

Beca scoffs, "Oh, stop lying, will you? I was there. You were squirming on your seat and sweating like a jock."

"Harvey Specter squirming on his seat?" Troian teases with her eyes narrowed. "Kind of hard to believe."

The lawyer rolls his eyes and says, "I was never fond of the idea of getting married. Then I met Donna. And after years dating her, she changed my mind. On our wedding day, I was nervous if everything would go as planned. I was afraid to screw up my wedding by... saying the wrong name, or choking on my vow. I wanted to marry her so badly, and I wanted it to be perfect for both of us. So... yeah. I was kind of a bundle of nerves that day."

The others are laughing lightly. Other than Beca, never in their life have they ever seen or even thought that a Harvey Specter could squirming on his seat. Therefore, hearing a story about it is kind of satisfying.

"That is the normal things to feel on your wedding day." Patrick says matter-of-factly to his best friend.

With a light smile, Harvey looks out of the window and nonchalantly says, "But the moment she walked down the aisle, I looked into her eyes, and I just know it, you know. I know that I'll be fine. That we'll be fine. And that feeling... it was so deliberating and relieving. If I wasn't nervous as hell before, I would never feel that kind of peace Donna could bring into my life just with a look in her eyes."

"Aw..." Emily coos. "Harvey... you're so sweet. I never knew that you had it in you."

"Actually..." Beca trails her words teasingly. "Harvey cried the moment he saw Donna walked down the aisle."

The others are looking at Harvey with comical surprised look, while the lawyer himself is glaring at Beca.

Feeling a bit shy, Harvey clears his throat and says in annoyance, "Okay. Enough about me and my wedding day. So, why did you ask about how I was on my wedding day?"

"Grumpy seems too fine." Troian says matter-of-factly.

Beca scoffs, "Should I be not fine? Do you want me to get cold feet?"

"I don't know, Pop." Emily says with a slightly worried and puzzled look. "Since this morning, you seem... okay. You woke up late, and you forgot about the vow, which is just you being you like any other day. Then you faced Chloe's parents calmly, and you're not nervous at all right now... It's like... this is just another day."

"Huh." Beca tilts her head aside slightly. She's thinking about everything her friends are saying. The truth is, she feels fine. For her, it feels just like any other day. She's surprised though to find out that she's not supposed to feel fine on her wedding day. With her eyebrows slightly furrowed, she nods absentmindedly and thinks.

However, the DJ can't find any reasons to be nervous. Therefore, she scoffs and says, "Well, against my belief before, this turns out to be just another day for me. I just have to stand in front of my best friend, saying I do to a person who has been in love with me since college. There's nothing hard about it. And honestly, now that I'm thinking more about it, I don't think it's a big deal. The wedding doesn't matter, because it's just a ceremony. It's how we survive the marriage that will matter. So, I feel just fine."

"Are you sure?" Troian asks with an awkward grimace. "Usually, people are either nervous as hell, or are overly excited. But never in between, let alone _just fine."_

"Second that." Emily agrees with convincing look. "I've heard from Stacie. Even Chloe is a bit unsettled right now. She's afraid if anything doesn't go as planned, yet she's also overly excited to marry you. So, she's in between floating in her dress, or anxiously pacing back and forth right now. It has changed in the matter of minutes since her bachelorette party last night."

"Monkey's just faking it." Harvey states. "She's afraid we'll sneak her out of here if she shows even the slightest sign of being nervous."

Beca chuckles and says, "But I feel just fine. Honest. I don't know why. Maybe it's because..." She grins goofily. "Look. I'm gonna tell you something, but you have to keep it to yourself." She waits for the nods coming from her friends before she continues, "Chloe is pregnant. The IUI worked. And..." She sighs with a light smile on her face. "I don't think I've ever been this happy before in my life."

Everybody are surprised, and they congratulate the DJ profusely.

"I'm so happy to hear that!" Emily exclaims with happy tears in her eyes.

Harvey pulls the DJ in a hug and grunts happily, "Congrats, soon to be Mama."

After the lawyer breaks the hug, Patrick punches the DJ's arm playfully and says, "Congrats, asshole. I just hope your kid isn't as scowl faced as you are."

Beca barks out a loud laughter and says, "I'll teach them to master my signature scowled face."

Troian hugs the petite brunette, and says in mocked annoyance, "You just have to be the first one out from all of us to get married and become a parent."

While patting Troian's back gently, the DJ teases, "Yea. I did this just to get on your nerves."

Troian chuckles and says, "Congratulations, Beca. We're so happy to hear that."

"I'm gonna be unky Patrick!" Patrick exclaims excitedly.

"Unky?" Beca retorts with bored look. "Really?"

"Yep." Patrick pops the P loudly. "Unky Patrick. I will not have any of your children calling me anything other than unky Patrick."

Harvey rolls his eyes in mocked annoyance and says, "He's being serious. Even Steve calls and refers him as unky Patrick."

Then all of them laugh whole heartily. Suddenly, Donna comes in. Upon seeing the whole room are laughing, she asks in confusion, "What happened? Has Beca finally come to her senses?"

"Chloe's pregnant." Harvey says.

"Oh my God!" Donna gasps, and she hurriedly hugs the DJ. "You're going to be a mom!"

"I am!" Beca exclaims joyfully.

"Congratulations, monkey. I'm so happy to hear that." Donna says with shaky voice. She's indeed so happy to hear the news. Then she breaks the hug and grabs Beca's arms. "You're going to be an amazing mom."

"A scowled face badass one." Patrick wiggles his eyebrows.

"Damn right, I am!" The DJ smirks smugly.

After wiping the tears on the corner of her eyes, Donna says, "It's time, Monkey. Are you ready?"

Beca takes a deep breath and says, "Sure."

* * *

**The White Wedding.**

Beca walks to the backyard with Troian's arm linked with hers while Harvey and Patrick are following them from behind. On the other hand, Emily is already walking to her spot as Chloe's bridesmaid.

Everybody are certainly looking at the DJ with glimmering eyes, and she just smiles back. She stops here and there to greet Chloe's family and her friends.

"Glad that you're finally, actually, literally becoming our sister." Nate says with a huge grin.

"Just don't ever hurt my litter sister again, Mitchell." Charlie adds with a warning glare.

"Charlie." Jo warns her husband. "Stop threatening our sister in law."

"Just being a brother." Charlie reasons. But when his wife gives him a deathly glare, he says, "Fine. Sorry, Beca."

Kate hugs the DJ tightly and says, "Welcome to the family, Mitchell."

"Thanks." Beca replies.

Then Eliza takes her turn to hug Beca and asks, "How are you feeling? Nervous? Anxious?"

"I'm fine actually." The DJ says calmly. She breaks the hug and says, "I'm guessing John is next door, getting ready to walk Chloe down the aisle."

"He's crying actually." Nate states with a teasing smile.

"I bet." Beca shakes her head while smiling lightly. "I'll just go stand on my spot. Don't want my bride to go bridezilla at me on our wedding day just because I'm not standing where I'm supposed to."

"Go, go now." Eliza pushes her gently.

Then Troian links her arm with Beca's again, and they walk to the altar. When the DJ walks pass the Bellas, she simply smiles at them. They are looking at her with huge grin on their faces.

Once she's already settled in her position near Fat Amy as the officiant, Beca clasps her hands on her crotch and simply waits. Harvey, Patrick, and Troian are standing next to her silently. No more pep talk, no more jokes about her getting cold feet.

On the other side, Stacie and Emily are also standing as Chloe's bridesmaids. They are giving their petite former captain beaming smiles too, and Beca simply smiles back at them. Then the DJ looks forward.

Donna and Stephan are sitting at the front seats along with Andre; Emily's boyfriend. They are the only people sitting on Beca's side. The rest of the Bellas and their families are sitting on Chloe's side. For some reasons that she doesn't quite understand, Beca doesn't feel upset about it at all. It's not like she has so many people in her life anyway.

Then Beca catches Stephan wiggling his eyebrows playfully at her. Her godson is wearing his navy blue tux, and he is grinning from ear to ear with a box of rings in his hands. Beca winks at him, and he winks back.

A couple of minutes later, Aubrey walks out to the backyard, heading to her spot as Chloe's maid of honor. Then she says, "She's ready."

All of the guests stand up. As the Bellas start singing, Isabelle walks down the aisle slowly with a bouquet of sunflowers in her hands.

_The day we met,_  
_Frozen, I held my breath_  
_Right from the start_  
_I knew that I'd found a home for my heart..._  
_... beats fast_  
_Colors and promises_  
_How to be brave?_  
_How can I love when I'm afraid to fall?_   


_But watching you stand alone  
_ _All of my doubt_  
suddenly goes away somehow

_One step closer_

A light chuckle escapes from Beca's lips. She didn't know that Chloe would use this song to walk down the aisle. Yet somehow, she understands why. As Chloe comes into the view with her arm linked to her father's, Beca looks at her and smiles. Nothing seems to be able to shake the DJ's feet at all.

_I have died every day waiting for you_  
_Darling, don't be afraid_  
_I have loved you for a thousand years  
_ _I'll love you for a thousand more_

Everybody's eyes are on the redhead. It's not surprising. Chloe is wearing a white vintage princess ball gown. It's a classic, and she looks perfect in that dress. Her red hair is as radiant as ever, curly and let down beautifully under the veil. Her blue eyes are shining ever so brightly, staring straight at her soon to be wife.

_Time stands still_  
_Beauty in all she is_  
_I will be brave_  
_I will not let anything take away_  
_What's standing in front of me_  
_Every breath_  
_Every hour has come to this_   


_One step closer_

When she sees how calm Beca is smiling at her, Chloe's eyes lighten up even more, and she grins from ear to ear. There is this warmth, rushing in her chest, spreading to all of her being, and she just can't help it when her eyes become teary. Her longtime dream, the dream she once thought had died, is standing before her eyes, in front of their friends and family, waiting to marry her.

_I have died every day waiting for you_  
_Darling, don't be afraid._  
_I have loved you for a thousand years  
_ _I'll love you for a thousand more_

As slowly as she can, Chloe tries to walk as they have rehearsed. She's so eager to just running down the aisle and jumping into Beca's warm embrace. Nevertheless, she's a bit weak on her knees right now, and she shakes on her feet just a little bit. Beca can see her through though, and the DJ simply chuckles lightly.

_And all along I believed I would find you_  
_Time has brought your heart to me_  
_I have loved you for a thousand years  
_ _I'll love you for a thousand more_

_One step closer  
_ _One step closer_

Meanwhile, Aubrey keeps stealing glances at the DJ from the corner of her eyes, expecting some kind of _wanting to flight_ demeanor from the DJ. Unfortunately, it's not happening. Against her prediction, Beca seems settled.

_I have died every day waiting for you_  
_Darling, don't be afraid._  
_I have loved you for a thousand years  
_ _I'll love you for a thousand more_

On the other hand, the rest of the Bellas are feeling moved. At last, their best friends who they deem so meant to be together, are finally getting married in this moment. They can see it clearly; how happiness is beaming, flowing out of Chloe endlessly. Most of them are sniffling by now, but they keep on singing softly.

_And all along I believed I would find you_  
_Time has brought your heart to me_  
_I have loved you for a thousand years  
_ _I'll love you for a thousand more_

By the end of the song, Chloe and John are already standing in front of Fat Amy. When Chloe's father gives Chloe's hand to Beca, he says with his eyes teary and his voice cracked, "Please take care of my little princess, Beca."

Still with that calm smile on her face, Beca nods and says, "I will, John."

As her hands meet the DJ's, Chloe sighs in relief and lets out a damp chuckle. She's holding Beca's hand tightly with her own strangely cold damp hands.

On the contrary, the petite brunette's hands are warm, and Beca herself simply smirks at her bride.

As the guests sit back down on the chairs, Fat Amy clears her throat.

"Dear beloved acapella nerds and family." Fat Amy starts to talk with the most serious face she could manage. "We gathered here today to witness and celebrate how these two most oblivious and dense aca-bitches, Chloe and Beca, Ginger and Captain, _finally_ decided to live their life, mold their dreams, and build a family together. I mean, talking about 14 years of unspoken, confined, and bottled up sexual tension. Phew..."

Aubrey starts throwing deathly glares at the hilarious blonde, while everybody else just laugh. Including Beca and Chloe.

Upon seeing the glare, Fat Amy says to Aubrey, "What? It's true."

"Fat Amy." Aubrey scolds. "This is a sacred wedding ceremony. Not your stand-up comedy show."

"Alright, alright." Fat Amy rolls her eyes in mocked annoyance. "Geez... you need to chill, aca-nazi. It's not like this is your wedding."

Everybody barks out another laughter.

Aubrey on the other hand, intensifies her deathly glare at the hilarious blonde.

"Dear aca-god!" Fat Amy shakes her head, and then she looks at Stacie as she asks, "How did you tame her?"

The laughter becomes louder, and Chloe clears her throat, giving a hint to the officiant to continue.

"Oh, right." Fat Amy says sheepishly. "Sorry, Ginger. Got sidetracked. Blame Aubrey."

With a light smile on her face, Beca simply shakes her head lightly.

Then Fat Amy continues, "Like I said back in college, when we were under the reign of crazy pukegate aca-nazi at The Lodge of Falling Trees."

"Falling Leaves, Fat Amy!" Aubrey corrects fiercely, and another laughter erupts.

"Yeah, yeah. The Lodge of Falling Leaves, whatever." Fat Amy rolls her eyes in mocked annoyance. "You have to stop interrupting me, Older Capt. Or else, I'm never gonna finish."

"I'm interrupting?" Aubrey retorts defensively and in disbelief.

Stacie sighs heavily and pulls her wife back. "Babe, calm down."

"She's turning this wedding into a joke." Aubrey pouts at her wife, but Stacie simply stares back at her firmly.

However, it doesn't stop Aubrey from scolding Fat Amy again. "Do it right."

"Alright, alright!" Fat Amy seems annoyed. "Geez! Patient, aca-nazy. It's not like ginger and captain are going anywhere. They're fine with how I proceed."

It's starting to get on Chloe's nerves, and she clears her throat again.

"Oh my aca-god!" Fat Amy exclaims comically. "You're such in a rush to get under captain, aren't you ginger?" Then she looks at Beca and whispers loudly, "Hey, Shawshank. Did ginger get some last night?"

Beca glances at Chloe with a teasing smirk playing by the corner of her lips, and then she shakes her head. It earns her a deathly glare from her blushing bride, and a loud bark of laughter from the guests.

"Can we not talk about my daughter's sex life in front of me?" John whines loudly, which only making the others laughing even louder. "It's hard enough giving her away."

"John!" Eliza scolds her husband.

After the laughter unwind, Fat Amy asks in confusion, "Now, where was I?"

Emily leans closer to the hilarious blonde and whispers, "You were talking about Beca and Chloe in retreat."

"Yeah right." Fat Amy nods with comical grin. "I was going to say that you are Beca and Chloe, together you're bloe. And those aca-bitches still owe me and CR 20 dollars each. Pay up, bitches! I need money to celebrate my moving to LA!"

Aubrey slaps her forehead, and Chloe exhales tiredly at the same time. The redhead doesn't mind the joke. But she's getting impatient. She wants to be married to Beca as soon as possible.

On the other hand, Beca isn't bothered at all. She even thinks that it's hilarious, and it's good to see the guests laughing. However, upon seeing that Chloe has become a bit upset, Beca looks at Fat Amy and calmly calls, "Patricia."

The mention of her real name takes Fat Amy by surprise. She knows that it's a soft warning; she has to proceed accordingly. "Sir, yes sir!" She salutes Beca, and then she takes a deep breath before she continues. "All I'm trying to say is that, if your love can survive ten years of separation, then you can survive everything throughout your life together. Including when crocodiles and dingos are trying to take over the world."

This time, Chloe looks at the hilarious blonde with dumbfounded look.

"What?" Fat Amy says defensively. "It's true. Just wait and see. Good for all of us, I have several experiences in strangling them." She demonstrates some of kungfu moves with invisible nun-chucks.

The guests are laughing so hard by now. Even Beca has to bite her bottom lip to suppress her laughter while her bride is pouting.

After the laughter unwind, there is a moment of silent, and everybody seems to be confused of why Fat Amy doesn't say anything.

Eventually, Fat Amy asks with a complete puzzled look, "What's next?"

Aubrey rolls her eyes in full annoyance and firmly says, "The vow, Fat Amy."

"Yeah, right." Fat Amy hurriedly says. "Of course. The vow. I remember that. Shawshank, you go first."

With a light smile, Beca holds up Chloe's hands and kisses them. Chloe's eyes light up instantly, and the pout on her face turns into a face splitting grin. Then the DJ pulls out a note from her left chest's pocket and starts reading it.

"Chloe Elizabeth Beale." The DJ says softly, stealing a glance at her bride before looking back at the paper again. "You are my first best friend; my first love; and in a couple of minutes, you will become my first wife." She's joking of course, and everybody laugh. When she sees Chloe's eye widen, Beca calmly says, "The first wife that I know will be my last."

Chloe's bright beaming smile comes back, and the petite brunette continues reading, "You have broken down my wall, loved me for so long, and waited for me for half of your life. And for that..." She sighs and looks at her bride, still with that light smile on her face. "I'm truly thankful. I love you, Chlo."

Chloe's eyes become teary, but she doesn't interrupt.

Then Beca reads the note again while looking up at her bride from time to time. "You are my best friend. You have always been, and you will always be. There is nothing I wouldn't do for you. From now on, for the rest of our lives, for as long as I may live, I promise; no matter what comes our way, you can always count on me, and you can always find a friend in me." She folds the note and puts it back into her pocket before taking Chloe's hands in hers again. "With your hands in mine, I'd like to be proven wrong that, the happy ending I used to laugh at truly exists. With your hands in mine, I believe that... this could be the start of something good for both of us."

"Now how can I beat that?" Chloe says with a high pitch restraint voice. She's moved by the vow, and she's nearly crying. She can't fight they urge anymore, so she leans toward the DJ for a kiss. However, her lips meet Fat Amy's palm instead, and the redhead pulls back abruptly. "Fat Amy." She scolds in disbelief. "Why would you do that?"

"Still not the time, Ginger." Fat Amy says in all seriousness. "I haven't said that you can kiss Shawshank yet."

Chloe rolls her eyes in annoyance, but she says nothing. On the other hand, Beca simply chuckles and kisses the redhead's hands again. She's feeling light because although the vow isn't filled with cheesy lines, it's sincere.

"Your turn, Ginger." Fat Amy says.

With a smile so bright, Chloe looks straight into Beca's eyes and says with her angelic voice, "Beca Stephanie Mitchell. Never in my life have I ever loved someone the way I do with you. A love that could survive time and distance; a love that stood strong through all of the obstacles; a love so true that ten years of separation still brought us together eventually; and a love that is so stubborn and it needed a little push to be realized."

Knowing that the last part is about her, Beca chuckles lightly, making her bride smiles even more brightly.

"I'm completely and helplessly in love with you, Becs." Chloe says ever so softly with her eyes teary. "You are my one and only. There's nobody I've ever wanted and loved more than you. You, Beca Mitchell, are my happily ever after. And I promise you that I will stay in love with you, make you the happiest you've ever been, and be faithful to you for eternity."

"I know." Beca smiles softly.

"The rings, please!" Fat Amy exclaims loudly.

Stephan is startled, but he stands up and walks to the altar. With toothy grin, he opens the box in front of the couple.

"Thanks, little man." Beca says while taking a ring into her hand. Then she looks at Chloe, smiling as she pushes the ring into the redhead's finger.

It's Chloe's turn now. With her hand a bit shaky, she takes the ring and holds Beca's left hand up. She's taken aback to see that the black ice carbide ring is still on it. She stares at Beca with questioning look, but the DJ just looks back at her in confusion. It seems like Beca doesn't have any idea of why Chloe is staring at her that way.

Doesn't want to repeat the last incident of taking off that black ring, Chloe simply takes a deep breath and pushes their wedding ring in anyway. Now there are two rings on Beca's left ring finger.

As soon as the rings are already on, Fat Amy says, "By the power vested in me-"

"Fat Amy! The I do's!" Aubrey says in disbelief.

"Oh right." Fat Amy says. "So sorry. Let's make it quick then. Do you, Chloe Ginger Beale, take Beca Captain Mitchell as your wife, in sickness and health, to comfort and honor her, and to be faithful to her for as long as you may live, which is a very long time. Because you know, you're a ginger."

Chloe smiles fondly, looking straight into Beca's eyes and chimes boldly, "I do."

Fat Amy turns to look at Beca and says, "Shawshank, do you take Chloe Ginger Beale as your wife, in sickness and health, to comfort and honor her, and to be faithful to her for as long as you may live?"

Still with that same light smile, Beca opens her mouth to give her answer. However, the words are stuck on the tip of her tongue. Looking confused, she closes her mouth as she diverts her eyes away from her bride down to her feet.

Everybody else are also looking at the DJ in confusion. Nevertheless, nobody says anything at all. It seems like everything is frozen up, and not even the sound of people breathing can be heard.

Chloe is staring at Beca anxiously, but the DJ herself isn't looking at her bride. Beca doesn't know why she couldn't say it, but she doesn't have time to analyze. Therefore, she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, feeling the warm air flowing into her lungs slowly. As she blows out the air through her mouth slowly, she looks up and fixes her eyes on Chloe's bright blue ones. A smile appears on her face instantly.

Upon seeing that smile, everybody sigh in relief, but not with Chloe. The waiting isn't over yet. Not until Beca says those two words to seal their marriage. Fortunately, the redhead doesn't have to wait long.

Still with her eyes fixed on Chloe's and a light smile on her face, Beca nods and firmly says, "I do."

Chloe sighs in relief and smiles.

Beca simply holds the redhead's hands even tighter as if telling her that everything is fine.

"Alright!" Fat Amy says loudly. "By the pow- Oh I almost forgot."

All of the guests and the couple are staring at the hilarious blonde with puzzled look.

"If any of you has any reasons why these two should not be married, well, you can suck it up. Nobody wants to hear that." Fat Amy says with straight face.

Everybody laugh, even Aubrey and Chloe are laughing lightly for the funny remarks. Beca simply shakes her head comically.

After the laughter unwind, Fat Amy continues, "By the power vested in me, I pronounce you wife and wife. Captain, you may kiss ginger now."

Just as Beca leans forward to kiss her bride, Fat Amy adds playfully, "But let's keep it PG 13, Cap. We've got kids around."

"Fat Amy!" Aubrey scolds impatiently.

Beca simply rolls her eyes and wraps her arms around Chloe's waist. They meet halfway for their first kiss as a marriage couple.

Chloe slides her hands to hold the back of Beca's head. While kissing her now wife, she just can't help herself but crying. She's so relieved that Beca is finally and completely hers.

They keep the kiss light and gentle. Then the DJ breaks the kiss and wipes the tears on Chloe's face with her thumbs. "Don't cry." She softly says. "It's our wedding day. No crying today."

Chloe lets out a damp chuckle and says with shaky voice, "I just... I'm so relieved; so, so happy that you're finally mine. All mine."

"I am." Beca says before she kissed her wife's forehead.

Everybody cheer loudly, throwing flowers, sand, rice, and in Fat Amy's case, a lot of candies and sweets.

Hand in hand, the newly married couple head toward their friends and family. They are being hugged, patted, and kissed on the cheeks by the rest of the Bellas.

Definitely, almost all of them are shedding tears. Well, not with Beca anyway. When the Bellas are congratulating her while crying, she retorts, "What is it with wedding and crying? Isn't it supposed to be a happy time?"

While wiping the tears on her face, Chloe chuckles and says, "It is, Babe. We're crying happy tears. All of our friends and family are so happy to see us finally tied the knot."

"Huh." Beca looks at Harvey, Donna, Patrick, and Troian. None of them is crying. They are laughing at something Harvey just said. Therefore, she simply smiles, shaking her head as she thinks to herself, _"Not always the case."_

Feeling a bit overwhelmed with the emotions and cheerful chattering from all of the Bellas, Beca whispers to Chloe, "Chlo, I'll go talk to my friends over there."

"Why?" Chloe pouts. "I don't want to let go of your hand tonight."

Beca smiles and softly says, "You have the rest of your life to hold my hand. I just want to check on them."

"Fine." The redhead frowns with childlike look.

After kissing her wife's cheek, Beca walks to her friends. As she stands next to them, Patrick spreads his arms as if showing off his best friend from head to toes overdramatically. "The bride!"

While the others are laughing, Beca rolls her eyes in mocked annoyance. But a light tug of smile is playing by the corner of her lips. This feels like how a wedding is supposed to be for her. No tears, just laughter.

Patrick holds his fiancé's hands and mocks an overdramatic romantic look, "With your hands in mine... I will ask you to make me sandwiches in the kitchen for the rest of our lives."

Along with the others, Beca barks out a loud laughter and punches Patrick on his shoulder playfully. "Jerk."

"Great vow, monkey." Harvey states. "And you're welcome."

"You didn't help at all, asshole." Beca scolds playfully.

"Congratulations, monkey." Donna hugs the DJ tightly.

"Thanks." Beca pats her PA's back gently. After they break the hug, the petite brunette asks, "Where's my godson?"

"Over there." Donna points at the corner of the backyard. "Playing with the other kids."

With curious look, Harvey says, "I've got to say. For someone who has Aubrey as her mother, Isabelle turns out to be a very sweet kid."

"Yeah." Beca nods with approving look. "I'm wondering too. I think smurfette got most of her personality from the sperm donor and Stacie. And for that, we should be celebrating."

Everybody laugh again. Not long after, they go to their seats to have dinner. Around the main table, there are Beca, Chloe, and Chloe's family. Harvey, Donna, Patrick, and Troian are at the same table with Emily and Andre. The rest of the Bellas split into two tables with their spouses plus Benji, and the kids have their own tables.

It seems like everything is going so well, everybody are laughing, and the redheaded bride is shining ever so brightly. Apparently, her mother can see that. With a knowing look, Eliza says, "I think you have more good news to tell us, Chloe."

Fully knowing what her mother is talking about, the redhead pretends to be oblivious and retorts, "What?"

With a knowing smile, Eliza says, "I'm a mother of three children, sweetie. I think I can tell if my only daughter is pregnant. I've been watching you since I arrived. You're glowing."

Other than Beca, everybody else gasp at the same time and look at the couple as if asking for a confirmation.

Chloe grins from ear to ear, and she looks at Beca, asking for a permission to tell her family about the pregnancy. Beca simply takes her bride's hand in hers and nods. Then Chloe turns to look at her parents and whispers, "We're pregnant."

Nate exclaims loudly, "Cong-!"

"Ssstt..." Chloe stops her brother. "We're still keeping it a secret."

"Why?" Her family ask in unison.

"It's still too early." Chloe patiently explains. "So, we want to wait at least until 12 weeks to tell the Bellas."

Since they can't be loud, one by one, Chloe's family stand up to hug the redhead and congratulate her quietly.

When desserts come out, Aubrey stands up and hits her champagne glass gently. "Attention everyone." She says with a sweet smile. "As the maid of honor, I'd like to give my toast."

Everybody become silent and look at Aubrey all at once.

"Chloe and I..." Aubrey looks at her best friend fondly. "We've been friends since forever. We were there for each other in every ups and every downs. _She_ , is my other half. And today, I'm so happy that she finally got the one dream she has always striven for; marrying the love of her life. It's just so unfortunate for her that that person is the undeserving Beca Mitchell." She pauses to let the guests laugh at her _wrapped-in-a joke_ insult.

Other than CR and Stacie who just chuckle dryly, Chloe's family and half of the Bellas laugh, thinking that it was a plain joke.

On the contrary, the people from Beca's side and Emily are staring at Aubrey in disbelief and with upset look.

Meanwhile, Chloe grabs Beca's hand and smiles apologetically.

Beca simply smiles calmly in return at her bride. Whatever Aubrey said and will say about her; good or bad, she has decided that she would make it insignificant in her life. Well, not with the people who care about her apparently.

"Is that supposed to be a fucking joke?" Harvey asks coldly and loudly.

"It is." Aubrey says, pretending to be nonchalant. Clearly, she's still angry for getting fired, and the person she's blaming is Beca.

"Then why I don't find it fucking funny?" Harvey retorts.

"Chill, man." Nate says firmly.

Sensing the tension is raising, Beca nonchalantly says, "It's okay, Harv. Posen loves to joke. As unfunny as she is. Just let her proceed."

Harvey keeps his cold staring at Aubrey and crosses his arms on his chest.

"As I said," Aubrey puts on her sweet smile again. "It was joke. Now that my best friend is finally married to Beca. I can't be happier for her. I've been there from the very beginning. I've seen how Chloe fell in love head over heels with Beca since the activities fair around 15 years ago. The way she loves Beca, it's what people usually called _true love._ "

"Aw..." Half of the Bellas coo.

Aubrey gives her sisters a teary smile and continues, "I'm so happy that this moment finally arrived for my bestest friend; my sister. I just hope that after everything Chloe's been through, from now on, Beca will take care of her, love her, and keep all of the promises she made for Chloe; until death do them part." She raises her glass. "For Chloe and Beca."

"For Chloe and Beca." The Bellas, the Trebles, and Chloe's family cheer loudly.

Harvey, Donna, Patrick, Troian, and Emily simply drink their liquors without saying anything. They're upset that Aubrey still used her toast to burn Beca. For them, it's so inappropriate and unacceptable.

"Whew..." Andre says to his girlfriend with an awkward grimace. "Aubrey is... well, sorry, Babe. I know she's a Bella, and one of your sisters. But she's not nice. That toast was not cool. It was all about Chloe; about Beca has to do everything for Chloe. I mean, if she's only Chloe's best friend and isn't close to Beca, it's understandable. But isn't Beca also a Bella?"

"I know." Emily rolls her eyes in annoyance. "And she burned Pop in her way."

"She's so fucking hateful." Troian says.

"I fucking hate her." Patrick adds.

"I'd never wanted to choke a bitch to death so badly until I met her." Donna says.

"Don't worry." Harvey says coldly. "With those attitudes that cost her the job in our company, no one will ever take her as an employee, or use her in any cases anymore. Her career as a lawyer is over. That's the karma for messing with the wrong Mitchell."

Emily is taken aback, but before she can say anything, Patrick already asks, "Harv, will you still give your toast?"

"Of course." Harvey responds.

"Payback." Patrick smirks.

"Don't." Donna says as she looks at Beca. The DJ is smiling and laughing with Chloe's family. "Look at monkey. She's happy, Love. And I know that she's most likely happy about the pregnancy, but we will not ruin her wedding just because someone else is trying to. We will not go that low. She needs our supports. She doesn't need us to defend her for a stupid thing, done by a stupid person. She could've done that by herself if she wanted to."

Upon realizing Beca doesn't seem to be bothered by the roasting toast, Harvey sighs in annoyance and says, "Fine."

"It sucks to act like adults." Patrick says just as annoyed.

"Donna is right." Troian warns her fiancé softly. "We will be adults. Besides, Aubrey is so not worth it."

"Second that." Emily comments.

Harvey takes a deep breath and stands up. He hits the champagne glass gently and says, "It's time for the best man to give a toast."

Everybody look at the lawyer all at once, and he says, "I've known Beca for more than a decade now. From the moment I met her, I knew she was going to be a hard pain in the ass."

A loud laughter erupts, and Beca bites playfully, "Thanks, Harvey."

Harvey smirks and continues, "But she's also something else. I don't know what it is for sure, but it made me stay. For years, I've seen how she has grown from a stubborn annoying late teenager, into a slightly less stubborn annoying adult."

People laugh again, including the DJ herself.

"That wasn't a joke." Harvey points out, but then his eyes turn soft as he says, "But she's the stubborn annoying hard pain in the ass that I care like a sister. For my wife and me, she's family. _We_ , will always have her back. Today, she has taken another step in her life; a step that she took very seriously, considering all of the responsibilities. And I have no doubt that she will do her best. She has grown even more mature." He looks at Beca. "You listen close because I'm only going to say this once." He feels the heat on his cheeks when he says, "I'm so proud of you, Monkey."

Feeling moved, Beca clears her throat and says, "Thanks, Harv."

Also feeling moved, Harvey simply nods with his jaw clenched, and then he clears his throat before looking at Chloe. "And for the bride; Chloe. My wife and I met you for the first time almost six months ago. And frankly, we don't know much about you other than from what Beca and Emily have told us. But one thing is clear; we clearly have our differences in our ways in loving Beca. Nevertheless, I can assure you..." He pauses for a second. "Since Beca has made the decision to marry you, we'll support that decision. And I hope that the two of you will only become better at loving each other, and do your best to keep your vows to each other. I really wish that... this wedding would be the start of something good for both of you. Like Beca said in her vow. Welcome to our family, Chloe Beale." He raises his glass. "For Beca, Chloe, and their start of something good."

"For Beca and Chloe!" Everybody cheer.

As Harvey sits back down, Donna grabs his hand and says, "I'm so proud of you."

"Of course. I'm amazing." Harvey smirks smugly, and everyone at their table laugh lightly.

Around 09.00 PM, suddenly a group of men walks out to the backyard with some music instruments.

"Boyce Avenue?!" Jessica and Ashley exclaim at the same time.

Most of the guests are excited to see the group, and they are staring adoringly to the three men.

The group simply smile and walk to Beca. The DJ stands up and fist bumps one of them "Alejandro, my man!"

"Congrats, dude." The man named Alejandro says.

"Daniel, Fabian." Beca fist bumps each men.

"Congrats, little one." Daniel grins.

"Where's the bride?" Fabian asks. "I want to know what is wrong with her for marrying you."

Beca barks out a loud laughter and says, "Asshole." Then she offers her hand to Chloe, and Chloe takes it while standing up. "This is my bride." She looks at Chloe. "Chlo, you know who they are."

"Very nice to meet all of you in person." Chloe shakes their hands.

"Damnit, Mitchell." Alejandro says. "Where did you find her? And why did she say yes? Did you threaten her?"

Beca laughs again while Chloe hugs her from aside and cheerfully says, "I found her. Time and time again, I always found my way back to her." She nuzzles her nose onto Beca's cheek. "Lucky me, right?"

"Yea. Lucky you." The DJ smiles at her bride.

The three men laugh lightly, and Daniel says, "She's a keeper. Don't ever let her go, Mitchell."

"Sure." The DJ says. "Are you ready?"

"Just let us set this first." Fabian says while pointing the music instruments.

"Okay." Beca says.

Once Boyce Avenue has walked away, Chloe asks, "Why are they here, Babe? You said no artists."

"It's a surprise." Beca smirks. "For my bride."

"What surprise?" Chloe asks excitedly.

"You'll see in a second." The DJ says.

Chloe simply looks at her wife with an intrigued smile on her face. Around ten minutes later, Emily goes to stand behind the mic and says, "I think we know what time is this. Do you know what time is this, Fat Amy?"

"Twenty four pass nine?" The hilarious blonde answers unsurely.

"Nope." Emily pops the P. "It's time for the first dance. Please welcome, Beca and Chloe for their first dance as a married couple!"

Chloe is surprised, and she turns to look at her wife with wide glimmering eyes.

"May I have the honor, wife?" Beca offers her hand.

Feeling swoon, the redhead takes Beca's hand, and the DJ pulls her wife to the center of the yard. As the brunette puts her hands on Chloe's waist, an intro from a familiar song comes up.

"Just The Way You Are?" Chloe asks in comic surprise.

"Yep." Beca smirks. "The night we sang in the pool, I couldn't take my eyes off of you."

"Baby..." Chloe coos with her eyes teary.

"Let's have our first dance, Beale." The DJ says softly, and she sways slowly along with the music.

_Oh her eyes, her eyes,_  
_make the stars look like they're not shining_  
_Her hair, her hair,_  
_falls perfectly without her trying_  
_She's so beautiful,  
_ _and I'll tell her every day_

_Yeah, I know, I know_  
_when I compliment her she won't believe me_  
_And it's so, it's so_  
_sad to think she don't see what I see_  
_But every time she asks me do I look okay  
_ _I say_

After spending the first verse staring into Beca's steely blue eyes, Chloe softly says, "It's Chloe Mitchell now."

"You're taking my last name?" The DJ grins.

"We're married, Baby." Chloe says while brushing her nose onto Beca's. "I'm your wife now. And I want to put your name next to mine for the rest of my life."

Beca simply chuckles lightly and nods.

_When I see your face,_  
_there's not a thing that I would change_  
_Cause you're amazing,  
_ _just the way you are_

_And when you smile,_  
_the whole world stops and stares for awhile_  
_Cause girl you're amazing,  
_ _just the way you are,_

"Are you sure you don't want peanut to have Beale as their last name?" Beca asks. "Or we can just hyphenated our last name. Mitchell-Beale, or Beale-Mitchell."

Chloe cringes and says, "No. Only Mitchell is fine. Hyphenated name is just too long, and peanut will have too many words only for a name. Besides, Nate and Charlie have already covered to prolong the Beale's family name. We need more Mitchell."

Upon finding out that her kid will have her last name, Beca is over the moon. With a goofy grin, she says, "Then Peanut Munchkin Mitchell they shall be."

Chloe laughs lightly and kisses Beca chastely on the lips before she says, "Babe... there's no way I'll let you name our baby peanut munchkin."

"Why not?" Beca mocks an offended look. "It's simple, it's badass yet also cute like you said, not to mention very original."

"You're adorable." Chloe says fondly.

"Adorably badass you mean." Beca puffs her nose smugly.

_Her lips, her lips,_  
_I could kiss them all day if she let me,_  
_Her laugh, her laugh_  
_She hates but I think it's so sexy._  
_She's so beautiful,  
_ _And I tell her every day._

_Oh you know, you know, you know_  
_I'd never ask you to change._  
_If perfect's what you're searching for,_  
_Then just stay the same._  
_So, don't even bother asking, If you look okay;  
_ _You know I'll say_

Feeling so warm and light, Chloe rests her forehead on Beca's gently. Then Beca sings the rest of the song along softly with her eyes closed.

_When I see your face,_  
_there's not a thing that I would change_  
_Cause you're amazing,  
_ _Just the way you are_

_And when you smile,_  
_The whole world stops and stares for awhile_  
_Cause girl you're amazing,_  
_Just the way you are,_   


_The way you are_  
_The way you are_  
_Girl you're amazing  
_ _Just the way you are_

_The way you are_  
_The way you are_  
_Girl you're amazing  
_ _Just the way you are_

When the song ends, Beca doesn't pull away immediately. She kisses Chloe gently on the lips and says, "I love you, Mrs. Mitchell."

"I love you too, Mrs. Mitchell." Chloe replies with a huge grin on her face and her eyes teary.

Suddenly, Beca feels a light tap on the back of her shoulder. As she turns around, Chloe's father asks, "May I dance with my daughter?"

"Of course." Beca smiles while giving Chloe's hand to the old man.

Then the DJ goes to her friends' table and sits with them.

"You invited Boyce Avenue?" Patrick asks comically.

"I did." Beca wiggles her eyebrows.

"What did you offer in return for them to shut their mouths about this wedding?" Harvey asks.

"Nothing. We're close." The DJ says before sipping a glass of iced tea. "But I did offer them a couple of my unproduced songs. You know, just to be sure."

"Smart move." Troian says.

Beca simply smirks smugly.

"You seem so happy, Monkey." Donna says softly.

The DJ turns to look at her wife who's dancing with John, and then she smiles as she says, "I am. Do you guys remember the maybe's Aubrey told me at the hospital?"

"U huh."

"Sure."

"Yeah."

"Of course."

"I'm starting to see it coming true now." Beca says contentedly. "Especially since Chloe and I are expecting. We'll make this work."

Donna grabs the DJ's hand and softly says, "We're glad that you're happy."

"Thanks." Beca smiles at her friends.

Then they simply talk about Beca's plan for the honeymoon. Meanwhile, Chloe is dancing with so many people. She has danced with her father, her brothers, Bumper, and Donald. Right now, she's dancing with Benji. Even so, she keeps stealing glances at her wife. She's a bit confused that Beca doesn't go to the Bellas' tables at all.

Soon after that thought came across the redhead's mind, Flo shouts, "Beca! Come over here!"

With a tight-lipped smile, the DJ stands up and mutters to her friends, "Got to go. Don't want to piss anybody off tonight."

Her friends simply shake their heads with a knowing smile on their faces.

As she arrives at the Bella's table, Beca smiles and says, "Hey. I can see that all of you are having fun. Where are the kids?"

"In the house with their nannies." Stacie explains.

Beca simply nods absentmindedly.

"How does it feel to be married, Shawshank?" Fat Amy slurs, and she's clearly so drunk.

"You mean in the first four hours?" The DJ teases. "It's going great so far."

"I still can't believe that you and Chloe are already married!" Flo exclaims excitedly.

With a light smile, Beca says, "Seeing is believing."

"Promise us that you will never let us down again, Captain." Jessica says, and her wife adds, "Especially Chloe."

Emily automatically squeezes her former captain's shoulder, afraid if Beca becomes upset. Fortunately, the DJ seems to take it easily.

"I thought I only need to make promises to my wife." Beca says nonchalantly. "Didn't know that all of you are included in that package."

CR, who already got the whole explanation from Stacie and Emily, hurriedly backs up her former captain. "It's true. You and Chloe have made promises to each other. You don't owe us anything, Capt. All we want is for the two of you to be happy."

"Of course they're happy." Flo says with a manner that says _duh._ "Fat Amy's already said it. They're Beca and Chloe; together they're bloe."

"And they have blown our minds with their long lasting love." Lily says in barely a whisper.

While staring at Beca firmly, Aubrey smugly says, "I've told you, guys. Beca would stay with Chloe. I told you I would make that happen."

Beca simply ignores her former captain, but Emily eyes Stacie subtly. Well, even though without the youngest Bella giving her a hint, Stacie already knows that she has to stop her wife from bringing everybody down. Therefore, she asks Aubrey, "Babe, do you mind getting me another drink? I'm too tipsy."

"Of course." Aubrey kisses her wife's lips chastely and walks away.

Trying to ease the tension, Bumper wiggles his eyebrows and teases, "Ready for the first night with your wife, Mitchell? I can teach you one thing or two."

Beca chuckles lightly and says, "Thank you. But I think I've got it covered."

"We want details." Fat Amy slurs.

"What the hell is wrong with you two?" Donald retorts in disbelief to the hilarious couple. "It's private."

"Hey!" Bumper mocks offended look. "I shared you mine."

"And it's disgusting." Donald points out. "That's why I'm trying to spare Beca from having a horrifying nightmare."

Everybody laugh all together. After a little chit and chat with the Bellas, Beca feels like she needs to give her introverted self a break. Therefore, she excuses herself and goes back to her table. She's alone there since Chloe is still dancing with Stephan now, and the redhead's families are also on the dance floor.

She loosens the tie and sighs in relief. Then she simply looks up at the sky without thinking about anything at all. Since it's nearly summer, the sky is clear, and it brings a fond smile on her face. One time or two, she just sips her iced tea slowly.

Ten minutes later, Chloe jumps onto her wife's laps. "Babe!"

It's unexpected, but Beca automatically holds her wife by the waist with one arm, and rubs Chloe's stomach with her other hand. "Careful, Chlo." She says worriedly. "You're carrying a tiny human now."

Chloe chuckles and says, "Don't worry, Babe. If our peanut is as badass as her Mama, she'll be fine."

With a worried smile, Beca shakes her head and says, "Still, you need to carry yourself more carefully from now on."

Chloe slips one arm to the back of Beca's shoulders, and use her other hand to pinch her wife's cheek playfully. "I will, over protective wife."

Beca simply chuckles.

After sipping Beca's iced tea, Chloe says, "You're missing all the fun."

"You have done it for my part too." The DJ says nonchalantly. "Besides, don't want to steal the thunder from the bride."

"Technically, you're a bride too, Baby Boo. Just in a suit." Chloe says casually, and the she trails her index finger down Beca's throat and seductively says, "The one that I prefer to rip off A.S.A.P."

"I bet." The DJ smirks smugly. Then she rubs Chloe's stomach gently and says, "Let's go see Doctor Montgomery first thing in the morning to have an ultrasound."

Seeing how eager Beca is about the pregnancy, Chloe giggles and teases, "So soon, Mrs. Mitchell? I thought we'd be doing our first morning sex as a married couple first thing in the morning."

Beca barks out a loud laughter and replies, "You and your dirty, dirty mind, Beale."

"Mitchell." Chloe pouts, earning another bark of laughter from the tiny brunette.

After the laughter unwind, the DJ asks, "Hey, where do you want to go for our honeymoon?"

"I still haven't thought about it yet." Chloe says. "How about you? Any place you want to go with me?"

While rubbing Chloe's stomach absentmindedly, Beca says, "I'm thinking that we can do a meditation retreat for couples. It's a two weeks program of full mindfulness activities. I think it'll be good for your pregnancy."

"Hmmm..." Chloe purses her lips, nodding absentmindedly while considering the idea. Eventually, she says, "I like that idea. When are we going?"

"How about a couple of days after MTV Awards?" Beca offers.

"And when is it?"

"The MTV awards will be on Wednesday, May 13th. So... the Monday after that?"

"Okay." Chloe says. "I will give my unpaid leave's notification to the school on next Monday then."

"Great." Beca says before she kisses Chloe's lips chastely. "I love you, wife."

"I love you too, Baby boo."

Then Beca leans slightly downward to look at Chloe's stomach. "I love you, peanut. You be good in there, okay?"

Chloe giggles and says, " _You_ , are the most charming badass, Babe."

"I am." The DJ smirks smugly.

By the end of the night, Troian, Patrick, and Emily go to Anaheim to see Ashley, and the rest of the Bellas stay at a hotel along with Chloe's family. Aubrey and Stacie stay in their own house certainly.

The newly married couple... well, you know what happen. I don't need to tell you that Beca gives Chloe a foot massage because the high heels almost killed the redhead's feet. I think that's what every women get after their wedding party; sore feet from wearing seven inches high heels.

After that, of course they make love. No doubt about that. Fin.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How was this chapter? Let me know.
> 
> Now, at the beginning of this chapter, I promised some explanations. Here it is. This chapter could be the end. For the people who have had enough and just can't take anymore dark and twisty, this chapter could be your last stop. But for those who still have so many unanswered questions, who can't help it but keep reading no matter how hard it's been, or who actually enjoy this story, you can proceed to the next part: Life of Beca Mitchell (The Sequel).
> 
> The thing you can expect in the sequel is more dark and twisty plots ultimately. For the main characters; Chloe will find out about the reason Beca chose her from an unexpected person, Beca will find out that Ashley was there for her on the night she had a night terror, Ashley will find her happy ending eventually, and Emily will get married. Then Emily and Aubrey will have their very well deserved fight, Stacie and Aubrey will be on the edge of separation, and so many, many other untied knots. There will be some new characters too. Every single piece will be done in a slow painful burn with just a little touch of fluff. But I can assure you, down the road, the sun is shining. I quoted it from One Day You Will by Lady Antebellum.
> 
> Told you. We still have a long way to go, and I still have so many chapters up my sleeves. So... for you who can't take it anymore, I guess this is a goodbye. Thank you for staying for so long even though it was hard :)
> 
> For you who will stay, thank you for being strong. We will start the first chapter of the sequel with the MTV Awards (remember the song Katy Perry asked Beca to write?), Chloe's pregnancy, Patrick's wedding with Troian, and the birth of Peanut Munchkin Mitchell.
> 
> Until then, sit tight, relax, and make good choices. Thank you for reading :)


	35. Hey Folks :)

Hey Folks :)

Hope you're having a good day.

If you're wondering, this isn't a new chapter. I've read the reviews and PMs of the latest chapter from the other web where I also post this story. So, I think I will do the same in AOOO.

For the latest chapter, I had expected anger. But... not as stretched. 

From the few reviews and PMs, I can't help but thinking that most of you are feeling the same; so angry and disappointed. Most of you must have the same concerns. So, I'll explain some things that I think might bother you the most.

First, why Harvey and Donna are so mean. Because they've reached the point where they couldn't let Beca handle it anymore. Since the hell broke loose, this couple hadn't done anything to help Beca yet. Even with the way Bellas were pushing Beca to the corner. Donna even helped easing Chloe's anxiety after the night terror, and she did start liking Chloe up to the point where she couldn't let Beca fulfill the ridiculous demands anymore. Harvey didn't even do anything until the last chapter; and on Chloe's birthday, he still pushed the DJ to go to the party instead of taking her away immediately. But, just like the Bellas and Chloe's parents are protecting Chloe, Beca got people who protect her. And yeah, they did let Beca wreck herself for so long. That's why they became so overprotective to Beca; making up to their wrong part. Like Aubrey to Chloe.

Second, why Beca let Harvey and Donna treated Chloe that way. It's explained in the story. She needed to let Chloe learn to stand up for herself.

Third, why the Bellas are so oblivious of Beca's pain and so eager to protect Chloe to the point that they don't care about Beca anymore. Because they weren't there with Beca in the last ten years. They were with Chloe. Beca resented them because they wanted her back, but they didn't want her; they wanted someone Chloe loved and could love Chloe. I was planning that they will mend in their next reunion where Beca decided to tell them how she truly feels.

Fourth, why it seems like only the original characters are normal. Every characters are as normal and as abnormal as they could be. Every one of them did what they thought would make them sleep better at night. Every characters; either from the PP, or the original. Every one of them acted as they deemed right. Why Beca's friends didn't go the extra length like Aubrey to Chloe, because of the history of their relationship. And this issue has been brought up so many times; why Ashley is so perfect. I didn't write her as a perfect person. She left Beca time and time again, she's childish somehow in dealing with problems, she handled pain with getting drunk not only once in this story, and she stabbed Aubrey after the night terror. Even the way she loves Beca is somehow selfish. What she said about Chloe is her conclusion and how she felt; everybody has their own point of views in every problems. My fault is that, I didn't write her as Chloe in a PP FF.

Fifth, why John has to be a unkind to Beca. I thought his reasons was clear. But it seems like I've gone too far. The reason I put that down was, to show how determined Beca was to marry Chloe; that even with Chloe's father acted like that, she didn't change her mind, she handled it well, and she didn't run away. It's the same with the scene between Beca and Ashley.

Sixth, why Aubrey is still being mean to Beca. It's mentioned in the story. She's blaming Beca for getting fired. The reasons of her termination was also clear. And I just thought that what she did to Beca had some consequences. In addition, in chapter 6 degrees of separation, it's mentioned that Aubrey has lost all of her trust to Beca.

Seventh, why it seems like I don't like PP characters. This is interesting. And it got me thinking, a lot. This got me deep. When I started this story last year, I have read so many PP FF. Some of the stories were so satisfying, and some didn't go as I wanted to. Therefore, I started the one I wanted to; The Life of Beca Mitchell. Until the reviews that stated I must not like PP characters, I had never thought that the readers would come to that conclusion. I didn't even think that it's what the story represented. Honest. I was just focus on the storyline.

I appreciate the reviews and PMs. Now I understood better. I've never promised rainbow and sunshine. I only promised a happy ending. Since this isn't the end, the happiness is so limited. So little. And from the latest reviews and PMs, it seems like this story has come to the point that I can only describe as beyond shitty. Really. Like it has come to the point that it's too dark and twisted, that it's not possible to see the light, the bright side, the love, the fun.

For an instance, Harvey and Donna might have gone way too far in drilling Chloe, but Chloe did stand up for herself. I thought that would've showed how she had gotten better. Instead of asking Aubrey's help as usual, she even talked Aubrey down. Even when they were discussing the wedding plan, Chloe didn't let Aubrey took charge anymore.

Moreover, Chloe's pregnancy, how happy Beca was for finding out that she's becoming a mom, and the funny part with Fat Amy in the wedding; all of them couldn't bring it up.

I admit, I've ruined the characters in this story. All of us have a set image of PP characters in the FF, and they aren't anything like that in this story. For that, I'm truly sorry. I didn't laugh at you who love these characters, because I myself love PP. But I must be honest. I didn't really get it in the beginning. Why is it when Beca got blamed by the Bellas, it was Beca's fault; and now that Chloe got blamed by Beca's friends, it was still Beca's fault? But now I do. When Chloe's hurting, everybody else's pain don't matter. This is a PPFF. Certainly, it should've been PP centrist; in most of them, Chloe is the queen and the Bellas are united. My mistake.

I must say, after I read the latest reviews and PMs, I realized that I have written the story to this point where the bright side is so clouded with darkness. And it made me feel sad. It's my ego talking. I wanted it to go as I wanted, and not as expected by the readers. And the problem is in the way I'm writing the characters and evolving the story; I still don't want to change it because I've come so far. For this, I'm sorry for being selfish.

So, I must ask. Humbly and apologetically, should I continue posting the sequel? I've mentioned that it would be harder, and it would. If you don't want me to, it's okay. And I promise I will not let you hang. I will explain briefly in one chapter of how this story will evolve until the happy ending. I've finished the original draft of this story since months ago. Like I said in the first chapter, I've written it all before I decided to put it out.

Why do I ask even though I've mentioned in the endnote that if any of you can't go on, the last chapter could be your last? Because after reading the few responses, I started thinking about how badly I've hurt the readers and the characters. Some of you have become so angry from many chapters ago, but you couldn't help but keep reading this story because you've been waiting for the happy ending I promised but hasn't fulfilled yet. I didn't think that this story could affect many of you this far. And again, I'm truly sorry.

So, let me know if I should :)

I'll sit tight, relax, and make good choices. If I can help it :)

Ps. I hope this note doesn't upset you more :)


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